Northrop Grumman CEO takes grilling over cost of James Webb telescope, being assembled in Redondo Beach

Congressional representatives this week delivered harsh words to Northrop Grumman CEO Wesley Bush over problems and cost overruns on the James Webb Space Telescope being assembled in Redondo Beach.

On Wednesday it was announced the telescope would exceed the $8.8 million price ceiling set by Congress in 2011 and take an additional two years, bringing the total price tag to $9.7 billion and an expected launch date of 2021.

When it was first proposed in 1996, the revolutionary telescope billed as a successor to the Hubble Space Telescope capable of peering 13.5 billion light years away was expected to cost about $1 billion and be launched by 2007.

“Who is going to be held accountable?” asked Rep. Lamar Smith (R-San Antonio), who chairs the House Science, Space and Technology Committee

Bush appeared on Thursday before the committee in a two-part hearing that also included NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine and Tom Young, a former Lockheed Martin executive who led an independent review board into the James Webb program.

That report found that largely human errors resulted in the cost overruns and scheduling delaying. Mistakes included using the wrong solvent on propulsion valves, faulty wiring and fasteners to the sun shield that came loose scattering 70 bolts among the telescope, some of which engineers were still trying to locate.

Those errors alone accounted for 1.5 years and $600 million, according to Young.

Other fundamental issues identified in the report among 37 corrective measures it outlined included systemic problems in design, lack of experience in areas such as the sunshield, excessive optimism and overall system complexity.

“We recognize we have contributed to the telescope’s delays,” Bush acknowledged before the committee. “The complexity of this first ever program inevitably creates opportunities for human error.”

Putting it on the line

In an exchange with Chairman Smith, Bush said the company was willing to forego any past and future payments for the telescope until the mission is deemed a success.

“We are willing to place all the fees we have already earned and the fees we may earn in the future at risk based on successful activation and demonstration of the telescope on orbit,” Bush said.

Smith, however, wanted Bush to go a step further and pay for the $837 million in latest cost overruns, to which the CEO respectfully declined.

“That would create more of a fixed price relationship on this program, which would significantly impede and impair NASA’s relationship with Northrop Grumman,” Bush said. “We think that would be the wrong approach.”

Smith fired back.

“I think that would be justified given the poor record and given the poor management Mr. Young referred to yesterday,” said the chairman. “I only wish Northrop Grumman was willing to take responsibility and show a little bit more good faith both for the taxpayer and the cost overruns, but it looks like you’ve made up your mind.”

One of the problems, according to Young, is that contractors such as Northrop bid the “lowest credible cost” and because the contracts have cost overruns build into them, there is little reason to control spending. Changes to the design of the telescope and additional features given new technology also drive up expenses.

“Being the lowest credible bidder should not be the criteria for winning the contract,” Young said. “NASA should develop a most probable cost for the program.”

At stake with the James Webb Telescope is nothing short of American pride, Bush said. With the NASA shuttle program ended and U.S. space launches left to commercial companies, projects such as the James Webb Telescope have the potential to dramatically increase our understanding of the universe.

“This is the largest and most complex telescope ever built,” Bush said. “It will reaffirm and solidify U.S leadership in space. Other nations are testing our will to lead in space. It doesn’t just stretch Hubble’s limits. It’s a leap ahead.”

After all of the tests are completed in Redondo Beach, the telescope will be packed up and shipped to French Guiana where it will be launched into space on an Ariane 5 rocket by the European Space Agency.

As the telescope soars through space toward its destination 1 million miles from earth it begins to unravel beginning with a solar panel and then the tennis court size sunshield that allows the telescope to cool until finally exposing the 21-foot primary mirror.

Tensions high

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Orange County) was skeptical of the mission’s ability to inspire young people as Bush suggested.

“I’m sorry that I cannot join you in this uplifting testimony that you’ve given today. Mr. Bush, I don’t think that we should look to our young people and give them an example of being eight times over budget and twice as long,” he said.

“Whoever was handling this in your company failed us and the American people,” Rohrabacher went on. “So you can say, ‘Is the Jim Webb telescope going to be worth all that money?’ That’s not what the question is. The question is, ‘Is it worth all those other projects that we have been unable to fund in this committee because you have failed your job?’”

Tensions rose again at the end of the hearing when Chairman Smith pressed Bush on whether anyone was fired as a result of the most recent cost overruns.

“So, no one has lost their jobs in relation to the cost overruns?” Smith asked.

“I wouldn’t say that,” Bush said. “If we find issues with conduct that are willful, we act on it. In the case where they make honest errors, we want them to learn.”

Smith pressed further: “How many lost their jobs specifically for the mistakes mentioned today?” he asked.

“With respect to the mistakes mentioned here today I don’t recall any of them losing their jobs,” replied Bush.

The two tangled again over the question of Northrop’s profits, which reported net income of $2 billion on revenues of $25.8 billion — a matter of public record. But Bush refused to answer, instead referring to the SEC filing.

“How can a CEO not know what the profit of his company was last year? You say it’s public information and you won’t tell us today.” Smith said. “Why would you not tell us? You talked about transparency and willing to give us information.”

“I’m perfectly willing to tell you I just want to make sure I get it right,” Bush said.