NASA Administrator Bill Nelson and the agency's leadership increasingly emphasize the need to strengthen internal human resources. This strategy aims to, to return some of the critical technical competencies directly to the NASA staff.
The main reasons for the changes:
Preservation of intellectual property: Excessive dependence on private contractors (such as SpaceX, Blue Origin чи Lockheed Martin) leads to, that deep technical expertise remains within corporations, and not in the public sector.
Cost control: Although the fixed contract model with private companies helped NASA save money, continued reliance on external engineers for operational management becomes too expensive in the long run.
Risk management: NASA wants to have its own "technical conscience"—the ability to independently evaluate contractors' complex engineering solutions, to ensure the safety of the missions (especially Artemis programs).
How NASA plans to implement it.
Recruitment of young specialists: Launch of new internship programs and cooperation with universities to attract graduates of technical specialties.
Relocation of resources: Redistribution of budget funds from large service contracts to increase the salary fund of civil servants.
Integration into projects: More active involvement of NASA engineers in the direct development of components, instead of simply supervising the work of contractors.
Challenges on the way:
Competition for talent remains the main obstacle. The private space sector often offers higher salaries, more flexible working conditions and faster advancement on the career ladder, making it difficult for NASA to retain top engineers.
Note: This initiative does not mean the rejection of commercial partnership, but rather a search for a new balance, where NASA acts not only as “customer”, and how “active developer”.
Source: https://spacenews.com