The Defense Contract Management Agency has been working to support NASA in its mission to conduct human spaceflight, not just in low Earth orbit, but in deep space as well.
A key milestone in this collaboration is the updated edition of DCMA Support to NASA Manual 3101-03, which was released in February, according to a news article posted Monday on the DCMA website. Released in 2000, the original manual only covered continuous human LEO spaceflight.
The manual’s revision was facilitated by the establishment of the NASA Rapid Action Team, or RAT, which was spearheaded by DCMA NASA team lead Craig Bennett.
Comprising various DCMA departments, including NASA Product Operations, the Enterprise Analytics and Modernization Directorate and the Financial and Business Operations Directorate, NASA RAT sought to align the core competencies of DCMA with the mission of NASA to return U.S. astronauts to the moon as well as establish a continuous presence beyond near-Earth orbit.
Other achievements under the collaboration include the development of new policies, tools and training programs in support of deep space human spaceflight, and, according to Bennett, the development of new industry best practices and requirements.
The latter achievement has already borne fruit, resulting in the deployment of predictive analysis tools for the identification and validation of critical supply chain processes.
“This approach can lead to a reduction of mandatory inspections and transition toward contractor capabilities and predictive insight,” Bennett said.
The memorandum of agreement governing the collaboration between the two agencies will also be rewritten to further streamline the partnership, the DCMA official noted.
