"NASA has instituted a review of spending for nonessential information technology, an action that the industry says illustrates how the long-expected boom in tech spending has been slow to arrive. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is requiring all of its field offices, from the Johnson Space Center in Houston to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, to review IT purchases before proceeding. Any major information technology investments, from replacing a million-dollar server to an expensive computer network upgrade, must be evaluated, said Scott Santiago of the NASA Chief Information Office.
"We want to use this as an opportunity to look at the major investments that we are making," Santiago said. "We have to be frugal" spending the agency"s IT funds, he added. The moratorium began in December and should be completed by mid-February, Santiago said. The extra scrutiny generally will affect projects costing more than $100,000.The review will not affect the $1.3 billion in ongoing IT projects essential to the mission of the agency, he said.
"We have not found a lot of projects that we have had to say no to," Santiago said. "