Restructuring NPOES

Restructuring the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System
(OSTP) February 1, 2010
The President’s FY2011 budget contains a major restructuring of the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) in order to put the critical program on a more sustainable pathway toward success. The satellite system is a national priority -- essential to meeting both civil and military weather-forecasting, storm-tracking, and climate-monitoring requirements. However, the program is behind schedule, over budget, and underperforming. Independent reports and an administration task force have concluded that the current program cannot be successfully executed with the current management structure, and with the current budget structure. These challenges originate in large part because of a combination of management deficiencies that result from conflicting perspectives and priorities among the three agencies who manage the program. Serious lapses in capabilities loom as a result.