A Conversation With: Patty Stratton

Patty Stratton has served as USA’s Deputy APM for Ground Operations at KSC since 2004. In 2006, Florida Site Executive Bill Pickavance gave her the additional responsibility of serving as the Florida lead for the Constellation Program and new business opportunities at KSC. In this role, she coordinates a wide variety of efforts across multiple elements to develop new work opportunities for the Florida site. In this issue, Stratton discusses that effort.

UPDATE: As USA’s KSC lead for new business development, what are the opportunities for USA as you see them?

STRATTON: There are many opportunities for USA, and the future in Florida is exciting.

For example, right now we’re working on five new RFIs (Requests for Information) that have been released from NASA KSC alone – each RFI represents new work that’s going to be performed at KSC. We’ve responded to RFIs in the areas of thermal protection, command and control, ground processing, work management system, facility modification, logistics and many others.

We are part of the Lockheed-Martin Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) team, and we have an excellent working relationship with that group. USA has set up a CEV office in the Operations and Checkout (O&C) Building here at KSC, headed up by Lloyd Gregg, and Ground Ops has employees already working on that effort.

In other Constellation work, USA is on the Boeing team that is pursuing the contract to build the Ares I rocket upper stage. The Ares I rocket will serve as the launcher for the CEV. Several Ground Ops employees are working on that team right now.

USA already has a subcontract with ATK to provide support for the Ares I rocket first stage. The USA project manager for that is Dan Mann, and our Florida team is working very closely together to provide the proper mix of employees to accomplish the work.

One of our best opportunities is NASA’s Acquisition Strategy for Ground Processing Services. This contract will cover ground processing, assembly, integration, test, launch and recovery for Constellation. USA is responding now to an RFI on this, and we expect the draft RFP call to come out in March 2008, with a contract award in July 2009. This acquisition strategy grew out of a NASA study request that our Ground Ops team responded to last year called the Constellation Concept of Ground Operations Study.

UPDATE: What was USA’s participation in the Constellation for Ground Operations Study?

STRATTON: USA was one of four companies that responded to a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) from NASA that requested a concept of operations for Constellation ground processing at Kennedy Space Center.

A total of about 200 USA employees contributed to USA’s Constellation for Ground Operations Study, which we submitted to NASA in October. We recommended a significant number of innovations for future operations. One example of a proposal we submitted dealt with a way to perform Constellation modifications on Launch Pad 39B while keeping it Shuttle-ready for the Hubble launch-on-need flight.

As a result of our hard work on the BAA study, USA is now actively working with NASA on seven KSC work packages, such as the VAB platforms, Firing Room 1 modifications and the transition work on Pad B. We are also partnering with NASA on eight new work packages. That’s all new work for USA that resulted directly from the BAA work.

In addition, USA has been tasked by NASA to perform preplanning for the Ares 1-X test flight, including design and implementation of facility modifications. The test flight is slated for 2009, and we have positioned ourselves to be the operations contractor for that test flight.

UPDATE: Are there any other opportunities you can discuss?

STRATTON: We are also looking at opportunities in the services area at KSC, and there is the potential for new work with private businesses that are participating in NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation System (COTS) Program. We’re also looking at the possibility of providing services to other government agencies.

UPDATE: What have we learned from the Space Shuttle Program that we will be able to use to improve launch and recovery operations in the Constellation era?

STRATTON: Our years of Shuttle operations experience have taught us that the Shuttle vehicle design was not optimal when it comes to processing and maintenance operations. Our biggest lesson learned, which is one that NASA embrac es, is that the operators should be involved in the design from the beginning, to reduce processing complexity, time and costs.

UPDATE: What is our biggest challenge as we transition to the follow-on Exploration programs?

STRATTON: It is imperative that we continue our excellent performance for the Space Shuttle Program and the International Space Station (ISS). Our performance on flying out the Shuttle and completing the Space Station will dictate our opportunities for the future.

One of our top priorities is to keep our workforce challenged and excited about the work in front of us right now as well as about the future possibilities. Part of this challenge involves attracting and training new aerospace workers to help us now and take us into the future.

UPDATE: What do you think USA’s biggest advantage is in terms of capturing and executing future business?

STRATTON: Without a doubt, our biggest advantage is our workforce. We have an exceptional group of employees who have an absolute commitment to and a passion for what they do. Their per formances on the Space Shuttle Program and the ISS are what will enable us to win new work.

We continue to hear from visitors to KSC that they’ve never seen a workforce with so much pride and passion for their work. I see it all the time myself. If I’m having a bad day, I go out to the processing areas and talk to people. Their attitude is infectious. Our people and their expertise are our best asset from a business perspective.

UPDATE: Is there anything else you want the workforce to know regarding the future of USA here at KSC?

STRATTON: Joe Hammond, our Vice President of New Business Development, has a great team out there soliciting new work. Anne Martt, USA’s Vice President and Constellation Program Manager, has assembled a formidable team to manage the future work. I want people to know that there are opportunities out there, and there are a lot of people focused on taking full advantage of them.

Mark Nappi and I spend every day looking for opportunities for new work, and so do many others here. In addition to our team here, Scott Hartwig in Flight Operations is doing the same thing in Houston, and Bob Herman is doing the same thing in Huntsville. We are all actively working on expanding our business every day.

Our goal is to find as much work as we can to retain as many employees as possible, and we feel optimistic about that. Our company has a very good reputation, and our workforce is viewed as excellent. It is a common industry perception that our workforce has the knowledge base for the future. We routinely get calls from people working on Exploration programs at other NASA centers asking for our help.

We wish we could be more definitive, but given the changing political environment, the federal budget challenges and the ongoing evolution of the plans for Constellation programs, it’s difficult to provide concrete answers about new business. But there are opportunities out there, and we are pursuing them every day.

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