FAA Continues To Face Challenges in Air System Reform

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) continues to have hurdles it must overcome to come up with a new-generation air system for U.S. aviation to deal with crowded skies, according to a new government audit.

Congress in 2003 authorized a Joint Planning and Development Office (JPDO) and requires the office to operate in conjunction with multiple federal agencies, including the departments of Transportation, Commerce, Defense, and Homeland Security; the FAA; NASA; and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

JPDO is responsible for coordinating the related efforts of these partner agencies to plan the transformation to the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen), a fundamental redesign of the national airspace system. FAA will be largely responsible for implementing the policies and systems necessary for the new system, while safely operating the current air traffic control system.

Among the challenges JPDO faces are institutionalizing the interagency collaboration that is so central to its mission, developing a comprehensive cost estimate, and addressing potential gaps in research and development for NextGen, according to a new report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO). GAO is the nonpartisan investigative arm of Congress.

"In transitioning to NextGen, FAA faces several challenges. Although FAA has taken several actions to improve its management of current air traffic control modernization efforts, institutionalizing these improvements will require continued strong leadership, particularly since the agency will have lost two of its key agents for change by September 2007," GAO says. "Costs are another challenge facing FAA as it addresses the resource demands that NextGen will likely pose, while continuing to maintain the current air traffic control system. Finally, determining whether it has the technical and contract management expertise necessary to implement NextGen is a challenge for FAA."

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