Start Date

4-1987 8:00 AM

Description

The contractual methods NASA uses to assure safety for manned spaced flights are examined in this paper. It concludes that they do little to incentivize a contractor to improve safety and suggests that in areas as critical as manned space flight safety, NASA adopt a Safety Engineering Incentive Program. This program would be similar to the existing Value Engineering program except that financial incentives would be paid for improving safety. The paper also suggests that as an added incentive for improving safety, relief from liability under Public Law 85-804 on future projects be conditioned by limiting it to risks that the contractor disclosed to NASA or risks that he could not have known.

Manned space flight, because of its costs and concern for the safety of the crew, requires extraordinary measures to assure its success. Anything that can be done to increase the safety of the mission, and thereby its chances of success, must be considered. Ordinary contracting methods may not do enough to help achieve the objective of obtaining the highest obtainable safety for manned space flight. This paper suggests some extraordinary contracting methods that may incentivize contractors to become more involved in the quest for greater safety of manned space flight.

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Apr 1st, 8:00 AM

Contractual Methods of Incentivizing Improved Space Flight Safety

The contractual methods NASA uses to assure safety for manned spaced flights are examined in this paper. It concludes that they do little to incentivize a contractor to improve safety and suggests that in areas as critical as manned space flight safety, NASA adopt a Safety Engineering Incentive Program. This program would be similar to the existing Value Engineering program except that financial incentives would be paid for improving safety. The paper also suggests that as an added incentive for improving safety, relief from liability under Public Law 85-804 on future projects be conditioned by limiting it to risks that the contractor disclosed to NASA or risks that he could not have known.

Manned space flight, because of its costs and concern for the safety of the crew, requires extraordinary measures to assure its success. Anything that can be done to increase the safety of the mission, and thereby its chances of success, must be considered. Ordinary contracting methods may not do enough to help achieve the objective of obtaining the highest obtainable safety for manned space flight. This paper suggests some extraordinary contracting methods that may incentivize contractors to become more involved in the quest for greater safety of manned space flight.

 

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