scope:

Applicability

a. This NASA Policy Directive (NPD) is applicable to NASA Headquarters and NASA Centers, including Component Facilities and Technical and Service Support Centers. This NPD is applicable to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory(JPL), a Federally Funded Research and Development Center and to other NASA contractors to the extent specified in their contracts.

b. This NPD is applicable to NASA contractors to the extent specified in their contracts.

c. In this directive, all mandatory actions (i.e., requirements) are denoted by statements containing the term "shall." The terms: "may" or "can" denote discretionary privilege or permission, "should" denotes a good practice and is recommended, but not required, "will" denotes expected outcome, and "are/is" denotes descriptive material.

d. Documents cited as authority, applicable, or reference documents may be cited as a different categorization, which characterizes its function in relation to the specific context.