NASA Tracked $16 Million in Survey Contracts—but 28 Supporting Studies Added About $76 Million

The known cost floor reaches $92.0 million and still excludes Earth Science mission-study costs and staff labor that NASA could not fully document.

The visible contracts are less than one-fifth of known costs

NASA’s five most recent National Academies decadal-survey task orders totaled $16,027,635. Its inspector general separately identified about $76 million spent on 28 mission-concept studies in Astrophysics, Heliophysics and Planetary Science.

Together those layers create a known cost floor of $92,027,635. Supporting studies represent about 82.6% of that amount and task orders 17.4%; the study total is 4.74 times the survey-contract total.

Known decadal-survey cost layers
Cost layer	Amount	Share
Five survey task orders	$16,027,635	17.4%
28 mission-concept studies	About $76,000,000	82.6%
Known floor	$92,027,635	100%

The floor omits costs NASA could not produce

NASA could not provide Earth Science mission-study costs because of retention problems and staff departures. Biological and Physical Sciences conducted no such studies, and staff time lacked a separate work-breakdown code.

Mission studies can test feasibility, risk and early costs and may support work beyond the final survey. The accountability finding is that the supporting studies formed most of documented spending while officials initially pointed auditors to the much smaller contract figure.

3,196 pages across 19 allotted review-days

The five prepublication reports totaled 3,196 pages and had 19 allotted review-days across their separate windows—an aggregate workload index of 168 pages per day. One 323-page report had one day; a 790-page report had three.

The index is not an employee timesheet and does not assume every page required equal review. OIG reports that one division caught a significant technical error during its short preview, delaying publication; that does not prove other errors went undetected.

Tracking recommendations remains uneven

The latest cycle produced 160 NASA recommendations, but only Astrophysics told auditors it formally tracks and publishes implementation progress. NASA emphasized that National Academies recommendations are independent advice, not binding commands, and must be balanced against appropriations and administration priorities.

NASA concurred with all eight OIG recommendations. This newsroom reconciled exact task-order amounts, the approximate study total, missing categories and review windows; it does not label the scientific work waste or fraud.