Next Generation Air Transportation System: Progress and Challenges Associated with the Transformation of the National Airspace System
GAO-07-25
Published: Nov 13, 2006. Publicly Released: Dec 13, 2006.
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Highlights
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.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Department of Transportation | 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. | In 2006, we found that the Joint Planning and Development Office (JPDO), which helps to plan for the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen), had not established practices significant to institutionalizing the collaborative process among its partner agencies. At a fundamental level, JPDO did not have formal, long-term agreements among its partner agencies (the Departments of Transportation, Commerce, Defense, and Homeland Security; the Federal Aviation Administration; the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy) on their roles and responsibilities in creating NextGen. At the time, JPDO had begun working... to establish a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) among the partner agencies. We recommended that JPDO finalize the MOU and present it to its Senior Policy Committee for its consideration and action. In 2013, we confirmed that the JPDO partner agencies had an MOU in place, signed by the Secretaries of Transportation, Commerce, Homeland Security, and the Air Force, and the NASA Administrator, setting forth the formal agreement among the partner agencies to implement NextGen. As a result, JPDO has better institutionalized its practices and expectations for interagency collaboration and stakeholder involvement.
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| Department of Transportation | 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. | In 2006, we found that the roles and responsibilities between the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) Air Traffic Organization (ATO) and its Joint Planning and Development Office (JPDO) for the planning and implementation of the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) were unclear. Defining roles and responsibilities is particularly important between ATO and JPDO because both organizations have responsibilities related to planning national airspace system modernization. Some expert panelists believed there was a need to identify the "gap" areas that might fall between ATO's efforts to maintain the current system and JPDO's plans for the NextGen system. Without continued...
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| Department of Transportation | 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. | The Joint Planning and Development Office (JPDO) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) discussed a process for identifying NextGen-related research programs in the partner agencies' budgets. Under this process, JPDO would prepare an Exhibit 300 form for NextGen, which would allow JPDO and its partner agencies to jointly present OMB with business cases for the partner agencies' NextGen-related efforts. A written agreement of procedures between the partner agencies to use the Exhibit 300 was to be laid out in the annex to the Memorandum of Agreement involving the JPDO agencies that was signed in June of 2008. The annex was never adopted. In fiscal year 2014, Congress eliminated...
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| Department of Transportation | 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. |
Written procedures for dispute resolution were to be laid out in the annex to the memorandum of understanding that was signed in June of 2008. This annex was never agreed upon and never became part of the MOU. In April 2012, the JPDO Board reviewed the existing MOU and agreed that it -- without the annex -- was still acceptable and codified the responsibilities of the Board and board membership.
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| Department of Transportation | 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. |
In 2014, Congress declined to fund the JPDO in the Fiscal Year 2014 Consolidated Appropriations Act. As a result, FAA eliminated the JPDO. Prior to this, FAA did not take action addressing GAO's recommendation. FAA can no longer take any action due to the elimination of JPDO, so GAO is closing this recommendation as not implemented.
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| Department of Transportation | 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. | The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the primary entity responsible for implementing the NextGen Air Transportation System (NextGen), the air traffic control modernization program. From 1995 to 2009, GAO designated NextGen as high risk because of systematic management and acquisition problems. In 2006, GAO noted that a lack of expertise had contributed to weaknesses in FAA's past management of its air traffic control modernization projects. GAO found that industry experts with whom we spoke continued to question whether FAA would have the technical expertise necessary to implement NextGen. Experts said that FAA staff sometimes lacked the technical proficiency to oversee...
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Air traffic control systemsAir traffic controllersAir transportationCommercial aviationConcept of operationsEnterprise architectureFuture budget projectionsProgram evaluationProgram managementStrategic planningSystems conversionsTransportation planningPolicies and proceduresProgram implementation