DCMA support extends beyond Earth’s orbit

MERRITT ISLAND, Fla. -

Defense Contract Management Agency supported the launch of NASA's Artemis I rocket into space in November 2022, which marked the beginning of a new mission partnership.

Craig Bennet, DCMA's NASA team lead, and Brian McGinnis, DCMA's NASA product operations director, represented the agency at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, giving them insight that would soon allow DCMA to become the first Department of Defense organization to support human deep spaceflight.

"We helped NASA work through multiple challenges at the launch," Bennett said. "Later that month, we met with NASA leadership to discuss how DCMA can best support NASA's Artemis campaign while aligning with their human rated off-world operations."

This meeting marked the beginning efforts to update and modernize DCMA Support to NASA Manual 3101-03.

"DCMA's support needed to change from accommodating low-orbit human spaceflight, which is typically 250 miles above the earth, to deep space human spaceflight," Bennett said. "Knowing the moon is approximately 239,000 miles away, these deep space missions would need to accommodate for long-term off-world operations on the lunar surface."

With this change on the horizon, Bennett formed the NASA Rapid Action Team, or RAT, consisting of experts from various DCMA departments to include NASA Product Operations; the Enterprise Analytics and Modernization Directorate; and the Financial and Business Operations Directorate.

The DCMA Support to NASA RAT's primary focus is to align DCMA's core capabilities with NASA's mission to return American astronauts to the lunar surface and establish a continuous presence beyond near-Earth orbit.

"The voice of the customer is interwoven into the manual after the RAT and NASA reviewed long-established procedures in relation to the new NASA mission requirements," said Bennett. "The collaboration helped DCMA team members understand the increased challenges and requirements of flying US. astronauts into deep space and return safely."

In fiscal year 2024, DCMA achieved several milestones, including the development of new policies, tools and training programs to support deep space human spaceflight. The updated DCMA Support to NASA Manual 3101-03 was released in February 2024, and a new memorandum of understanding was signed between Sonya Ebright, DCMA's deputy director, and Pamela Melroy, NASA's deputy administrator.

"Additionally, our agencies' headquarters are teaming up to rewrite the DOD and NASA memorandum of agreement to further streamline that partnership," Bennett said. "NASA and DCMA have also teamed up on the development of new industry best practices and requirements."

One of the significant advancements in this collaboration includes the deployment of predictive analysis tools, which leverage contractor data and risk models to identify and validate critical processes across the supply chain.

"This approach can lead to a reduction of mandatory inspections and transition toward contractor capabilities and predictive insight," said Bennett. "The human space flight acquisition professionals aligned under NASA Product Operations will become seamless and instrumental to the DCMA Vision, NASA strategy and to mitigate spaceflight acquisition challenges."

The original manual was developed in the year 2000, which supported continuous human spaceflight at low Earth orbit. DCMA supported the build of the International Space Station's first expedition.

"Since then, DCMA continued on-orbit support for over 24 years," Bennett said. "We've continued lessons-learned and codified within the recent manual."

Stakeholders began re-writing the 24-year manual the day after the first Artemis I launch in 2022. With thorough insight and customer support and reviews, the final manual was published earlier this year.

"DCMA Support to NASA RAT, led by Craig Bennett, represents a unified approach with NASA support and guidance harmonized with NASA's vision, strategy and the Presidential Space Directive," McGinnis said. "DCMA will work with DOD and industry partners, in accordance with this directive, to return humans to the Moon with a goal to eventually enable humans to explore Mars."

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