Summary
The National Weather Service's (NWS) weather products are a vital component of the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) air traffic control system. In addition to providing aviation weather products developed at its own facilities, NWS also provides staff on-site at each of FAA's en route centers. This group of NWS meteorologists--called a center weather service unit--provides air traffic managers with forecasts and briefings on regional conditions including turbulence, icing, and freezing precipitation. GAO agreed to (1) determine the status of NWS's plans for restructuring the offices that provide aviation weather services at FAA's en route centers, (2) identify FAA's requirements and its alternative sources for these services, and (3) evaluate both agencies' current abilities to ensure the consistency and quality of these services. To do so, GAO evaluated agency plans for restructuring offices, defining requirements, and ensuring quality products, and interviewed agency officials.
NWS developed a proposal for restructuring the offices that provide aviation weather services at FAA's en route centers, but these plans are currently on hold. In 2005, FAA requested that NWS restructure its center weather service units by consolidating offices, providing remote services, and reducing personnel costs. In response, NWS conducted a prototype that demonstrated that the services the center weather service units currently provide could be provided remotely by the closest weather forecast office. It subsequently proposed to implement this prototype, but FAA declined this proposal. NWS may reconsider its proposal or other alternative organizational structures as it works to meet FAA's needs in the future. FAA considers its existing requirements governing the center weather service units to be too broad to ensure the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of the services, so the agency worked for several months to redefine its requirements. By September 2007, FAA had developed draft requirements that specified the products and services to be performed by meteorologists at the en route center, including conducting weather briefings and developing local icing and turbulence forecasts. FAA finalized a more expansive set of requirements at the end of December 2007, and expects NWS to respond within 120 days on its ability to fulfill the requirements. FAA has stated that, if NWS is unable to meet the requirements, it will consider using alternative sources such as private industry or government laboratories to meet the requirements. Although interagency agreements between NWS and FAA state that both agencies have responsibilities for assuring and controlling the quality of aviation weather observations, neither agency consistently does so for weather products and services produced at the en route centers. Specifically, neither agency has developed performance measures and metrics, regularly evaluated weather service unit performance, or provided feedback to improve these aviation weather products and services. Because of this lack of performance tracking and oversight, NWS cannot demonstrate the quality or value of its services, and FAA cannot ensure the quality of the services it funds. Until both agencies are able to measure and ensure the quality of the aviation weather products at the en route centers, FAA may not be getting the information it needs to effectively manage air traffic.
Recommendations
Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change
from "In process" to "Implemented" or "Not implemented" based on our follow up work.
Director:
Team:
Phone:
David A. Powner
Government Accountability Office: Information Technology
No phone on record
Recommendations for Executive Action
Recommendation: While many steps remain in defining the future of aviation weather services at en route centers--including negotiations between FAA and NWS on the provision of these services and FAA's subsequent decision on whether to obtain selected services from alternative sources--there are steps both agencies can take to ensure that the quality of future aviation weather products and services are measured and evaluated. The Secretary of Commerce should direct the Assistant Administrator for the National Weather Service to assist FAA in developing performance measures and metrics for the products and services to be provided by center weather service units.
Agency Affected: Department of Commerce: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration: National Weather Service
Status: In process
Comments: The National Weather Service (NWS) has developed three proposals for providing center weather service unit services to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), including draft performance measures and metrics, and sent these proposals to FAA for their review. According to both NWS and FAA, the two agencies meet biweekly to discuss the proposals, including performance metrics. However, FAA and NWS have not agreed upon these measures and metrics nor implemented them. We will continue to monitor progress toward closing this recommendation.
Recommendation: While many steps remain in defining the future of aviation weather services at en route centers--including negotiations between FAA and NWS on the provision of these services and FAA's subsequent decision on whether to obtain selected services from alternative sources--there are steps both agencies can take to ensure that the quality of future aviation weather products and services are measured and evaluated. The Secretary of Commerce should direct the Assistant Administrator for the National Weather Service to perform annual evaluations of aviation weather services provided at en route centers and provide feedback to the center weather service units.
Agency Affected: Department of Commerce: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration: National Weather Service
Status: In process
Comments: According to the National Weather Service (NWS), the agency developed an initial plan for annual site evaluations at the Center Weather Service Units. NWS anticipates beginning these evaluations in the 2009 fiscal year. We will continue to monitor progress toward closing this recommendation.
Recommendation: Further, the Secretary of the Department of Transportation should direct the FAA Administrator to work with NWS to define performance measures and metrics for aviation weather services provided by meteorologists.
Agency Affected: Department of Transportation: Federal Aviation Administration
Status: In process
Comments: The National Weather Service (NWS) has developed three proposals for providing center weather service unit services to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), including draft performance measures and metrics, and sent these proposals to FAA for their review. According to both NWS and FAA, the two agencies meet biweekly to discuss the proposals, including performance metrics. However, FAA and NWS have not agreed upon these measures and metrics nor implemented them. We will continue to monitor progress toward closing this recommendation.
Recommendation: Further, the Secretary of the Department of Transportation should direct the FAA Administrator to work with NWS to evaluate the services it receives against those measures and metrics.
Agency Affected: Department of Transportation: Federal Aviation Administration
Status: In process
Comments: FAA officials reported that they and the National Weather Service (NWS) will jointly develop a performance monitoring system, guided by a Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan and governed by a Board of Performance and Cost Review that will monitor and evaluate based on defined performance measures and metrics. FAA anticipates that the board will be developed after August 2008. We will continue to monitor progress toward closing this recommendation.
Recommendation: Further, the Secretary of the Department of Transportation should direct the FAA Administrator to work with NWS to ensure that results of these evaluations are provided to staff stationed at center weather service units so that they can improve performance, where applicable.
Agency Affected: Department of Transportation: Federal Aviation Administration
Status: In process
Comments: According to Federal Aviation Administration officials, the results of performance evaluations will be conveyed to the center weather service units. The procedures for this feedback will be described in the Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan, which is expected to be finalized after August 2008. We will continue to monitor progress toward closing this recommendation.
