under paragraph (1) and the plan under paragraph 
(2) not later than 180 days after the date of enact-
ment of this Act. 
(b) ESTABLISHMENT OF CAPITAL FUND.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall es-
tablish a capital fund at each of NASA’s field centers 
for the modernization of facilities and laboratories. 
(2) SOURCE OF FUNDING.—The Administrator 
shall ensure to the maximum extent practicable that 
all financial savings achieved by closing outdated or 
surplus facilities at a NASA field center shall be 
made available to that center’s capital fund for the 
purpose of modernizing the field center’s facilities and 
laboratories and for upgrading the infrastructure at 
the field center. 
SEC. 702. JAMES E. WEBB COOPERATIVE EDUCATION DIS-
TINGUISHED SCHOLAR PROGRAM. 
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Administrator is author-
ized to establish a national cooperative education program 
to complement existing NASA Center-administered coopera-
tive education initiatives. 
(b) APPLICATION PROCESS.—The Administrator shall 
encourage and seek applications from the pool of American 
students pursuing science, technology, engineering, or math-
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ematics degrees who wish to gain working experience in 
NASA. 
(c) SELECTION.—From the applications, the Adminis-
trator shall select 10 finalists annually as James E. Webb 
Cooperative Education Distinguished Scholars. 
(d) AWARD.—The James E. Webb Cooperative Edu-
cation Distinguished Scholars shall be provided with— 
(1) learning experiences that will enhance their 
understanding of activities conducted in the various 
NASA Centers in furtherance of NASA’s missions and 
priorities; 
(2) exposure to NASA headquarters functions 
and activities; and 
(3) stipends for living expenses. 
TITLE VIII—ACQUISITION 
MANAGEMENT 
SEC. 801. PROHIBITION ON EXPENDITURE OF FUNDS WHEN 
30 PERCENT THRESHOLD IS EXCEEDED. 
Section 103(e) of the National Aeronautics and Space 
Administration Authorization of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 16613(e)) 
is amended by striking ‘‘beginning 18 months after the date 
the Administrator transmits a report under subsection 
(d)(1)’’ and inserting ‘‘beginning 18 months after the Ad-
ministrator makes such determination’’. 
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SEC. 802. PROJECT AND PROGRAM RESERVES. 
To ensure that the establishment, maintenance, and al-
lotment of project and program reserves contribute to pru-
dent management, not later than 180 days after the date 
of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall transmit 
to the Congress a report describing NASA’s criteria for es-
tablishing the amount of reserves at the project and pro-
gram levels and how such criteria complement NASA’s pol-
icy of budgeting at a 70 percent confidence level. 
SEC. 803. INDEPENDENT REVIEWS. 
Not later than 270 days after the date of enactment 
of this Act, the Administrator shall transmit to the Congress 
a report describing NASA’s procedures for conducting inde-
pendent reviews of projects and programs at lifecycle mile-
stones and how NASA ensures the independence of the indi-
viduals who conduct those reviews prior to their assign-
ment. 
SEC. 804. AVOIDING ORGANIZATIONAL CONFLICTS OF IN-
TEREST IN MAJOR NASA ACQUISITION PRO-
GRAMS. 
(a) REVISED REGULATIONS REQUIRED.—Not later 
than 270 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the 
Administrator shall revise the NASA Supplement to the 
Federal Acquisition Regulation to provide uniform guid-
ance and tighten existing requirements for preventing orga-
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nizational conflicts of interest by contractors in major ac-
quisition programs. 
(b) ELEMENTS.—The revised regulations required by 
subsection (a) shall, at a minimum— 
(1) address organizational conflicts of interest 
that could potentially arise as a result of— 
(A) lead system integrator contracts on 
major acquisition programs and contracts that 
follow lead system integrator contracts on such 
programs, particularly contracts for production; 
(B) the ownership of business units per-
forming systems engineering and technical as-
sistance functions, professional services, or man-
agement support services in relation to major ac-
quisition programs by contractors who simulta-
neously own business units competing to perform 
as either the prime contractor or the supplier of 
a major subsystem or component for such pro-
grams; 
(C) the award of major subsystem contracts 
by a prime contractor for a major acquisition 
program to business units or other affiliates of 
the same parent corporate entity, and particu-
larly the award of subcontracts for software inte-
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gration or the development of a proprietary soft-
ware system architecture; or 
(D) the performance by, or assistance of, 
contractors in technical evaluations on major ac-
quisition programs; 
(2) ensure that NASA receives advice, when ap-
propriate, on systems architecture and systems engi-
neering matters with respect to major acquisition pro-
grams from federally funded research and develop-
ment centers or other sources independent of the 
prime contractor; 
(3) require that a contract for the performance 
of systems engineering and technical assistance func-
tions for a major acquisition program contains a pro-
vision prohibiting the contractor or any affiliate of 
the contractor from participating as a prime con-
tractor or a major subcontractor in the development 
of a system under the program; and 
(4) establish such limited exceptions to the re-
quirement in paragraphs (2) and (3) as may be nec-
essary to ensure that NASA has continued access to 
advice on systems architecture and systems engineer-
ing matters from highly qualified contractors with do-
main experience and expertise, while ensuring that 
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