A Proposed Approach for Prioritizing Maintenance at NASA Centers

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) manages a vast array of infrastructure assets across ten National Centers with a worth of at least 26 billion dollars. Eighty percent of this infrastructure is greater than 40 years old and is in degraded condition. Maintenance budgets are typically less than one percent of current replacement value (CRV), much less than the 2-4% recommended by the National Research Council. The maintenance backlog was 2.55 billion dollars in FY10 and growing. NASA’s annual budgets have flattened and are at risk of being reduced, so the problem is becoming even more difficult. NASA Centers utilize various means to prioritize and accomplish maintenance within available budgets, though some data is suspect and processes are variable. This paper offers a structured means to prioritize maintenance based on mission criticality and facility performance (ability of the facility to deliver on its purpose). Mission alignment is assessed using the current timeframe Mission Dependence Index and a measure of facility alignment with the 2011 NASA Strategic Plan for the long-term perspective. Facility performance is assessed by combining specific findings from a structured facility condition assessment and an assessment of actual functional output. These are then combined in a matrix to identify the facilities most critical to mission and able to deliver services. The purpose of this approach is to provide the best benefits for the available funding. Additionally, this rationale can be applied to the prioritization of investment (recapitalization) projects so that the ultimate customers of this paper, the senior infrastructure managers at each NASA Center, are better able to strategically manage their capabilities. I. Introduction HIS paper presents an improved (theoretical) approach to maintenance at NASA Centers that allows tailored investment based on facility alignment with mission and current facility performance. NASA faces huge challenges in infrastructure management due to aging infrastructure (much of it in degraded condition), changing and uncertain mission definition, technology growth requiring new investments, large maintenance backlogs (deferred maintenance), a wide variety of asset types, low current workloads in some ground test, research, and launch facilities, and declining budgets. The current approach of trying to accomplish all planned preventive maintenance while making increasingly frequent and costly repairs to aging equipment has become untenable. An aggressive effort to reduce costs and backlog by shutting down some facilities while accomplishing repair by replacement of others will address only some of the challenge. Remaining facilities and their capabilities must be managed and sustained to meet mission needs, both near- and long-term. This requires an improved approach for maintenance services that tailors scope (and associated cost) to prioritized needs. This paper will provide a brief overview of the serious infrastructure challenges NASA is facing. This is followed by a discussion of NASA maintenance practices, providing a foundation for aligning maintenance processes with needs and budgets. Then the point of the paper is presented – a methodology to manage assets in a budget-constrained environment.