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Guide to the Automatic Data Processing Acquisition Planning Records,
1965-1997
AFS5107
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Title: Automatic Data Processing Acquisition Planning Records
Date (inclusive): 1965-1997
Collection Number: AFS5107
Creator:
Pearson, B. Douglas, Jr.
Tunnell, Phillips J.
Extent:
Number of containers: 6
Volume: 2 cubic feet
Volume: 2 cubic feet
Repository:
Ames Research Center,
Ames History Office
Moffett Field, California 94035
Abstract: This collection provides a glimpse into Automatic Data Processing procurement planning, which was conducted at NASA Ames Research
Center from 1965 to 1996 in accordance with the Brooks Automatic Data Processing Act of 1965. Though the collection does not
constitute a complete set of records of this work, it does offer insight into three decades of computing capabilities at Ames.
The most extensively documented efforts include planning for mainframe computer procurement from 1965 to 1980, for acquiring
the CRAY-2 Cyber 205, and for formulating the Numerical Aerodynamic Simulation Program.
Language:
English
Collection is open for research.
Copyright does not apply to United States government records. For non-government
material, researcher must contact the original creator.
NASA Ames History Office, NASA Ames Research Center. Moffett Field, California. AFS5107, Automatic Data Processing Acquisition
Planning Records, [Container number]: [Folder number]. [Identification of item]. [Date, if available].
NASA ARC. AFS5107, [Container number]: [Folder number]. [Identification of item]. [Date, if available].
The following items were removed from the collection and incorporated into the Archives Reference Collection (AFS1070.8A):
- Ames Telephone Directories (October 1987, May 1992, January 1994, June 1996)
- Clippings, Miscellaneous
- Fluid Mechanics Laboratory Construction Contract Award Announcement (1985)
- Numerical Aerodynamic Simulation Program Newsletters (October 1986-July 1990)
The following publications were removed from the collection and transferred to the Ames Technical Library:
- Ames Research Center. NAS technical summaries: Numerical Aerodynamic Simulation Program, March 1991 - February 1992. Moffett Field, CA: NASA-TM-109335, 1992.
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Scientific and Technical Information Branch. Supercomputing in aerospace, proceedings of a symposium held at the NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California, March 10-12, 1987. Washington, DC: NASA-CP-2454, 1987.
AFS1070.8A: Archives Reference Collection
255.4.1: NACA Ames Aeronautical Laboratory and NASA Ames Research Center Records at NARA San Francisco, 1939-1971
PP07.13-RS: Robert E. Slye Papers, 1961-2001, General/Reference Publications Series
A portion of the material (Accession 2014-006) was transferred from Ames to the National Archives and Records Administration
Federal Records Center (FRC) in 1985. When the material was slated for destruction at FRC in 1991, Douglas Pearson transferred
it to Paul Ceruzzi, who was then a space history curator at the National Air and Space Museum. (Ceruzzi was later to cite
the records in his book A History of Modern Computing in the section discussing the era of mainframe computing.) In 2014,
Paul Ceruzzi transferred the material to the NASA Ames Research Center History Office.
Donated by Paul E. Ceruzzi and B. Douglas Pearson Jr. on May 1, 2014 and May 29, 2014, respectively.
The passage of the Brooks Automatic Data Processing Act of 1965 marked a transition toward establishing uniform Automatic
Data Processing (ADP) guidelines for federal computer systems. In addition to promoting the development of standards and interconnectivity,
the Brooks Act was meant to enhance efficiency and economy in the government's procurement of ADP systems. At the time, the
Federal government was the world's largest user of ADP equipment and these costly, customized systems were consuming almost
three percent of the Federal budget. The General Services Administration assumed responsibility for coordinating the procurement
of computer systems according to the fiscal and policy direction of the Bureau of the Budget (now the Office of Management
and Budget). As a Federal agency, NASA had to comply with new requirements, including the production of detailed plans for
ADP acquisitions. By the end of the year Ames had developed its first annual acquisitions plan and, by 1967, an ADP Management
Office was established in the Office of the Director within Thomas R. Dines's Computation Division (Code DK). Former Aeronautics
Office chief Phillips J. "Jack" Tunnell was selected to head the new office and assume responsibility for managing procurement
planning. Until his retirement in 1980, Tunnell handled the complex acquisition plans for building up computing capabilities
at Ames, notably the procurement of many generations of mainframe computers. At the end of Tunnell's tenure, the ADP Management
Office remained within the Computation Division (Code RK), but the division had been moved to the Office of the Director of
Research.
Not long after Tunnell's departure, the ADP Management Office moved under the Advanced Computational and Management Office
(Code RT) headed by Marceline C. Smith, and B. Douglas Pearson Jr. was tapped to run it. Pearson remained in charge of ADP
acquisitions planning for Ames until he retired from the civil service nearly two decades later. With the Ames-Dryden consolidation
in 1981, the ascendancy of microcomputers and supercomputers during that decade, and the establishment of a new supercomputing
facility on the horizon, Pearson had his work cut out for him. The merger with Dryden added ADP planning for an additional
research center to the office's list of responsibilities and, as if that weren't enough, both centers replaced and upgraded
all of their computing facilities over the next couple of years. By the mid-1980s, the mainframe computer era gave way to
supercomputing, with multimillion-dollar Cray systems coming on board from 1981 through 1986. In parallel, planning was underway
for the Numerical Aerodynamic Simulation program, which came online in 1985, and for the program's new supercomputing facility,
which opened in 1987. (Called NAS, it was later renamed NASA Advanced Supercomputing Division while retaining the same acronym.)
Also during that decade, with requests for microcomputers and terminals flooding the ADP office, it became impractical to
provide comprehensive acquisition plans for hundreds of small purchases. By 1986, Pearson found a way to streamline the process
for procuring personal desktop systems and associated peripherals, and brought in assistants to handle the paperwork.
The 1980s also saw the reorganization of the Computation Division at Ames when long-time chief Thomas R. Dines died in 1983.
For about a year, the ADP Management Office moved to a division-level placement within the Office of the Director of Engineering
and Computer Systems (Code E). In 1985, the computing organization was moved again, this time over to the Office of the Director
of Aerophysics (Code R), where it would remain for the next decade. Later, to reflect the growing emphasis on annual budget
planning, the ADP office was renamed the ADP Planning and Analysis Office and placed back on the branch level, under the Computer
Systems and Research Division (Code RC) headed by Marceline C. Smith.
When NASA administrator Daniel S. Goldin named Ames Research Center as NASA's Center of Excellence for Information Technology
in 1995, the Computer Systems and Research Division moved from the Office of the Director of Aerophysics to a newly-formed
Office of the Director of Information Systems (Code I) and was reorganized in order to separate supercomputing from the traditional
Computation Division functions. Pearson headed the ADP Management Office within this directorate (Code IA) and handled dual
ADP acquisition and budget planning roles.
Shortly before Pearson retired, the Clinger-Cohen Act of 1996 essentially abolished the acquisitions rules set forth in the
Brooks Act and returned responsibility for ADP procurement back to Federal agencies. (Meanwhile, OMB retained and expanded
its policy-setting and leadership role and became the Federal CIO; CIO functions were also mandated at specified agencies,
including NASA.) The passage of the Clinger-Cohen Act marked the end of the ADP acquisition planning function at Ames with
respect to compliance with the Brooks Act, and the office pivoted to focus more fully on budget planning. In 1998, Pearson
stepped down from his post (then in the Applied Information Technology Division, Code II), and retired from the civil service,
although he stayed on (first as a volunteer, and then as a contractor) to assist the center with information technology budget
planning.
NASA Ames History Office, NASA Ames Research Center. Moffett Field, California. AFS5107, Automatic Data Processing Acquisition
Planning Records, 4 : 8. Fiftieth Anniversary of Ames Research Center, Central Computer Facility. 1989.
Brooks Automatic Data Processing Act, Pub. L. No. 89-306, H.R. 4845 (Oct. 30, 1965).
Clinger-Cohen Act of 1996, Pub. L. No. 104-106 (Div. D and E), 110 Stat. 186, 642 (Feb. 10, 1996), codified at 40 U.S.C. §11101
et seq.
NASA Ames History Office, NASA Ames Research Center. Moffett Field, California. AFS1070.8A, Archives Reference Collection.
Telephone Directories. 1965-1997.
Willis, Charles I., 1994.
The Brooks Act, Is It Relevant Today? Thesis, Naval Postgraduate School. Monterey, California. (Accession Number AD-A283 561.)
The following terms may be used to index this collection.
Ames Research Center
NASA Dryden Flight Research Center
Numerical Aerodynamic Simulation Program (U.S.)
Research Institute for Advanced Computer Science (U.S.)
Pearson, B. Douglas, Jr.
Tunnell, Phillips J.
CDC 7600 (Computer)
Cray computers
Electronic data processing
Government purchasing -- United States
Honeywell 800 (Computer)
Honeywell 200 (Computer)
IBM 360/50 (Computers)
IBM 360/67 (Computers)
IBM 370/168 (Computers)
IBM 7040-7094 (Computers)
IBM 1401 (Computer)
Information technology
Mainframe computers (Computer Systems)
Center of excellence for information technology (U.S.)
SEL 840 MP (Computer)
Supercomputers
VAX/VMS (Computer)
This collection provides a glimpse into Automatic Data Processing (ADP) procurement planning activities conducted by the two
ADP management officers at NASA Ames Research Center, Phillips J. "Jack" Tunnell (1965-1980) and B. Douglas Pearson Jr. (1980-1997).
The records reflect their research and evaluation of projected needs for various ADP capabilities, including mainframe computers,
supercomputers, and increasingly sophisticated facilities, networks, and programs. The bulk is representative of planning
efforts at Ames, though portions include mention of Dryden Flight Research Center (currently Armstrong Flight Research Center),
which was managed by Ames from 1981 to 1994.
The records in this collection, which are largely textual, comprise reports, plans, program formulation documentation, presentations,
correspondence, memoranda, briefings, meeting minutes, and procurement documentation such as system descriptions, power requirements,
equipment configurations, model and cost comparisons, budget projections, usage projections, purchase recommendations, and
justifications. Also included are a few historical articles about computing at Ames.
Considering that the bulk of the ADP office's files were not scheduled for permanent retention, this collection does not form
a complete record of its activities. Rather, it represents a sampling of material Pearson retained due to its possible historical
value. The records offer insight into three decades of computing capabilities at Ames. The most extensively documented efforts
include planning for mainframe computer procurement from 1965 to 1980, for acquiring the CRAY-2 Cyber 205, and for formulating
the Numerical Aerodynamic Simulation Program. Desktop systems acquisition planning efforts are sparsely represented.
Note
Acronyms List
| ADP | Automatic Data Processing |
| ADPE | Automatic Data Processing Equipment |
| ARPA | Advanced Research Projects Agency |
| CDC | Control Data Corporation |
| DCS | Direct-Couple System |
| DEC | Digital Equipment Corporation |
| FY | Fiscal Year |
| IBM | International Business Machines |
| ILLIAC | Illinois Automatic Computer |
| NAS | NASA Advanced Supercomputing |
| NAS | Numerical Aerodynamic Simulation |
| RIACS | Research Institute for Advanced Computer Science |
| SEL | Systems Engineering Laboratories |
| SEL 840 MP | Systems Engineering Laboratories 840 Multiprocessor Computer System |
| VAX | Virtual Address Extension |
Arrangement of the Automatic Data Processing Acquisition Planning Records
This collection is arranged chronologically by subject.