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Summary

On April 27, we issued our final report on FAA’s efforts to transition multiple telecommunication networks to a single network, thereby reducing operating costs. We found FTI is a high-risk and schedule-driven program that is unlikely to meet its December 2007 revised completion date. FTI is not likely to be completed on time because the Program Office has yet to develop a detailed realistic master schedule or an effective transition plan identifying when each site and service will be accepted, when services will be cut over to FTI, and when existing (legacy) services will be disconnected. Further, the Program Office needs to ensure better coordination with its field offices and with Verizon in order to ensure that service disruptions are avoided when services are transitioned to FTI.

To increase program management controls over the FTI transition, we recommended that FAA: (1) develop a realistic master schedule and an effective FTI transition plan that requires the FTI Program Office to coordinate with Harris, Verizon, and FAA regional offices to manage and execute the FTI transition; and (2) determine the number of LINCS circuits and funding requirements to extend the Agency’s LINCS bridge contract with Verizon for the 1-year extension or longer if necessary. FAA concurred with our recommendations and indicated that it intends to take a number of actions to increase the effectiveness of project management controls over the FTI program transition.