Thomas Luedtke

NASA
Thomas Luedtke
Assistant Administrator for Procurement

NASA's top shopper considers it a miracle when he comes out of his local price club without spending hundreds of dollars. Tom Luedtke also buys a lot of stuff online. Selection and prices are better, and it sure beats walking from store to store. Like most consumers, the space agency's assistant administrator for procurement wants the best deal he can get on everyday purchases. But for items that are out of the ordinary, Luedtke says he is willing to pay extra for quality: "It's not automatically the low cost."

He applies the same "best value analysis" principle at NASA, where he's overseen far-reaching initiatives in competitive sourcing, performance-based contracting, risk-based acquisition management and electronic commerce since 1998. "If human life is at stake, we're going to be very interested in the quality," says Luedtke. "If it's something relatively mundane, like copy paper, we're going to be looking at the best price."

NASA invented the electronic posting system that the General Services Administration uses to communicate with potential suppliers on the Web. Building on its leadership in e-commerce, the agency soon will roll out "contract wizard" software to help procurement officers draft several types of purchase agreements.

What lies beyond that horizon is difficult for the procurement official to say. NASA's 11th administrator has promised some reforms. Michael Griffin is on record as an ardent supporter of performance-based contracting. Luedtke has been trying to drive into the agency's culture the concept of risk-based acquisition management. He anticipates his new boss will continue that emphasis.

How Griffin restructures NASA to carry out U.S. exploration goals could prompt realignment of certain jobs characterized as inherently governmental or commercial in nature. "There will be some areas we place less emphasis on, [but] I don't think there's going to be an enormous change," says Luedtke.