The NASA Office of Safety & Mission Assurance (OSMA) hosted a Risk Management (RM) summit on Oct. 15-16, 2014, at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC).

The summit was attended by representatives from across the agency, including risk managers, Safety and Mission Assurance (SMA) directors and other senior managers from OSMA, the NASA Safety Center, Mission Support Directorate (MSD) and the Office of Chief Financial Officer. The summit sought to promote a collaborative exchange of ideas and best practices to provide insight into top SMA risks, center RM processes that identify and vet those risks, and key RM challenges and opportunities.

“OSMA and the risk managers are striving for a holistic risk picture for the agency, starting at the top with the most significant risks,” said OSMA MSD Director Deirdre Healey.

Presenters included Healey, SMA Deputy Director Harold Bell, MSD/Office of Strategic Infrastructure Director Calvin Williams, GSFC Center Director Chris Scolese, Performance Improvement Officer Cynthia Lodge, and Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD) Manager of Strategic Analysis Yuri Gawdiak. In addition, guest speakers covered a range of RM topics related to

• Technical Capabilities Assessment Team
• Commercial Crew Program
• Risk-Based SMA
• ARMD

Risk Management Summit Participants

The summit focused on how the agency is expanding its focus to include Institutional Risk Management, which covers Institutional Safety and Mission Assurance. Presenters discussed how new budget constraints have resulted in centers running to failure on non-critical facilities, highlighting differing perspectives on what constitutes acceptable or tolerable risk. MSD participants recommended that the centers differentiate between Institutional Risk and Institutional Safety Risks, the former being a much broader category.

The summit concluded on the note that open communication and collaboration on top SMA risks and related RM topics will provide better insight into the agency’s risk posture. Ultimately, this will benefit agency decision-makers.

For more information about the topics covered, contact Sharon Thomas.