NASA Procedural Requirements

NPR 1400.1I Effective Date: November 01, 2024 Expiration Date: November 01, 2029

Subject: NASA Directives Procedural Requirements

Responsible Office: Chief of Staff

Appendix A. Definitions

Foundational Definitions:

Administrative Change. An administrative change to a directive are changes the clarify policy or requirements, updates office or officials' titles and citations that do not require vetting.

Agency-level Directive. A NASA directive with Agency-wide applicability, i.e., NASA Policy Directives (NPDs), NASA Procedural Requirements (NPRs), NASA Interim Directives (NIDs), NASA Policy Statements (NPS), or NASA Policy Instructions (NPI).

Cancellation. A directive can be canceled by it's revision, other directives for which information is transferred, or if the responsible office has determined that the directive is no longer used or has served its purpose.

Center-level Directives. 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.

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

Impasses. A situation in which no progress is possible or agreement can be reached between a responsible officer and non-Concurring Office after several communications have been transmitted and meetings have taken place to resolve.

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.

Manual. A document that identifies process requirements for employees within a single work unit or function area.

• Manuals may supplement NASA directives and provide more instruction about how the provisions of those directives are carried out within the work unit or functional area. Manuals may also provide supplemental information about acceptable methods for implementing requirements, including lessons learned, suggested practices, instructions, and suggested performance measures. Manuals typically are written to a greater level of detail than NASA directives.
• Manuals are typically developed, approved, and controlled outside of the NASA Directives System.
• Manuals that implement NASA directives are typically hyperlinked to their associated NASA directives.

NASA Directive. A NASA document that transmits information required by law, Presidential direction, direction from 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, NPIs, NPSs, NIDs, CPDs, CPRs, and CIDs.

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

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

NASA Online Directives Information System. 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. Documents Agency policy statements that describe what is required by NASA management to achieve NASA's vision, mission, and external mandates and roles and responsibilities in implementing those statements.

NASA Procedural Requirements. Documents Agency requirements to implement NASA's policy as delineated in the 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.

Other Policy Documents

• NASA Advisory Implementing Instructions (NAII). Agency-level documents that consolidate sets of principles, guidance, and instructions applicable to a particular activity. An NAII should be used when the procedural requirements for conducting the activity are not specified at an Agency level (such as through an NPR), but there are principles, guidance, and instructions that are considered when developing processes at the Center or organization level. An NAII is also used to provide direction relating to the implementation of responsibilities under NPDs or NPRs.
• NASA Policy Instructions. Instructions that describe how to perform a definite course or method of action that guide and determine present and future decisions, used in exceptional circumstances by the Office of the Administrator when timeliness or Agency impact warrant immediate publication.
• NASA Policy Statements. Statements that reiterate the Agency's commitment to its defined course or method of action for adhering to external requirements, used in exceptional circumstances by the Office of the Administrator when timeliness or Agency impact warrant immediate publication.

Plan. Describes Agency-level or Center-specific applicability (e.g., NASA Strategic Plan, Continuity of Operations Plan, Emergency Preparedness Plan, or Safety Health, Environmental Plan) that are derived by law and maintained in the NASA Directives System. Other plans describe discrete functional or programmatic applicability (e.g., Implementation Plans, Program and Project Plans, Software Engineering Improvement Plans, or Software Training Plans) that are controlled at the appropriate organizational level by the respective responsible NASA official.

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 will perform or a statement of form or function that a piece of equipment or system will meet.

Revision. A revision to a directive are substantives changes that change policy or requirements that needed to be vetted.

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.

Technical Standards. Documents that are applied to programs/projects executed internally or under contract. Tailoring of these standards is a program/project responsibility and is to be approved by the governing Technical Authority. NASA Technical Standards here: https://standards.nasa.gov/.

• NASA Technical Standards may also be referenced as guidance on acceptable methods for meeting requirements of NASA directives, lessons learned, and recommended practices.
• NASA Technical Standards are developed, approved, and controlled by NPR 7120.10, Technical Standards for NASA Programs and Projects, rather than by this directive.

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

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

Work Instructions. Documents that describe instructional requirements applied to an individual organization that define the processes used to deliver products or services to customers or to meet the organization's mission requirements.

• Work instructions represent the translation of the Agency's strategic requirements and NASA directives down to a level of detailed application to individual employees or work groups.
• Work instructions are typically developed, approved, and controlled outside of the NASA Directives System. Typically, the requirements for work instructions fall under the scope of the NASA Management System. These documents may be included in the directives system's documentation libraries. Refer to NPD 1280.1, NASA Integrated Management System Policy, for additional information. View work instructions here: https://nodis3.gsfc.nasa.gov/hq_Lib/hq_Doclist.cfm.

Review, Concurrence and Publication Terminology:

Concurrence Decisions. Determinations made by Concurring Offices that communicate to the Responsible Office the following:

• Concurrence. A documented agreement.
• Concurrence with comments. A documented agreement with comments.
• Nonconcurrence. A documented disagreement with comments.

Disposition of Comments. A documented response explaining if reviewers' comments were accepted and how they will be applied to the draft directive, or if reviewers' comments were rejected and the reason why.

Responsible Office. The office that has responsibility for the development, maintenance, and verification of a directive. For Agency level directives, this is the front office of an OIC as defined in NPD 1000.3. OICs may delegate some responsibilities within this directive to branches, divisions, offices, or specific individuals within their organizations, and the Directives Manager is responsible for ensuring all the OIC's responsibilities in this directive are met regardless of such delegation.

Required Concurrer. Offices that are either: (1) assigned specific implementation roles and responsibilities within a directive, or (2) specifically identified in this directive as a required concurrer. Required Concurrers are distinct from Required Reviewers or Courtesy Reviewers as defined below. For purposes of identifying Concurring Offices, roles and responsibilities in a directive assigned to broad categories (rather than individual offices) will be interpreted as follows:

• All employees - All HQ OICs, all Center Directors, OCHCO.
• All supervisors - All HQ OICs, all Center Directors, OCHCO.
• All managers - All HQ OICs, all Center Directors, OCHCO.
• Program/project managers - All MDS, Centers, Agency Technical Authorities, OCFO, and CPMO.
• All contracting officers - Office of Procurement, NOJMO.
• All agreement managers - MSD, OIIR.
• Other categories - Following similar principles as above.

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).

Reviewers.

• Required Reviewer. Reviewers that review Agency-level directives for specific risks per NPD 1400.1, or risk areas that are unique to a directive, but are not assigned implementation responsibilities in the directive. Required reviewers are also concurrers when specifically enumerated in this directive, or when assigned direct implementation responsibilities.
• Courtesy Reviewer. All NASA organizations are provided the opportunity to serve as courtesy reviewers.

Revision. Significant updates to a directive's policy that change the Agency's direction, responsibilities that change assignment of duties, and requirements that change the mandatory and necessary steps needed to implement policy.

Terminology, Additional

Audit Liaison Representative (ALR). An individual appointed by an 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.

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.