The Government Accountability Office has found that most of NASA’s projects are being implemented within their schedule and cost baselines and that the space agency continues to build up its project management platforms to handle acquisition-related risks.

GAO said in a report published Tuesday that eight of NASA’s programs are in the developmental stage in which cost and schedule issues are likely to emerge.

Those programs include the Space Launch System and the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle.

The congressional watchdog also found that three of NASA’s four projects that reached the preliminary design review phase transitioned into a technology maturity level that meets GAO’s best practices.

The report said NASA has cited resource constraints for its failure to execute a GAO-recommended best practice to track contractors’ performance and that the agency continues to encounter funding and workforce difficulties that could have an impact on its schedule and cost performance.

President Donald Trump intends to nominate Claire Grady, director of defense procurement and acquisition policy at the Defense Department, as undersecretary for management at the Department of Homeland Security.

The White House reported Tuesday she provides advice to the undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics as well as the Defense Acquisition Board on matters related to the procurement of major weapon and automated information systems.

In her current role, Grady also oversees DoD’s contingency, domestic and international contract policy in areas such as competition, leasing, multiyear contracting, source selection, warranties and e-business.

Grady previously held the roles of deputy assistant commander for acquisition, director of acquisition services and head of contracting activity at the U.S. Coast Guard.

Grady served as the director of strategic initiatives within DHS’ Office of the Chief Procurement Officer where she offered strategic direction to aid the agency’s contracting and financial assistance programs.

She started her professional career as an intern at the Department of the Navy and later she elevated to contracting and program management positions at the Naval Sea Systems Command.

Keith Hall, director of the Congressional Budget Office, has said lawmakers need to raise revenues above current projected amounts, decrease spending for major benefit programs or combine such measures to optimize government efficiency.

He told the Senate Budget Committee in a written testimony published Wednesday that efforts to address federal deficits should include broader changes in federal tax or spending policies given the aging population and increasing healthcare costs.

Hall testified on government personnel costs and their impact on the federal budget, noting that federal civilian employees account for a declining share of the U.S. workforce at approximately 1.5 percent.

He cited a CBO report that compared federal and private sector salaries from 2011 to 2015.

CBO found that total compensation for federal employees, on average, was 17 percent higher than for their private sector counterparts over the five-year period and the difference between public and private worker compensation varies by education level.

The report also showed that average compensation for federal workers with a high school diploma or less was 53 percent higher than for similar private sector employees, while government workers with a professional degree or doctorate earned 18 percent lower compensation than their private sector counterparts.

A team of engineers and scientists at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center has obtained  federal funds to develop a sodium light detection and ranging technology for the space agency to study Earth’s mesosphere.

NASA said Tuesday the lidar instrument will help researchers conduct studies on the relationship between the chemistry and dynamics of the mesosphere located 40 to 100 miles above the planet’s surface.

The agency aims to deploy the technology on the International Space Station if it passes flightworthiness tests.

NASA’s Heliophysics Technology and Instrument Development for Science and Center Innovation programs currently sponsor the development of the space-based sodium lidar.

The project builds on a previous agency investment on Sounders, a greenhouse detection instrument that was built to measure the amount of carbon dioxide and methane in the planet’s atmosphere.

Mike Krainak, a laser expert at Goddard Space Flight Center, said that the agency will apply lessons learned from the CO2 and Methane Sounders to further develop the sodium lidar.

“Instead of carbon dioxide and methane, we’re detecting sodium because of what it can tell us about the small-scale dynamics occurring in the mesosphere,” said Diego Janches, scientist at Goddard Space Flight Center.

NASA also seeks to demonstrate an environmentally-tested engineering unit of the laser to meet technology-readiness level six of flight development requirements.