Wed, Jun 01, 2005
Report Cites High Costs, Implementation Delays
The FAA has apparently given up --
for the time being -- attempts to modernize the air traffic control
system and is instead focused on simply trying to maintain what it
has now. That's the gist of a report from the DOT Inspector
General, issued Tuesday.
The report focused on both delays in implementing new technology
and the rising costs associated with that implementation as reasons
for the entrenchment.
In a study of 16 FAA projects, the IG report found nine had been
delayed for between two and 12 years. Two had been deferred
altogether. Of the projects still underway, eleven suffered cost
increases totalling $5.6 billion.
Some of the most notable cost increases were found in the
Raytheon project to make the GPS system fully-functional and in
Raytheon's implementation of the STARS system (controller
workstation upgrade).
The cost of the GPS project had grown 278-percent to $3.3
billion and was the most overdue -- 12-years behind schedule.
The STARS upgrade cost has risen
194-percent to $2.8 billion and is now seven years behind
schedule.
"[T]he crucial question is how FAA can address both capacity and
affordability at the same time," wrote Assistant Inspector General
for Aviation and Special Program Audits, David Dobbs, wrote to FAA
Administrator Marion Blakey. The letter was quoted by Reuters.
"We have made this effort a top priority for the FAA and its air
traffic organization," FAA spokesman Paul Takemoto told the wire
service, saying the FAA agreed with the IG's findings and
recommendations.
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