Summary
In 2003, Congress created the Joint Planning and Development Office (JPDO) to plan for and coordinate, with federal and nonfederal stakeholders, a transformation from the current air traffic control system to the "next generation air transportation system" (NGATS) by 2025. Housed within the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), JPDO has seven partner agencies: the Departments of Transportation, Commerce, Defense, and Homeland Security; FAA; the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. FAA will have primary responsibility for implementing NGATS. This report addresses (1) the status of JPDO's efforts to plan for NGATS, (2) the key challenges facing JPDO, and (3) the key challenges facing FAA as it implements the transformation. To address these issues, GAO reviewed relevant documents, interviewed agency officials and stakeholders, and conducted an expert panel.
JPDO has developed a framework for planning and coordinating with its partner agencies and nonfederal stakeholders that is consistent with its authorizing legislation and with several practices that GAO's previous work has shown can facilitate federal interagency collaboration. JPDO's partner agencies have agreed on a vision for NGATS and on eight strategies that broadly address the goals and objectives of NGATS. JPDO has been developing an enterprise architecture (or blueprint) for NGATS and plans to use the enterprise architecture and stakeholder input from investment analysis workshops to develop a realistic cost estimate for NGATS. JPDO faces challenges in institutionalizing its collaborative effort, addressing planning and expertise gaps, establishing credibility with stakeholders, and harmonizing its work with other countries' efforts to modernize their own air traffic management systems. To date, JPDO has not established some practices significant to institutionalizing its collaborative process, such as formalizing roles and responsibilities. Such practices are important because JPDO is fundamentally a planning and coordinating body that lacks authority over the key human and financial resources needed to continue developing plans and system requirements for NGATS. FAA, as the key implementer of the transition to NGATS, faces challenges both in institutionalizing the management reforms that it has made in recent years that have contributed to its ability to meet its goals for air traffic control system acquisitions and in obtaining the financial and technical resources needed to implement NGATS. FAA also faces challenges in finding ways to reduce costs or realize savings to help fund the costs of transitioning to NGATS while continuing to operate and maintain the current system. Finally, FAA faces challenges in obtaining the technical and contract management expertise needed to define, implement, and integrate the numerous complex programs and systems inherent in the transition to NGATS.
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:
Gerald L. Dillingham
Government Accountability Office: Physical Infrastructure
(202) 512-4803
Recommendations for Executive Action
Recommendation: Because of the importance of the successful planning and implementation of NGATS and the need for effective collaboration between diverse organizations, and to better institutionalize its practices and expectations for interagency collaboration and stakeholder involvement, the Secretary of Transportation should direct JPDO to finalize and present to the Senior Policy Committee for its consideration and action the memorandum of understanding among the partner agencies to define their roles and responsibilities related to NGATS planning and development.
Agency Affected: Department of Transportation
Status: In process
Comments: As of July 18, 2007, JPDO's Memorandum of Understanding between the partner agencies had been signed by four out of the five partner agencies that are to sign it (two other partner agencies, FAA and OSTP, do not need to sign the MOU). Those agencies signing to date are DOT, DHS, DOC, and NASA. DOD has yet to sign.
Recommendation: Because of the importance of the successful planning and implementation of NGATS and the need for effective collaboration between diverse organizations, the Secretary of Transportation should direct JPDO to clarify the roles and responsibilities between JPDO and Air Traffic Organization (ATO) in the planning, development, and transition from JPDO to FAA for implementation of NGATS.
Agency Affected: Department of Transportation
Status: In process
Comments: FAA has redefined the Operational Evolution Plan (OEP) to serve as the framework that will be used to guide, monitor, and report its portion of the transition to NextGen. The redefined plan is now called the "Operational Evolution Partnership," and spans all phases of NextGen development, including concept validation, applications research, system engineering, acquisition and implementation. Participation by all relevant FAA executives will help address the full range of changes that are necessary to achieve operational benefits. These changes include technology, training, policy, certification, and procedures. The most recent annual OEP was published in June 2007. FAA also documented roles and responsibilities for the OEP in April 2007, and included this information in OEP process documents and JPDO's Program Management Plan.
Recommendation: Because of the importance of the successful planning and implementation of NGATS and the need for effective collaboration between diverse organizations, the Secretary of Transportation should direct JPDO to develop written procedures that formalize agreements with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) regarding the leveraging of partner agency resources and the identification of NGATS-related programs within agency budgets.
Agency Affected: Department of Transportation
Status: In process
Comments: JPDO is working closely with DOT's CIO, OMB, and the White House OSTP to develop a NextGen Exhibit 300 to explain the overall business case and the contributions of the partner agencies. The NextGen Exhibit 300 will accompany the agencies fiscal year 2009 budget submissions. In addition, JPDO will document the procedures for collaborating with the partner agencies in developing the Exhibit 300 in an annex to the NextGen Memorandum of Understanding, which is expected to be signed in 2007.
Recommendation: Because of the importance of the successful planning and implementation of NGATS and the need for effective collaboration between diverse organizations, the Secretary of Transportation should direct JPDO to develop written procedures for dispute resolution at all levels of the JPDO organization.
Agency Affected: Department of Transportation
Status: In process
Comments: Procedures for dispute resolution will be completed and incorporated into an annex to the NextGen Memorandum of Understanding, according to JPDO.
Recommendation: Because of the importance of the successful planning and implementation of NGATS and the need for effective collaboration between diverse organizations, the Secretary of Transportation should direct JPDO to better ensure the involvement of all key stakeholders in the NGATS planning process, by determining whether key stakeholders and expertise are not represented on JPDO's integrated product teams, divisions, or elsewhere within its organization. For example, JPDO should consider the addition of active, subject matter expert air traffic controllers to its integrated product teams.
Agency Affected: Department of Transportation
Status: In process
Comments: The current president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) has taken a seat on the Institute Management Council of the NGATS Institute to better integrate the views of active air traffic controllers into the NextGen process. A subject matter expert air traffic controller reviewed the Concept of Operations and will continue to identify additional planning areas that would benefit from a similar review. Air traffic controllers participate extensively in the programs that are underway that are the foundation for NextGen (e.g., Required Navigation Performance, Airspace Redesign, Traffic Management Advisor).
Recommendation: Given the technical complexity of the implementation of NGATS and FAA's past experiences, the Secretary of Transportation should direct the FAA to undertake a formal exploration of FAA's strengths and weaknesses with regard to the technical expertise and contract management expertise that will be required to define, implement, and integrate the numerous complex programs and systems inherent in the transition to NGATS. For example, FAA should work to determine whether it will need to contract with an LSI, federally-funded not-for-profit corporation, or other technical or managerial entity to assist in the implementation of NGATS.
Agency Affected: Department of Transportation
Status: Implemented
Comments: According to Victoria Cox, VP for Planning, FAA, on 6/13/07 FAA awarded a contract to the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) to do an independent assessment of FAA's technical and program management (i.e., contract management) skills required for NextGen implementation. Ms. Cox directly attributed FAA's ability to move the contract award to GAO's recommendation.
