The Government Accountability Office has urged NASA to perform an updated joint cost and schedule confidence level analysis on its Orion multi-purpose crew vehicle program to determine risks and inform programmatic decisions.

GAO said in a report published Wednesday NASA’s earlier JCL analysis on Orion involved cost and schedule estimates that met 7 of 20 best practices and 1 of 8 best practices, respectively.

Program officials told GAO that available program budget is primarily used to fund current work while cost reserves are held at the end of the internal schedule.

The government watchdog said some program work have been deferred due to the lack of budget reserves but program officials have not formally evaluated the impact of delayed work on the available reserves.

Auditors noted the Orion program faces challenges that could affect costs and schedules such as the development of service module and crew capsule heatshield as well as software development risks that could have a cost impact of more than $90 million.

GAO recommended NASA provide new cost and schedule estimates that are in line with best practices and analyze the effects of deferred work on program reserves.

The Orion program aims to transport humans beyond the moon with an April 2023 launch readiness date.

Tyrone Grandison will depart his role as the deputy chief data officer of the Commerce Department on Aug. 5 after more than a year in the position.

Grandison wrote in a blog post for Medium published Friday his personal highlights at the department included work to launch of a data startup, approval for the use of platforms such as Github and Amazon Web Services, introduction of agile development to the agency and the development of a new data education agenda.

Prior to the Commerce Department, Grandison’s career in the private sector included roles such as CEO at Proficiency Labs International, managing partner at METIS, chief technology officer and co-founder of EqualityTV, co-founder of Hipaantrepeneurs and program manager of core healthcare services at IBM Services Research.

He also served as a programmer at Scotiabank, software engineer at DataSoft Systems Ja ltd. and programmer at Systems Alliance Ja Ltd.

Grandison was also an adjunct professor at the University of Technology, presidential innovation fellow at the White House and Labor Department and founding co-chair of the Diversity in Privacy and Security Seminar series.

The National Institutes of Health has appointed Joshua Gordon, an associate professor of psychiatry at Columbia University Medical Center, as director of the National Institute of Mental Health effective September.

Gordon, who is also a research psychiatrist at the New York State Psychiatric Institute, will lead NIMH’s mental illness research, NIH said Thursday.

“Josh is a visionary psychiatrist and neuroscientist with deep experience in mental health research and practice,” said Francis Collins, NIH director.

“He is exceptionally well qualified to lead the NIMH research agenda to improve mental health and treatments for mental illnesses.”

NIMH supports 2,000 research grants and contracts at local and international universities and other institutions and 300 scientists under the NIMH intramural research program.

Gordon currently serves as the associate director of the Columbia University/New York State Psychiatric Institute Adult Psychiatry Residency Program and is a member of the Hope for Depression Research Foundation’s depression task force.

He has studied the correlation between mutations related to psychiatric disease and particular behaviors when he joined Columbia University in 2004 and pioneered the methodology to study brain plasticity in the visual systems of mice for his Ph.D. thesis.

The General Service Administration looks for a candidate to fill the role of associate chief information officer for enterprise infrastructure and operations.

A notice posted July 11 on the USAJobs website states the associate CIO will report directly to tGSA’s deputy CIO and be responsible for information technology infrastructure management and IT support and integration programs at the agency.

The chosen candidate will also develop and implement plans that help address the agency’s IT requirements, according to the notice.

The incumbent will also help GSA utilize industry best practices on the IT infrastructure, manage infrastructure-as-a-service efforts, formulate cloud migration planning strategies and transition the agency’s production infrastructure to the cloud.

The job application period for the associate CIO role will be open until Aug. 1.