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Summary

This report contains recommendations from our March 14 testimony before the Aviation Subcommittee of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure regarding the Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System (STARS) program, which will provide air traffic controllers with color displays, processors, and computer software. Since 1996, the total program cost has increased from $940 million to $1.4 billion, and the planned delivery of the last FAA operational site has slipped by almost 4 years, from February 2005 to September 2008. In addition, FAA has established an aggressive deployment schedule that will likely result in further cost and schedule overruns. We recommended FAA revise its terminal automation strategy by: (1) establishing milestone dates and quantifying all costs associated with delivery, installation, and testing of STARS; (2) completing a training strategy for over 11,000 air traffic controllers and maintenance technicians; and (3) evaluating if additional Common ARTS with color displays will be needed to support FAA’s terminal automation needs.