The effect of policy changes on NASA science mission cost & schedule growth

NASA implemented policy changes starting in 2006 that required projects to budget to probabilistic cost and schedule estimates. This paper will address the policy changes and quantify the cost and schedule increase for NASA Science missions before and after the policy was implemented. The paper will also address the relative value of missions before and after the policy changes to assess if the overall value of missions have changed. The results indicate that the policy has had the desired effect of reducing the cost and schedule growth from the initial baseline.