Florida legislators should stop the state's aerospace development agency from spending more to refurbish a Cape Canaveral launch complex until its financial benefits are more clear, a state watchdog report recommends. In an eight-page research memo released today, the state's Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability says improvements to Launch Complex 36 should wait until Space Florida completes a spaceport master plan that better spells out the project's costs and benefits.
The report also recommends that legislators require Space Florida to develop deadlines for the completion of the master plan, and suggests the agency improve its business plan to include more measurable objectives and benchmarks.
Space Florida is meeting most of its statutory responsibilities, the report says.
Read the report here.
Led by President and CEO Steve Kohler, Space Florida is an independent special district established by the Space Florida Act of 2006. It consolidated the Florida Spaceport Authority, the Florida Space Research Institute and the Florida Aerospace Finance Corporation. The Legislature last year gave Space Florida $14.5 million to design a multi-use, multi-vehicle launch complex that could attract testing and launch business by October 2010.
The report says there is industry disagreement about whether the launch complex - intended to support vehicles with payloads ranging from 200 pounds to 10,000 pounds - will benefit more than a small number of businesses.
"Without a spaceport master plan, it is difficult to assess the expected long-term costs and benefits of such infrastructure improvement projects, and resolve issues regarding their feasibility," the report says.
Space Florida expects to complete a spaceport master plan by the end of this year.
Click here to visit Space Florida's Web site.
IMAGE NOTES: Space Florida's official logo, and a photo of President and CEO Steve Kohler. Source: Space Florida.
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