Officials of Lockheed Martin Space Operations' (LMSO) Consolidated Space Operations Contract (CSOC) announced today that a reorganization of its NASA contract now underway places operational responsibilities for the contract at the NASA centers it serves. The organizational change will improve service, maximize cost savings and enhance responsiveness to its customers.

Under the reorganization, CSOC will decentralize management of its operations, focusing responsibility, authority, accountability and budget authority with CSOC management at each NASA center it supports, namely Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Greenbelt, Maryland; Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, California; Johnson Space Center (JSC), Houston, Texas; Kennedy Space Center (KSC), Cape Canaveral, Florida; and Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), Huntsville, Alabama.

"CSOC has recently entered into its third year, and during this time, our performance has been extraordinary in many areas," said Doug Tighe, program manager for CSOC. "There has been a demonstrated commitment on the part of senior NASA management to ensure CSOC's success, and our operations and performance have reflected an unwavering commitment to achieving our customers' objectives. To continue moving in this positive direction, CSOC is implementing this reorganization as a means to better provide our customers with optimum service and maximum cost savings, and more importantly, to improve our responsiveness to our customer base."

  Changes resulting from this reorganization are as follows:

  -- Certain Engineering and Operations functions of the contract will be
     transitioned to CSOC's center managers as they assume responsibility
     for these areas.

  -- There will be an increase in center-based operating autonomy for CSOC,
     with the role of CSOC's central organization evolving to one of
     monitoring and supporting the activities of the centers.

  -- Each center will be headed by a CSOC associate program manager who will
     assume responsibility for operations, engineering, project
     implementation, business support, customer service, safety and other
     support functions of the center.

The associate program manager assigned to GSFC is Phil Johnson. He will assume responsibility for the performance of three CSOC service-providing factories: GSFC Mission Services, the Space Network and the Ground Network. Prior to Johnson joining Lockheed Martin in 1998 as vice president, mission engineering and ground operations, he served in a number of senior management positions for AlliedSignal Technical Services Corporation. As vice president, space operations, he was responsible for all AlliedSignal contracts at Goddard Space Flight Center.

The associate program manager for JSC is Dan Brandenstein. Brandenstein was commander of three shuttle missions and served as chief of the astronaut office at JSC. Brandenstein also served as director of program development and director of quality assurance for Loral Space Information Systems and then as executive vice president and program manager for Kistler Aerospace Corporation before joining Lockheed Martin Space Operations in 1999.

JPL's associate program manager is Isaac Gillam. Gillam has more than 40 years of experience in the aerospace industry, including in-depth experience working with the Department of Defense, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and NASA. Gillam served as director of NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center and was assistant administrator for commercial programs at NASA headquarters.

The associate program managers at KSC and MSFC are in the process of being assigned.

The first phase of this reorganization is expected to be completed by April 15, 2001.

"The lessons we have learned in the past two years and feedback from our customers played an important role in the development of this reorganization, and I am confident that the outcome will be positive for our customers, NASA, our contract and the CSOC team," commented Tighe.

CSOC is a $3-billion-plus contract awarded by NASA to Lockheed Martin, who serves as the prime contractor to provide end-to-end space operations Mission and Data Services to both NASA and non-NASA customers. CSOC manages NASA's data collection, telemetry and communications operations that support Earth-orbiting satellites, planetary exploration, and human space flight activities. Services include data acquisition from spacecraft, data transmission to end-users, data processing and storage, ground and space communications, and mission control center operations.

CSOC is part of Lockheed Martin Space Operations (LMSO), a business unit of Lockheed Martin Technology Services headquartered in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. LMSO, a high-tech engineering and science services firm, employs about 4,000 engineers, scientists and support personnel. Services include managing CSOC; software and hardware engineering for the Space Shuttle and International Space Station; mission operations and planning systems design, development, and integration; and human life sciences research.

SOURCE: Lockheed Martin