REQUIREMENT FOR INDEPENDENT COST ANALYSIS.

SEC. 301. REQUIREMENT FOR INDEPENDENT COST ANALYSIS. (a) Requirement.—Before any funds may be obligated for Phase B of a project that is projected to cost more than $ 150,000,000 in total project costs, the Chief Financial Officer for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration shall conduct an independent life-cycle cost analysis of such project and shall report the results to Congress. In developing cost accounting and reporting standards for carrying out this section, the Chief Financial Officer shall, to the extent practicable and consistent with other laws, solicit the advice of expertise outside of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. (b) Definition.—For purposes of this section, the term “Phase B” means the latter stages of project formulation, during which the final definition of a project is carried out and before project implementation (which includes the Design, Development, and Operations Phases) begins.