[X] My Assistant

[Guest_vjkane2000_*]

I found the following teaser lead-in on Aerospace Daily's web site (you have to subscribe to get the whole thing, and I don't have that kind of money!):

Mars Scout Program To Seek More Money For 2011 Mission

Aerospace Daily & Defense Report 08/22/2005
NASA's Mars Scout program is seeking more money in its fiscal 2007 budget request to allow for the per-mission cost cap to be raised from its original level of $325 million to a level above $400 million. "I've recognized that that is an inadequate amount of money to get a reasonable-risk mission to Mars," Mars Exploration Program Director Doug McCuistion told The DAILY. "It's just not as cheap as flying low-Earth orbit stuff. And therefore I intend to increase the cap over what it was."

[nprev]

I like that, TTY. 3 months--no extensions--final decision not subject to further challenge--alternative dispute resolution (ADR) via an impartial third party (mediators from the Federal Labor Relations Board?) rather then litigation formally agreed upon in advance by all offerors. This would seem to provide the best possible way to resolve grievances without incurring delays; just have to accelerate the source selection process by one quarter.

(I hope that such an acceleration is just a "just"; if NASA's budget cycle/program planning processes are anything like DoD's then it would not be an insignificant effort to retune all the other administrative dependencies needed to make that happen. Hopefully it would be one-time pain for lots of gain, though.)