NASA Talent Exchange Program Act

This bill sets up a NASA talent exchange with private companies. NASA could temporarily send its own employees to work at a company, and bring company employees in to work at NASA, to share skills and experience. Each exchange must use a written agreement. NASA workers who go on assignment must return to government service for twice the time they were away, unless NASA finds a good reason to waive it. Either side can end an assignment at any time. Assignments run 3 months to 2 years and can be extended, but no one can serve more than 3 years total in these exchanges .

The bill puts guardrails in place. It bars people in the program from using inside, draft NASA budget or contract info to help a company, and it blocks access to a company’s trade secrets. Private workers keep getting paid by their company and cannot do core government decision-making. Companies also can’t bill the government for the pay and benefits of their employees on assignment at NASA. NASA must set clear rules, watch for conflicts of interest, and cap participation at no more than 2% of its civil servant workforce at any one time. NASA must report each year on how the program is working, and an independent review is required after three years .

• Who is affected: NASA civil servants and employees of private companies that partner with NASA.
• What changes: Creates a two-way, temporary work exchange with written agreements and a return-to-service commitment for NASA employees.
• How long: 3–24 months per assignment; up to 3 years total; can be ended at any time by NASA or the company.
• Safeguards: No misuse of inside info, no core government decisions by private workers, no access to company trade secrets, company still pays its worker, no charging those costs to the government, conflict-of-interest checks, 2% cap on participants .
• Oversight: NASA sets policies and reports yearly on results; a government watchdog review comes within three years .