NASA

National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

NASA PHASED PROJECT PLANNING

A concept within NASA where new projects move through an orderly progression of funded phases from conceptual study to project implementation. See Phase A (and Phase B, Phase C, and Phase D).

NEED TO KNOW

A criterion used in security procedures which requires the custodians of Classified information to establish, prior to disclosure, that the intended recipient must have access to the information in order to perform official duties.

NEGOTIATED CONTRACT

A Contract obtained by direct agreement with a contractor without sealed Bids.

NEGOTIATED CONTRACT COST

The Estimated Cost negotiated in a Cost-Plus Fixed Fee Contract, or the negotiated contract Target Cost in either a Fixed-Price-Incentive Contract or a Cost-Plus-Incentive Fee Contract.

NEGOTIATION

1) Contracting through the use of either competitive or other-than-competitive proposals and discussions. Any contract Awarded without using sealed bidding procedures is a Negotiated contract. 2) In its more formal context, one of the major methods of Procurement, negotiation is employed under certain permissive circumstances prescribed by statute, when formal advertising is determined to be infeasible and impracticable. 3) In its more general context, a bargaining process between two or more parties, each with its own viewpoints and objectives, seeking to reach a mutually satisfactory agreement on, or settlement of, a matter of common concern. 4) In Estimating, the give and take process of final deliberations between a buyer and a seller necessary to finalize a Statement of Work, program definition, Cost Estimate, and/or a contract for a specific program or product.

NET INCOME

The amount of Income remaining after Expenses and taxes are subtracted from Gross Income.

NEW START

1) An item or effort appearing in the President's Budget for the first time. 2) An item or effort that was previously funded in research or Exploratory Development and is transitioned to advanced or Engineering Development; or an item or effort transitioning from engineering Development into procurement.

NO COST CHANGE

A Contract change which does not affect the price of the contract, but which may or may not include Overhead costs.

NO COST CONTRACT

A Contract with no monetary price. When a company is engaged in pursuit of a research or Development task and learns that the Government has Classified information on that subject, a no Cost contract may be used to establish a legal Need to Know for the contractor to obtain access to that Data. While the contract value is zero, the company normally agrees to "pay" for this information by furnishing the Government with a copy of any internal report(s) of accomplishment on the specific research effort, such reports generally being treated as proprietary and nondistributable in nature. The basic purpose of a no cost contract is to avoid costly duplication of effort. Use of this type of contract is not intended to prohibit the normal recovery of Research costs through Overhead.

NOMENCLATURE

1) The markings, titles, models, and serial numbers used to identify hardware and End items. 2) The set or system of official names or titles given to items of material or equipment.

NON-ADVOCACY COST REVIEW

An in-depth NASA project review conducted by a team of NASA technical and programmatic experts who have no vested interest in the project being reviewed. The team includes individuals from NASA headquarters and several NASA field centers to provide a broad background of experience and knowledge. The reviews are a precursor step for a project's approval to enter Phase C, the Design Phase. Non-advocacy reviews may also occur whenever a project undergoes a major change in Baseline, due to Budget Constraints, program redirection, or technical problems.

NON-APPROPRIATED FUNDS

Moneys derived from sources other than congressional Appropriations, primarily from the sale of goods and services to DoD military and civilian personnel and their dependents and used to support or provide essential morale, self care, recreational, and certain religious and educational programs. Another distinguishing Characteristic of these funds is the fact that there is no accountability for them in the fiscal records of the Treasury of the United States.

NONCOST DATA

Data which contains no Cost information, but which is required to complement Cost Data. Noncost data includes the significant facts and Assumptions necessary to describe what is being costed. Specific examples of noncost data include technical descriptions, schedules, Groundrules and Assumptions, and other conditions under which the estimated work is to be performed.

NON-CRITICAL FAILURE

Any Failure which degrades performance or results in degraded Operational Capability, requiring special operating techniques or alternative modes of operation which can be tolerated throughout a mission but should be corrected immediately upon completion of mission.

NONDEVELOPMENTAL ITEM (NDI)

1) Any item of supply that is available in the Commercial marketplace. 2) Any previously developed item of supply that is in use by a department or Agency of the United States, a state or local government, or a foreign government with which the United States has a mutual defense cooperation agreement. 3) Any item of supply described in 1) or 2), above, which requires only minor modification in order to meet the requirements of the procuring agency. 4) Any item of supply that is currently being produced, but does not meet the requirements of 1), 2), or 3), above, solely because the item is not yet in use, or is not yet available in the Commercial Marketplace.

NONEXPENDABLE MATERIEL

Items which are not consumed in use and which ordinarily retain their original identity and Characteristics during the period of use and subsequent reparable Cycles, such as weapons, vehicles, machines, tools, and instruments.

NONLABOR COST(S)

Any Costs incurred by a company which are not paid for through the company's payroll program. Nonlabor is generally contrasted with labor in the overhead accounting sense, and may also refer to material items, utilities, or services purchased.

NONMATERIAL SOLUTION

A solution to mission needs deficiencies, that can be satisfied by changes in doctrine, tactics, operational concepts, training, or organization.

NONPRODUCTIVE COSTS

Costs which do not contribute directly to the performance of the mission of the organization or function which incurred the expense.

NONPRODUCTIVE TIME

Time not directly associated with the manufacture of a product or the performance of a task.

NON-RECURRING COSTS

1) One time Costs, which are independent of quantity changes. 2) Those Elements of Development and investment cost which generally occur only once in the Life Cycle of a system. Non-recurring costs may include the cost of Engineering, Test and Evaluation, tooling, and other preproduction activities. Specific non-recurring tasks include basic Design and development, all system and subsystem test activities (except End item acceptance testing), Configuration Audits, qualification testing, technical publications through initial release, basic tool and production planning through initial release, the production of units for test purposes only, and specialized initial work force training.

NONSTANDARD ADDERS

Items, or Costs, which are added to an Estimate on case by case basis, such as royalties, warranties, and guarantees, etc. See Standard Adders.

NORMALIZE

1) To adjust the Characteristic and fraction of a floating decimal point number, thus eliminating leading zeros in the fraction. 2) To adjust a measured parameter to a value acceptable to an instrument or technique of measurement. 3) To normalize a Data base is to render constant or to adjust for known differences. 4) For Cost or dollars, normalization means that Then-Year Dollars and/or Actuals are escalated to a common Base Year for comparison.

NOT-LESS-THAN (NLT)

A corporate Commitment to a customer that the value of an Estimate, plus appropriate Contingency allowances, will not be less than the firm Proposal and estimates which will be submitted at a later date. An NLT value may be adjusted if changes are made in the Statement of Work, requirements, and/or specifications.

NOT-TO-EXCEED (NTE)

A corporate Commitment to a customer that the value of an Estimate, plus appropriate Contingency allowances, will not exceed the firm Proposal and estimates which will be submitted at a later date. An NTE value may be adjusted if changes are made in the Statement of Work, requirements, and/or specifications.

NUCLEAR, BIOLOGICAL, AND CHEMICAL CONTAMINATION (NBCC)

The deposit and/or absorption of residual radioactive material or biological, or chemical agents on or by structures, areas, personnel, or objects. NBCC includes: (a) Nuclear (N) Contamination, residual radioactive material resulting from fallout or rainout, and residual radiation from a system produced by a nuclear explosion, and persisting longer than one minute after burst; (b) Biological (B) Contamination, microorganisms and toxins that cause disease in man, plants, or animals, or cause the deterioration of materiel; and, (c) Chemical (C) Contamination, chemical substances intended for use in military operations to kill, seriously injure, incapacitate, or temporarily irritate or disable man through their physiological effects. See Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Contamination Survivability.

NUCLEAR, BIOLOGICAL, AND CHEMICAL CONTAMINATION SURVIVABILITY

The Capability of a system (and its crew) to withstand a Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical contaminated environment and relevant Decontamination, without losing the ability to accomplish the assigned mission. A Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Contamination (NBCC) survivable system is: (a) hardened against Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical contamination; (b) can be decontaminated; and, (c) is Compatible with individual protective equipment. Hardness is the Capability of material to withstand the materiel-damaging effects of NBCC. (See also Nuclear Hardness.) decontamination is the process of making personnel and materiel safe by absorbing, destroying, neutralizing, making harmless, or removing chemical or biological agents, or by removing radioactive material clinging to or around it. Compatibility is the capability of a system to be operated, maintained, and resupplied by persons wearing a full complement of individual protective equipment, in all climates for which the system is designed, and for the period specified for in the Operational Requirements Document.

NUCLEAR HARDNESS

A quantitative description of the resistance of a system or Component to malfunction (temporary and permanent) and/or degraded performance induced by a nuclear weapon environment. Nuclear hardness is measured by resistance to physical quantities such as overpressure, peak velocities, energy absorbed, and electrical stress. Hardness is achieved through adhering to appropriate Design Specifications and is verified by one or more test and Analysis techniques. See Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Contamination Survivability.

NUCLEAR SURVIVABILITY

The Capability of a system to operate during and/or after exposure to a nuclear environment. Survivability may be achieved by a number of methods, including proliferation, redundancy, avoidance, reconstitution, deception, and hardening. See Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Contamination Survivability.

NUCLEAR SURVIVABILITY CHARACTERISTICS

A quantitative description of the system features needed to meet survivability requirements. Such system features include those Design, performance, and operational capabilities used to limit or avoid the hostile environment, and Architectures that minimize the impact of localized damage to the larger wartime mission, as well as physical hardening to environment levels which cannot be otherwise mitigated. See Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Contamination Survivability.

NUMERATOR

1) The quantity or value above the line indicating division in a fraction or ratio. 2) The quantity that is divided by the Denominator.