scope:

Applicability

a. This NASA Procedural Requirement (NPR) applies to NASA Headquarters and NASA Centers, including component facilities and technical and service support centers. This NPR applies to NASA employees and NASA support contractors that use NASA processes to augment and support NASA technical work. This NPR applies to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), a Federally Funded Research and Development Center, other contractors, grant recipients, or parties to agreements only to the extent specified or referenced in the appropriate contracts, grants, or agreements. (See Chapter 4.)

b. This NPR applies to air and space flight, research and technology, information technology (IT), and institutional programs and projects. Tailoring the requirements in this NPR and customizing practices, based on criteria such as system/product size, complexity, criticality, acceptable risk posture, and architectural level, are necessary and expected. See Section 2.2 for tailoring and customizing descriptions. For IT programs and projects and applicable SE tailoring for IT, see NPR 7120.7, NASA Information Technology and Institutional Infrastructure Program and Project Management Requirements.

c. In this document, projects are viewed as a specific investment with defined goals, objectives, and requirements, with the majority containing a life-cycle cost, a beginning, and an end. Projects normally yield new or revised products or services that directly address NASA strategic needs. They are performed through a variety of means, such as wholly in-house, by Government, industry, international or academic partnerships, or through contracts with private industry.

d. The requirements enumerated in this document are applicable to all new programs and projects, as well as to all programs and projects currently in the Formulation Phase, as of the effective date of this document. (See NPR 7120.5, NASA Space Flight Program and Project Management Requirements; or NPR 7120.8, NASA Research and Technology Program and Project Management Requirements for definitions of program phases.) This NPR also applies to programs and projects in their Implementation Phase as of the effective date of this document. For existing programs/projects regardless of their current phase, waivers or deviations allowing continuation of current practices that do not comply with one or more requirements of this NPR, may be granted using the Center's Engineering Technical Authority (ETA) Process.

e. Many other discipline areas perform functions during the program/project life cycle and influence or are influenced by the engineering functions performed and, therefore, need to be fully integrated into the SE processes. These discipline areas include but are not limited to health and medical, safety, reliability, maintainability, quality assurance, IT, system security (including cybersecurity), logistics, operations, training, human systems integration, planetary protection, and environmental protection. The description of these disciplines and their relationship to the overall program/project management life cycle are defined in other NASA directives; for example, the safety, reliability, maintainability, and quality assurance requirements and standards are defined in the Office of Safety and Mission Assurance (OSMA) directives and standards, and health and medical requirements are defined in the Office of the Chief Health and Medical Officer (OCHMO) directives and standards.

f. In this NPR, all mandatory actions (i.e., requirements) are denoted by statements containing the term "shall." The requirements are explicitly shown as [SE-XX] for clarity and tracking purposes as indicated in Appendix H. 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.

g. In this NPR, all document citations are assumed to be the latest version, unless otherwise noted.