There's a whole report you can read, issued by the Department of Transportation's Office of the  Inspector General, that has to do with the FAA's managment.

Here's the good news:

"In 1996, Congress exempted FAA from Federal procurement rules that the agency said hindered its  ability to modernize the air traffic control system. Now, after 7 years, FAA has made progress in reducing the time it takes to award contracts and progress has been made with some efforts, such as  Free Flight Phase  1."

...and here's the bad news:

"However, the agency has not held managers accountable, or used the flexibilities and benefits of acquisition reform to control cost and schedule slips. We found that cost growth, schedule delays, and performance problems continue with  FAA.s  major acquisitions. Overall, the 20 projects we  reviewed have experienced cost growth of about $4.3 billion and schedule slips from 1 to 7 years.

"Billion-dollar cost growth with acquisitions is not sustainable or affordable in light of declining Trust Fund revenues. Moreover, FAA is just starting complex, billion-dollar efforts while continuing to fund projects that have been delayed for several years. If FAA does not exercise more  management control over its acquisitions, existing projects will be further delayed, and new projects may not start as planned."

In case you're a glutton for punishment, you can read the gory details at the link below.

FMI: www.oig.dot.gov/item_details.php?item=1113