Air Traffic Control:

FAA's Advanced Automation System Contract

IMTEC-91-25, Mar 5, 1991

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Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) Advanced Automation System (AAS) contract, to determine whether the contractor implemented a management control system that would enable FAA to identify AAS costs.

GAO found that: (1) FAA modified the AAS contract 63 times, causing the contract's estimated cost of $3.5 billion to increase by about $242 million; (2) FAA required the contractor to follow Department of Defense (DOD) guidance for installing a management control system that would provide detailed contract information and AAS cost and performance data; (3) the contractor began reporting cost and performance information for each of 152 cost-reimbursable contract line item after the AAS contracting official determined that FAA needed to enhance AAS contract monitoring; (4) the AAS management control system, combined with periodic FAA verification of contractor-reported cost and performance data, should provide for sufficient contract monitoring; and (5) the AAS management control system was meeting the requirements of the DOD guidance and was accurately tracking cost and performance.