The Space Act has come under scrutiny by some lawmakers in Washington who question whether deals under this provision are compromising safety and security or squandering tax dollars.
Gannett News Service reports that NASA Inspector General Paul Martin has also begun an audit on how well the agency is managing the more than 15-hundred agreements with domestic and international partners.
Under the agreements only certain targets are laid out by NASA with the individual firms deciding how they are carried out.
The aim is to save money.
Orbital Sciences Corporation, which carries out suborbital launches from Wallops Island Flight Facility, is one of those companies.
Last month the company launched its first flight of the Antares rocket from the Spaceport considered a major milestone with NASA.
Orbital won the 2008 bid for a deal worth $171 million which has gone up to $288 million.
NASA has also given Orbital one of the contracts for resupplying the International Space station.
Alabama Republican Senator Richard Shelby along with other lawmakers views these contracts as blank checks.
But NASA officials say the lack of funding has forced them to turn to the Space Act agreements more than they had anticipated.
