Shuster takes aim at shortcomings of FAA’s NextGen program after critical report

Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) air traffic control modernization is based on an “unrealistic and overly optimistic” business plan and lacks contract oversight, according to a recent report that U.S. Rep. Bill Shuster (R-PA) said provides further evidence that legislation to implement sweeping reforms at the agency needs to pass.

Shuster, the chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, said in response to the Department of Transportation Inspector General report that it is “astonishing” the FAA doesn’t know what contractors working on the NextGen modernization plan are being paid to deliver.

“How many more examples does Congress need before we recognize that the federal government is incapable of managing a complex, high-tech, multi-year modernization program?” Shuster asked.

“Now more than ever, we need to finally pass the broadly supported and bipartisan 21st Century Aviation Innovation, Reform and Reauthorization (AIRR) Act and bring an end to the FAA’s decades of wasteful spending on failed NextGen plans.”

The report took issue with the FAA’s management of contracts for Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) NextGen surveillance being used for air traffic control (ATC), weather and flight information services, and more advanced applications. The report found that the FAA had paid ADS-B contractors for more than a decade without verifying that contractual requirements had been met.

“As a result of these issues, FAA cannot ensure that the millions of dollars in payments it makes to the contractor each month for ADS-B service are reasonable,” the report states. “This is just one example of poor contract management by the FAA.”

The FAA also failed to exercise provisions of contracts that ensure payments are reasonable, and it paid close to maximum incentive fees when minimum performance requirements weren’t met, the report said.

Shuster also voiced disappointment in a recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report on NextGen, which took four years to complete. Shuster criticized the report for having repeated the FAA’s “overly optimistic and unrealistic assessment of NextGen deployment.”

“ATC reform opponents have been trying to paint the picture that NextGen is finally back on track and on budget, but even the GAO’s report contradicts this misleading notion by stating: ‘Assessing prior NextGen cost estimates against current estimates is difficult because the NextGen program has changed since 2007,’” Shuster said.

The inspector general report, Shuster added, demonstrates that uncertain funding and lack of leadership are challenges that continue to plague the FAA.

“The 21st Century AIRR Act is the only legislation that actually addresses these and other challenges head-on, instead of dusting off failed FAA reforms of the past,” Shuster said.

One provision of the AIRR Act would separate the air traffic control service from the federal government by creating a not-for-profit corporation to operate it.

“By removing air traffic control services, procurement and technology development from the government, the 21st Century AIRR Act ends decades of bureaucratic waste and mismanagement, and frees modernization of this important technology service from the endless uncertainties of the federal budget process,” Shuster said.