ACQUISITION POLICY ASSESSMENT.

SEC. 401. ACQUISITION POLICY ASSESSMENT. (a) Assessment.— Within 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator, in coordination as necessary with the Office of Federal Procurement Policy and the Federal Acquisition Regulation Council, shall carry out an assessment of the allocation of risk between the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and its contractors for future research and development contracts in order to identify options for allocating risk for correction of defects in materials and workmanship or other failures to conform to contract0s. 106 STAT. 5121 (b) Contents.— In carrying out the assessment required by subsection (a), the Administrator shall consider— (1) technical uncertainty, market dynamics, and equity to both the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the contractor community; (2) the use of positive fee incentives reflecting the level of cost, schedule, and performance risk accepted by the contractor; (3) the use of negative fee incentives, including provisions providing for less than full cost recovery for work determined to be defective in materials or workmanship or which otherwise fail to conform to contract requirements; (4) the appropriate use of rollovers; (5) the appropriate use of retroactive award fee adjustments; (6) the appropriate use of value engineering; (7) the use of warranties to ensure that the end product or a specified subproduct of a contract meets the performance requirements of a contract; (8) the recovery of costs for the replacement or correction of articles which are defective in materials or workmanship, or which otherwise fail to conform to contract requirements; and (9) the appropriate use of performance-based contracting.