The Senate on Friday unanimously approved a new NASA authorization bill that would require the agency to study the feasibility of sending astronauts to the International Space Station aboard the Orion spacecraft, SpaceNews reported Tuesday.

Jeff Foust writes the NASA Transition Authorization Act of 2017 directs the space agency to submit a report that will determine whether Orion could perform crewed ISS missions if the spacecraft is launched on a vehicle other than the Space Launch System.

NASA will provide the report within 60 days and include assessments on the cost and schedule impacts of such ISS missions to the Orion program, Foust reported.

The House could vote on the legislation when it returns from recess on Feb. 27, the report stated.

The bill will also require NASA to publicly disclose existing Space Act Agreements and submit annual reports to Congress on the agreements.

NASA would establish policy on the lease, transfer or demolition of excess infrastructure at the agency’s centers under the legislation.

A new report by the Brookings Institution says seven new cabinet agencies within the federal government have been created since 1960 such as the departments of Housing and Urban Development and Homeland Security in 1965 and 2002, respectively.

The Environmental Protection Agency and DHS’ Federal Emergency Management Agency are among the dozens of sub-cabinet agencies that have been established since the 1960s, Brookings said in the report posted Feb. 13.

John J. DiIulio wrote that that U.S. government has experienced a five-fold increase in annual federal spending since 1960 and a six-fold rise in the number of pages in the Federal Register, which compiles all federal regulations and rules.

The total number of workers at state and local government agencies increased by six times to at least 18 million employees driven by a ten-fold increase in federal grants-in-aid to state and local governments from the early 1960s to the early 2010s, adjusted for inflation.

The number of federal contract workers climbed to approximately 7.5 million in 2013 from nearly 5 million recorded in 1990.

The Defense Department had full-time federal civilian workers of between 700,000 and 800,000 and full-time for-profit-contract employees at a range of 620,000 to 770,000 over the past nine years.

The number of nonprofit workers supported by the federal government jumped from approximately 5.6 million in 1977 to about 11.4 million in 2012, the report added.

The General Services Administration‘s Office of the Inspector General has recommended the Technology Transformation Service and GSA Information Technology offices to identify all 18F information systems and address compliance with the agency’s IT security policy.

According to a report published Tuesday, GSA OIG also said TTS and GSA IT should oversee 18F’s compliance with the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act as well as address the use of unofficial email accounts on federal record exchanges.

The IG also recommended GSA IT develop training strategies for senior level leaders on IT security roles and responsibilities.

The GSA OIG Office of Inspections and Forensic Auditing led an evaluation of the 18F office due to concerns from senior GSA officials regarding potential deficiencies in business operations.

The review discovered that 18F did not follow GSA information security policies because as a result of a lack of sufficient guidance and oversight from agency leaders to meet required levels of awareness and compliance.

OIG’s review also found IT policy violations from 18F personnel including enabled authorizations through the online messaging and collaboration application called Slack which had potentially exposed personally identifiable information throughout a five-month period.

The Government Accountability Office has recommended the Department of Homeland Security to continue efforts to strengthen and integrate management functions through the identification and allocation of resources in areas such as staffing for acquisition and information technology positions.

According to a report published Thursday, DHS has met 13 out of 30 outcomes necessary to mitigate management challenges and GAO urged the former to continue the implementation of a plan to address the issues in the high-risk area.

GAO noted that DHS has also fully complied with three and partially complied with two out of five criteria for removal from the High-Risk List which includes the development of an action plan, demonstration of capacity, sustained progress, leadership commitment and creation of a framework to monitor progress.

The government watchdog agency has made approximately 2,500 recommendations to DHS regarding strategies to strengthen the latter’s management efforts and GAO noted DHS has implemented more than 70 percent of the recommendations.