NASA Procedural Requirements

NPR 1400.1H Effective Date: March 29, 2019 Expiration Date: December 31, 2024

Subject: NASA Directives and Charters Procedural Requirements (Updated w/Change 10)

Responsible Office: Office of the Chief of Staff

Appendix A. Definitions

Agency-level Directive. A NASA directive with Agency-wide applicability; i.e., NASA Policy Directives (NPDs), NASA Procedural Requirements (NPRs), and NASA Interim Directives (NIDs).

Audit Liaison Representative (ALR). An individual appointed by an Official-in-Charge (OIC) or a Center Director to implement and coordinate audit liaison, resolution, and follow-up activities within each organizational component and Center. ALRs are the primary point of contact to represent management for each specific GAO or IG audit for which the OIC has principal program or funding responsibility. Detailed responsibilities of the ALR are described in NPD 9910.1.

Center-level Directive. A NASA directive with Center-specific applicability; e.g., Center Policy Directives (CPDs); Center Procedural Requirements (CPRs); and Center Interim Directives (CIDs).

Center Interim Directive (CID). Documents an immediate, short-term statement of the Center’s policies, requirements, and responsibilities for implementation.

Center Policy Directive (CPD). Documents Center-specific policy requirements and responsibilities.

Center Procedural Requirements (CPR). Documents/establishes Center-specific procedural requirements and responsibilities to implement the policies and procedural requirements defined in related NPDs, NPRs, or CPDs.

Committees. A group of individuals that meet to advise, coordinate, research, or make recommendations. The lifespan of a committee is based on the completion of activities assigned by a council or board. Committee charters are established with the respective council’s or board’s approval.

Concurrence Decisions:

• Concurrence. A documented agreement.
• Concurrence with comments. A documented agreement with comments.
• Concurrence dependent upon disposition of comments. A withholding of concurrence until comments are satisfactorily dispositioned.
• Nonconcurrence. A documented disagreement.

Contextual information. Background information, such as history or rationale for a requirement, or other descriptive information or examples that help clarify the actual requirements statement.

Disposition of Comments. A documented response explaining how reviewers’ comments will be applied to the draft directive.

Guidance. A statement of expectation that does not mandate compliance.

Incorporation by reference. An act of including a second document within another document by only mentioning the second document. This act, if properly done, makes the entire second document a part of the main document.

NASA Charter. Documents the purpose, scope, authority, functions, and membership of groups mandated by statute, the NASA Administrator, or an OIC of a Headquarters Office.

NASA Directive. A NASA document that transmits information required by law, the President, the NASA Administrator, or other senior NASA official that applies to all NASA activities or to a single NASA Center on how they initiate, govern, or control actions. NASA directives include: NPDs, NPRs, NIDs, CPDs, CPRs, and CIDs.

NASA Directives System. The tools and processes used to create and promulgate NASA Agency-level directives.

NASA Interim Directives (NID). Documents an immediate, short-term statement of the Agency’s policies, requirements, and identifies responsibilities for implementation.

NASA Online Directives Information System (NODIS). A full-function, Web-based document management system (DMS) with a separate library for the search and retrieval of approved directives and related policy documents. The NODIS DMS is used for the creation, review, revision, concurrence, approval, publication, and maintenance of Agency-level directives, and the generation of associated reports. The NODIS Library provides for full-text searching of Agency- and Center-level directives. It also provides links to other policy documents governing the Agency, including: NASA Technical Standards, Code of Federal Regulations, Executive Orders, Federal Register, OMB Circulars, Congressional Records, the U.S. Code, Congressional Bills, and the Catalog of U.S. Government Publications.

NASA Policy Directive (NPD). Documents Agency policy statements that describe what is required by NASA management to achieve NASA’s vision, mission, and external mandates and who is responsible for carrying out those requirements.

NASA Procedural Requirements (NPR). Documents Agency requirements to implement NASA’s policy as delineated in an associated NPD.

Note. Describes supplemental information useful to the reader. In some cases, more than one note is provided if additional information is needed to either aid the reader or to point the reader to information that is available in more detail elsewhere.

Panels. A group of individuals gathered to advise, judge, interview, or discuss topics supported by councils or boards. The lifespan of a panel is based on completion of activities assigned by the respective council or board. Panel charters are established with the respective council or board’s approval.

Policy. Describes the philosophies, fundamental values, and general direction of the Agency or Center and are used to determine present and future decisions. Because established policies are general in nature, they may need more specific requirements established in procedural requirements for full implementation.

Requirement. A statement of mandatory instruction that an employee or organization has to perform or a statement of form or function that a piece of equipment or system has to meet.

Responsible Office. The office that has responsibility for the development, maintenance, and verification of a directive.

Revalidation. The process for renewing a NASA directive when the directive is current and necessary and requires no changes or only minor administrative changes (e.g., updates to document citations, office or position titles, or references to other established policy or externally mandated instruction that may not be altered/edited).

Technical requirements. Requirements that discuss the design, performance, operational parameters, and constraints of equipment and systems. These are requirements that would typically be contained within a system or equipment specifications. View NASA Technical Standards here: http://standards.nasa.gov/.

Unfunded Mandates (UFM).

• Internal UFMs-An Agency-directed action, such as the establishment of a new requirement, a change in charging practices without an adjustment made across accounts at the Agency level, or a requirement change that compels recipient organizations to expend any type of resources (procurement or labor) without being provided Agency funds to cover the direct and indirect costs of implementing the actions.

• External UFMs-Federal statutes, regulations, and policies that require parties to expend resources to achieve executive, legislative, and judicial goals without being provided the Federal funds to cover the costs.

Unresolved Unfunded Mandates. UFMs that cannot be successfully resolved between NASA Centers, HQ Functional Organizations, and the Responsible Office issuing the mandate.

Verification. The process of proving or demonstrating that requirements are satisfactorily met.

Waiver. A written authorization to depart from a specific directive requirement.

Working Groups. A group of individuals working together to create a document or to resolve problems. The lifespan of a working group is based on completion of activities assigned by the respective council or board. Charters are not required for working groups unless the working group is expected to operate indefinitely, includes members across the Agency, and is established to support and is expected to report out to a council or board.

DISTRIBUTION:
NODIS

This document does not bind the public, except as authorized by law or as incorporated into a contract. This document is uncontrolled when printed. Check the NASA Online Directives Information System (NODIS) Library to verify that this is the correct version before use: https://nodis3.gsfc.nasa.gov.