Committee Hears Of Management Problems, Cost Increases
Federal auditors, including the Inspector General of the
Department of Transportation (DOT) and the U.S. Government
Accountability Office (GAO), testifying before Congress Wednesday
pointed to problems and rising costs in the FAA's critical NextGen
air traffic control modernization effort. Witnesses said that
FAA’s poor management continues to delay NextGen progress,
and the agency has failed to develop adequate benchmarks and a
long-term plan for implementing the multi-billion dollar project to
transition the nation’s air traffic control system from
ground-based radar and antiquated 1950s technology to a modern
satellite-based system.
“NextGen is critical to our
aviation system and touches every aspect of FAA’s
mission,” said U.S. Rep. Tom Petri (R-WI) (pictured),
Chairman of the Aviation Subcommittee. “We are currently
spending more than a billion dollars each year on the program, and
it is essential that we get it right. From the beginning, the case
for NextGen has centered on the FAA’s ability to deliver
operational benefits to airspace users to increase efficiency,
decrease user and agency costs, decrease environmental impacts, and
most importantly, improve safety. NextGen is also considered a job
creator, allowing for continued growth in this vitally important
industry.”
“We cannot continue to rely on outdated technology if we are
going to ensure our aviation system is as efficient and safe as
possible,” said Transportation and Infrastructure Committee
Chairman John L. Mica (R-FL). “Unfortunately, as pointed out
by the Inspector General and others, the very foundation of our
modernization program is experiencing significant problems. We need
to get a better handle on this important program. It’s not a
question of money, it’s a question of
management.”
Petri added, “As efforts to produce NextGen’s benefits
have evolved, it has always remained critical to demonstrate real
progress year over year. That includes delivery of benefits in the
near term, as well as making the policy decisions to guide the
long-term efforts.”
While DOT Inspector General Calvin L.
Scovel III (pictured) did not question the importance of
NextGen, he clearly outlined his concerns with FAA’s
execution of the program. He concurred that NextGen delays have not
arisen because of any funding issues, but rather because of
management issues. Scovel said, “FAA has not approved total
cost, schedule, or performance baselines for any of NextGen’s
transformational programs nor developed an integrated master
schedule for managing and executing NextGen.”
As stated simply by another witness, Tom Captain of Deloitte, LLP,
“The business case appears to be an open and shut case. The
real challenge is in its execution.”
The agency’s shortcomings in managing NextGen have led to a
general failure to deliver many of the expected benefits thus far,
and delays in significant elements of the modernization initiative
have resulted in escalating costs. Scovel and GAO’s Director
of Physical Infrastructure Issues Dr. Gerald Dillingham highlighted
significant dysfunction with the FAA’s ERAM program. ERAM,
which is critical for laying the foundation for NextGen, refers to
the upgrade of the system that processes flight radar data,
provides communications and generates display data for air traffic
controllers.
“Significant software-related problems have pushed
ERAM’s schedules well beyond original completion dates and
increased costs by hundreds of millions of dollars,” stated
Scovel in his testimony. “These problems have exposed a
number of fundamental programmatic and contract management
concerns.” Additional costs as a result of delays in ERAM are
currently expected to be as high as $500 million. Not only does
this raise concerns with ERAM itself, but the integration of
NextGen components means that delays and problems with one program
impact the other elements of the overall system.
According to Dillingham (pictured),
“some acquisitions have been delayed, which has impacted the
timelines of other dependent systems, and the potential exists for
other acquisitions to also encounter delays. These delays have
resulted in increased costs and reduced benefits. Going forward,
FAA must focus on delivering systems and capabilities in a timely
fashion to maintain its credibility with industry stakeholders,
whose adoption of key technologies is crucial to NextGen’s
success.”
Successful management of NextGen is critical to gaining the
confidence of aviation system users, who will be asked to make
significant investments in expensive NextGen compatible avionics.
“However, industry and users are expressing concerns about
the effort’s pace and execution since FAA has yet to clarify
timelines for improvements at key sites or integrate
recommendations from other key areas that are critical to this
initiative,” said Scovel.
As many of today’s panelists pointed out, the FAA simply has
not properly identified adequate metrics, benchmarks, baselines and
timetables for delivering NextGen benefits. Scovel noted that the
FAA has taken some steps to address this concern, adding,
“However, as requirements continue to evolve, programs are
left with no clear end-state and decision makers lack sufficient
information to assess progress.
“While FAA recognizes the need for an integrated master
schedule to manage the implementation of these NextGen
capabilities, it has not yet developed one. Without a master
schedule, FAA will continue to face the challenges of fully
mitigating operational, technical, and programmatic risks, and
prioritizing trade-offs among its NextGen programs,” Scovel
said.
Speaking for the FAA, Deputy Administrator Michael Huerta
(pictured) suggested that some of the responsibility lies with
legislators. "In order to achieve these benefits, we know that we
need to continue working with our partners in the aviation
community," Huerta said. "Making sure that we are all on the same
page about our expectations, our obligations, and our capabilities
is essential to the successful planning, development, and execution
of NextGen. But there is a chicken-and-egg nature to the economic
and policy decisions that will have the most influence over the
extent and timing of future benefits."
Huerta did not specifically mention the lack of a long-term FAA
funding measure as one of the issues with delays in the
implementation of the system, but he did thank members of the
committee for approving an FAA reorganization, which he called a
"critical step in moving forward with the changes that will lay the
foundation for our success as an agency in the next 15 years." The
"reprogramming" approval allowed the agency to create a NextGen
office that will report to Huerta, and provided for the creation of
an Assistant Administrator for NextGen. He also said a key to the
success of the program is cooperation between the FAA and the
aviation community, but pointed out that lawmakers have a large
role to play as well. "We are working steadily and carefully to
bring NextGen to fruition. We have mapped out our course and we are
moving towards our goals, and we look forward to your continued
guidance and oversight as we go forward."