GNIRS RESTART REVIEW

July 20-21, 1999

 
 
 

AGENDA

COMMITTEE CHARGE

PRESENTATION

Tuesday, July 20
 
 

Time	Section	Event	Presenter(s)
0800		Closed Review Committee Session	James Breckinridge
0830	I	Introduction	Sidney Wolff
0900	II	Summary of Committee Report Items	Sidney Wolff
0930	III	Current Status of the GNIRS Project	Neil Gaughan
1030		Break
1045	IV	Project Overview - RR to Completion	Neil Gaughan
1130	V	Project Management	Neil Gaughan
1200		Lunch
1300		Project Management (cont)	Neil Gaughan
1400	VI	GNIRS Configuration	Jay Elias/Brooke Gregory/Larry Goble/Gary Muller/Andy Rudeen
1430		Break
1445		GNIRS Configuration (cont)	Jay Elias/Brooke Gregory/Larry Goble/Gary Muller/Andy Rudeen
1700		End of First Day

Wednesday, July 21
 

Time	Section	Event	Presenter(s)
0830		Meeting Start-up
0845		GNIRS Configuration (cont)	Jay Elias/Brooke Gregory/Larry Goble/Gary Muller/Andy Rudeen
1000		Break
1015	VII	Risk Identification and Mitigation Plan	Neil Gaughan
1100	VIII	Conclusion	Sidney Wolff
1200		Lunch
1300	IX	Committee Caucus	Chair - James Breckinridge

During October 1998 AURA held a thorough review of the GNIRS project after it was reported by NOAO and the USGP that GNIRS would substantially overrun its budget and delivery schedule. Among the recommendations of that overall project review was one to hold a Restart Review before formally deciding if the instrument should be allowed to proceed. The purpose of this Restart Review is expressed in the Executive Summary of the AURA review committee’s report, which states that,

“GNIRS should be restarted if a successful “restart review” can be completed. This review should be aimed at resolving technical/fabrication issues, cost and schedule issues, and the adequacy of the new GNIRS management and engineering team currently being assembled by NOAO. The Review panel concluded that such a “restart review” must be based upon a proper project technical management structure with well-defined roles and responsibilities. The intent of this review should be to show clearly and rigorously (1) that the GNIRS instrument, completed under NOAO’s project plan as presented to the Panel, will be a world-class device appropriate to the funds and time spent to develop it, and (2) that the GNIRS instrument will have operational capabilities (cool down time, alignment stability, etc.) which will make it an asset rather than a liability to the end user community.”

In this context, the Restart Review committee is charged to investigate the following questions -

1) What is NOAO’s current cost estimate to complete GNIRS and on what schedule?
2) Is this estimate consistent with NOAO’s planned resources over the duration of the GNIRS project?
3) Have the technical issues (AURA report attached for reference) identified by the AURA review committee been addressed adequately to permit continuation of GNIRS?
4) Does NOAO now have in place an appropriate management structure to track, plan, and control resources to ensure that GNIRS will be delivered on time and budget?
5) Are there any approaches to designing and fabricating GNIRS that can significantly accelerate the planned delivery, e.g., through the injection of additional NOAO resources, outsourcing the fabrication of components, etc.?
6) Have all contractual matters involving out of scope work, definition of work, and interfacing requirements been settled with IGPO?

The Restart Review committee, which is defined by Gemini Observatory, will promptly report its findings to Gemini, AURA, and NOAO, so appropriate action can be taken to resolve outstanding issues in the GNIRS project.

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