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cational institutions (as defined by the Secretary of Education pursuant to 
the General Education Provisions Act (20 U.S.C. 1221 et seq.)). 
§ 30305. Outreach program 
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Administration shall competitively select an 
organization to partner with Administration centers, aerospace contractors, 
and academic institutions to carry out a program to help promote the com-
petitiveness of small, minority-owned, and women-owned businesses in com-
munities across the United States through enhanced insight into the tech-
nologies of the Administration’s space and aeronautics programs. The pro-
gram shall support the mission of the Administration’s Innovative Partner-
ships Program with its emphasis on joint partnerships with industry, aca-
demia, government agencies, and national laboratories. 
(b) PROGRAM STRUCTURE.—In carrying out the program described in 
subsection (a), the organization shall support the mission of the Administra-
tion’s Innovative Partnerships Program by undertaking the following activi-
ties: 
(1) FACILITATING ENHANCED INSIGHT.—Facilitating the enhanced 
insight of the private sector into the Administration’s technologies in 
order to increase the competitiveness of the private sector in producing 
viable commercial products. 
(2) CREATING NETWORK.—Creating a network of academic institu-
tions, aerospace contractors, and Administration centers that will com-
mit to donating appropriate technical assistance to small businesses, 
giving preference to socially and economically disadvantaged small busi-
ness concerns, small business concerns owned and controlled by service- 
disabled veterans, and HUBZone small business concerns. This para-
graph shall not apply to any contracting actions entered into or taken 
by the Administration. 
(3) CREATING NETWORK OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZA-
TIONS.—Creating a network of economic development organizations to 
increase the awareness and enhance the effectiveness of the program 
nationwide. 
(c) REPORT.—Not later than one year after October 15, 2008, and annu-
ally thereafter, the Administrator shall submit a report to the Committee 
on Science and Technology of the House of Representatives and the Com-
mittee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate describing 
the efforts and accomplishments of the program established under sub-
section (a) in support of the Administration’s Innovative Partnerships Pro-
gram. As part of the report, the Administrator shall provide— 
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(1) data on the number of small businesses receiving assistance, jobs 
created and retained, and volunteer hours donated by the Administra-
tion, contractors, and academic institutions nationwide; 
(2) an estimate of the total dollar value of the economic impact made 
by small businesses that received technical assistance through the pro-
gram; and 
(3) an accounting of the use of funds appropriated for the program. 
§ 30306. Small business contracting 
(a) PLAN.—In consultation with the Small Business Administration, the 
Administrator shall develop a plan to maximize the number and amount of 
contracts awarded to small business concerns (within the meaning given 
that term in section 3 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632)) and to 
meet established contracting goals for such concerns. 
(b) PRIORITY.—The Administrator shall establish as a priority meeting 
the contracting goals developed in conjunction with the Small Business Ad-
ministration to maximize the amount of prime contracts, as measured in 
dollars, awarded in each fiscal year by the Administration to small business 
concerns (within the meaning given that term in section 3 of the Small 
Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632)). 
§ 30307. Requirement for independent cost analysis 
(a) DEFINITION OF IMPLEMENTATION.—In this section, the term ‘‘imple-
mentation’’ means all activity in the life cycle of a project after preliminary 
design, independent assessment of the preliminary design, and approval to 
proceed into implementation, including critical design, development, certifi-
cation, launch, operations, disposal of assets, and, for technology programs, 
development, testing, analysis, and communication of the results. 
(b) REQUIREMENT.—Before any funds may be obligated for implementa-
tion of a project that is projected to cost more than $250,000,000 in total 
project costs, the Administrator shall conduct and consider an independent 
life-cycle cost analysis of the project and shall report the results to Con-
gress. In developing cost accounting and reporting standards for carrying 
out this section, the Administrator shall, to the extent practicable and con-
sistent with other laws, solicit the advice of experts outside of the Adminis-
tration. 
§ 30308. Cost effectiveness calculations 
(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
(1) COMMERCIAL
PROVIDER.—The term ‘‘commercial provider’’ 
means any person providing space transportation services or other 
space-related activities, the primary control of which is held by persons 
other than a Federal, State, local, or foreign government. 
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(2) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each of the several States of 
the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of 
Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, the Common-
wealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and any other commonwealth, 
territory, or possession of the United States. 
(b) IN GENERAL.—Except as otherwise required by law, in calculating the 
cost effectiveness of the cost of the Administration engaging in an activity 
as compared to a commercial provider, the Administrator shall compare the 
cost of the Administration engaging in the activity using full cost account-
ing principles with the price the commercial provider will charge for such 
activity. 
§ 30309. Use of abandoned and underutilized buildings, 
grounds, and facilities 
(a) DEFINITION
OF DEPRESSED COMMUNITIES.—In this section, the 
term ‘‘depressed communities’’ means rural and urban communities that are 
relatively depressed, in terms of age of housing, extent of poverty, growth 
of per capita income, extent of unemployment, job lag, or surplus labor. 
(b) IN GENERAL.—In any case in which the Administrator considers the 
purchase, lease, or expansion of a facility to meet requirements of the Ad-
ministration, the Administrator shall consider whether those requirements 
could be met by the use of one of the following: 
(1) Abandoned or underutilized buildings, grounds, and facilities in 
depressed communities that can be converted to Administration usage 
at a reasonable cost, as determined by the Administrator. 
(2) Any military installation that is closed or being closed, or any 
facility at such an installation. 
(3) Any other facility or part of a facility that the Administrator de-
termines to be— 
(A) owned or leased by the United States for the use of another 
agency of the Federal Government; and 
(B) considered by the head of the agency involved to be— 
(i) excess to the needs of that agency; or 
(ii) underutilized by that agency. 
§ 30310. Exception to alternative fuel procurement require-
ment 
Section 526(a) of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (42 
U.S.C. 17142(a)) does not prohibit the Administration from entering into 
a contract to purchase a generally available fuel that is not an alternative 
or synthetic fuel or predominantly produced from a nonconventional petro-
leum source, if— 
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(1) the contract does not specifically require the contractor to pro-
vide an alternative or synthetic fuel or fuel from a nonconventional pe-
troleum source; 
(2) the purpose of the contract is not to obtain an alternative or syn-
thetic fuel or fuel from a nonconventional petroleum source; and 
(3) the contract does not provide incentives for a refinery upgrade 
or expansion to allow a refinery to use or increase its use of fuel from 
a nonconventional petroleum source. 
CHAPTER 305—MANAGEMENT AND REVIEW 
Sec. 
30501.
Lessons learned and best practices. 
30502.
Whistleblower protection. 
30503.
Performance assessments. 
30504.
Assessment of science mission extensions. 
§ 30501. Lessons learned and best practices 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall transmit to the Committee on 
Science and Technology of the House of Representatives and the Committee 
on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate an implementation 
plan describing the Administration’s approach for obtaining, implementing, 
and sharing lessons learned and best practices for its major programs and 
projects not later than 180 days after December 30, 2005. The implementa-
tion plan shall be updated and maintained to ensure that it is current and 
consistent with the burgeoning culture of learning and safety that is emerg-
ing at the Administration. 
(b) REQUIRED CONTENT.—The implementation plan shall contain at a 
minimum the lessons learned and best practices requirements for the Ad-
ministration, the organizations or positions responsible for enforcement of 
the requirements, the reporting structure, and the objective performance 
measures indicating the effectiveness of the activity. 
(c) INCENTIVES.—The Administrator shall provide incentives to encour-
age sharing and implementation of lessons learned and best practices by em-
ployees, projects, and programs, as well as penalties for programs and 
projects that are determined not to have demonstrated use of those re-
sources. 
§ 30502. Whistleblower protection 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after December 30, 2005, the 
Administrator shall transmit to the Committee on Science and Technology 
of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, 
and Transportation of the Senate a plan describing steps to be taken by 
the Administration to protect from retaliation Administration employees 
who raise concerns about substantial and specific dangers to public health 
and safety or about substantial and specific factors that could threaten the 
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