Abstract. There is an increased focus on systems engineering as the key to mission success within the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The agency has embraced a systems engineering excellence initiative to enhance the capabilities of systems engineering across the agency. This paper addresses some of the organizational steps that are being taken at the Goddard Space Flight Center to improve the systems engineering capability in support of the Center's programs and projects.Introduction. The NASA common systems engineering framework consists of three elements that make up systems engineering capability to produce quality products and achieve mission success 1 . The relationship of the three elements is illustrated in Figure 1. The integrated implementation of the three elements of the Systems Engineering Framework is intended to improve the overall capability required for the efficient and effective engineering of NASA systems. These three elements are common technical processes, workforce, and tools and methods. Together, these elements comprise the capability of an organization to perform successful Systems Engineering.