Next Generation Air Transportation System: Preliminary Analysis  
of the Joint Planning and Development Office's Planning,	 
Progress, and Challenges (29-MAR-06, GAO-06-574T).		 
                                                                 
The health of our nation's air transportation system is critical 
to our citizens and economy. However, the current approach to	 
managing air transportation is becoming increasingly inefficient 
and operationally obsolete. In 2003, Congress created the Joint  
Planning and Development Office (JPDO) to coordinate the federal 
and nonfederal stakeholders necessary to plan and implement a	 
transition from the current air transportation system to the	 
"next generation air transportation system" (NGATS). JPDO,	 
although housed within the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA),
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. This testimony provides 
preliminary results from GAO's ongoing study of the status of	 
JPDO's efforts. GAO provides information on (1) the extent to	 
which JPDO is facilitating the federal interagency collaboration 
and aligning the human and financial resources needed to plan and
implement the NGATS, (2) the actions taken by JPDO to adequately 
involve stakeholders in the planning process, and (3) the extent 
to which JPDO is conducting the technical planning needed to	 
develop the NGATS.						 
-------------------------Indexing Terms------------------------- 
REPORTNUM:   GAO-06-574T					        
    ACCNO:   A50397						        
  TITLE:     Next Generation Air Transportation System: Preliminary   
Analysis of the Joint Planning and Development Office's Planning,
Progress, and Challenges					 
     DATE:   03/29/2006 
  SUBJECT:   Air transportation 				 
	     Interagency relations				 
	     Program management 				 
	     Strategic planning 				 
	     Technology 					 
	     Stakeholder consultations				 
	     Next Generation Air Transportation 		 
	     System						 
                                                                 

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GAO-06-574T

     

     * Background
     * JPDO Is Engaging in Effective Practices for Interagency Coll
          * JPDO Has Articulated a Common Outcome, Established Mutually
          * JPDO Faces Challenges in Continuing to Leverage Resources an
     * JPDO Established Mechanisms to Involve Stakeholders but Face
          * JPDO Is Involving Federal and Nonfederal Stakeholders
          * JPDO Faces Challenges in Maintaining Nonfederal Stakeholder
     * JPDO Is Using an Iterative Technical Planning Process
          * JPDO Has Begun to Use System Performance Modeling
          * JPDO Has Taken the First Steps toward Developing an Enterpri
     * Concluding Observations
     * Contact and Acknowledgements
     * GAO's Mission
     * Obtaining Copies of GAO Reports and Testimony
          * Order by Mail or Phone
     * To Report Fraud, Waste, and Abuse in Federal Programs
     * Congressional Relations
     * Public Affairs

Testimony

Before the Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics, Committee on Science,
House of Representatives

United States Government Accountability Office

GAO

For Release on Delivery Expected at 2:00 p.m. EST

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

NEXT GENERATION AIR TRANSPORTION SYSTEM

Preliminary Analysis of the Joint Planning and Development Office's
Planning, Progress, and Challenges

Statement of Gerald L. Dillingham, Ph.D. Director, Physical Infrastructure
Issues

GAO-06-574T

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee:

We appreciate the opportunity to participate in today's hearing to discuss
the status of the Joint Planning and Development Office (JPDO) after its
first 2 years of existence. The health of our nation's air transportation
system is critical to our citizens and economy. However, the current
approach to managing air transportation is becoming increasingly
inefficient and operationally obsolete. In November 2002, the
congressionally chartered Commission on the Future of the United States
Aerospace Industry recommended transforming the U.S. air transportation
system as a national priority.1 Transforming the system to accommodate
what is expected to be three times the current amount of traffic by 2025,
providing adequate security and environmental safeguards, and doing these
things seamlessly while the current system continues to operate, will be
an enormously complex undertaking.

In 2003, Congress passed the Vision 100 - Century of Aviation
Reauthorization Act, which created JPDO within the Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA) to manage work related to the creation of a "next
generation air transportation system" (NGATS). JPDO has responsibility for
coordinating the research efforts of its partner agencies-the Departments
of Transportation (DOT), Commerce (DOC), Defense (DOD), and Homeland
Security (DHS); FAA; and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
(NASA). JPDO is also working with its final partner agency-the White House
Office of Science and Technology Policy-to coordinate funding with the
Office of Management and Budget. Additionally, JPDO has responsibility to
consult with the public; to coordinate federal goals, priorities, and
programs with those of aviation and aeronautical firms; and to ensure the
participation of stakeholders from the private sector, including
commercial and general aviation, labor, aviation research and development
entities, and manufacturers. JPDO is jointly funded through FAA and NASA.
The JPDO Director reports to the FAA Administrator and to the Chief
Operating Officer of FAA's Air Traffic Organization.2

1Commission on the Future of the United States Aerospace Industry, Final
Report (Nov. 2002).

2The Air Traffic Organization is FAA's business unit that is responsible
for operating, maintaining, and modernizing the nation's current air
traffic control system.

Vision 100 directed JPDO to develop an integrated plan for the NGATS and
to include in the plan, among other things, a vision statement for an air
transportation system that meets potential air traffic demand by 2025; a
description of the demand and required performance characteristics of the
future system; and a high-level, multi-agency roadmap and concept of
operations for the future system. Key tenets of the plan are transitioning
from the current largely ground-based navigation system to one that is
more focused on aircraft and satellite-based navigation, and automating
many of the routine air traffic control functions. In addition, the
integrated plan discusses a strategy to harmonize the NGATS with equipage
and operations around the world to enhance safety and efficiency on a
global scale. As directed by Vision 100, the FAA Administrator provided
this integrated plan to Congress in December 2004 and issued the first
annual progress report earlier this month.

My statement today provides preliminary results from our ongoing study of
the status of JPDO and focuses on three specific questions. (1) To what
extent is JPDO facilitating the federal interagency collaboration and
aligning the human and financial resources needed to define and perform
the centralized planning function for the detailed implementation of the
NGATS? (2) What actions or initiatives has JPDO implemented to ensure
adequate involvement of stakeholders in the planning process? (3) To what
extent is JPDO conducting the technical planning needed to develop the
NGATS? My statement is based on our analysis of documents provided by JPDO
and its partner agencies; the perspectives of agency officials and
stakeholders with whom we have spoken; the results of a panel of experts
that we convened earlier this month; and our review of relevant
literature, including the integrated plan and the progress report. We also
draw upon our prior work on FAA's national airspace system modernization
program, which we have listed as a high-risk program since 1995. To assess
JPDO's prospects for facilitating collaboration among its partner
agencies, we compared its practices to those that we have found to be
effective in facilitating other federal interagency collaborative
efforts.3 We also reviewed the National Research Council's 2005 report on
JPDO, which provided a technical assessment of the research, development,
and technology components of JPDO's integrated plan.4 In addition, we
reviewed relevant documents and interviewed officials and stakeholders
regarding Europe's effort to harmonize and modernize its air traffic
management system. Later this year, we expect to issue a detailed report
that will provide our assessment of the status of JPDO's efforts as it
works to develop the NGATS. We are performing our work in accordance with
generally accepted government auditing standards.

3GAO, Results-Oriented Government: Practices That Can Help Enhance and
Sustain Collaboration among Federal Agencies, GAO-06-15 (Washington, D.C.:
Oct. 21, 2005).

4National Research Council, Technology Pathways: Assessing the Integrated
Plan for a Next Generation Air Transportation System (Washington, D.C.:
2005).

In summary:

           o  JPDO is implementing a number of practices that our work has
           shown facilitates collaboration among federal agencies, but faces
           a challenge in maintaining this collaboration over the long term.
           These practices include defining and articulating a common
           outcome, establishing mutually reinforcing or joint strategies to
           achieve that outcome, and identifying and addressing needs by
           leveraging resources among partner agencies. JPDO's legislation
           established a common outcome-a transformed national airspace
           system by 2025-that JPDO expanded on in its integrated plan, which
           establishes an overarching framework and goals for its activities.
           The plan also laid out eight joint strategies for partner agencies
           to use as they help develop the NGATS. Additionally, JPDO is
           leveraging partner agency resources by staffing its organization
           with employees of the partner agencies, many of whom work for JPDO
           as a collateral duty. JPDO has also reviewed these agencies'
           research and development programs to identify work that could
           support the NGATS. By using these practices for facilitating
           collaboration, JPDO has gotten off to a positive start. However,
           because JPDO is fundamentally a planning and coordinating body, it
           does not have authority over the partner agencies' human and
           financial resources that it needs to continue performing the
           centralized, interagency planning function for detailed
           implementation of the NGATS. Consequently, leveraging resources
           will continue to be critical to JPDO's success, particularly in
           future years as partner agencies begin to implement projects on a
           larger scale. JPDO was successful in prompting FAA to request
           funding to accelerate system development for two key NGATS systems
           in its fiscal year 2007 budget request. However, JPDO officials
           told us that, while FAA did receive an increase, it did not
           receive the full amount requested in the budget formulation
           documents submitted to the Office of Management and Budget. Our
           work on FAA's current air traffic control modernization program
           has shown that receiving fewer resources than planned was a
           contributing factor in schedule delays and subsequent cost
           increases. To its credit, JPDO is working with its partner
           agencies to align their fiscal year 2008 budget requests to
           support the NGATS. JPDO has also opened a dialog with the Office
           of Management and Budget to develop a systematic means of
           reviewing partner agency budget requests so that NGATS-related
           programs can be easily identified.
           o  JPDO has incorporated representatives from federal and
           nonfederal stakeholders throughout its organization. Federal
           stakeholders from the partner agencies work with JPDO throughout
           multiple levels of the organization. The NGATS Institute was
           created as the mechanism for involving nonfederal stakeholders and
           has obtained their participation and assigned them to work with
           JPDO's federal stakeholders. The NGATS Institute Management
           Council, composed of top officials and representatives from the
           aviation community, provides a means for advancing consensus
           positions on critical NGATS issues. However, a critical
           stakeholder in the nation's air traffic control system has yet to
           become an active participant in this forum. Air traffic
           controllers, who work in the current system and will play a key
           role in the NGATS, have not been involved in JPDO's efforts. In
           the past, FAA's failure to adequately involve air traffic
           controllers in its acquisition of new technologies, such as the
           Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System-a workstation for
           air traffic controllers-contributed to costly rework and schedule
           delays. A challenge for JPDO could be sustaining nonfederal
           stakeholders' participation in an effort where tangible benefits
           may not be realized until several years in the future. JPDO also
           faces the challenge of convincing nonfederal stakeholders that the
           government is financially committed to the NGATS. Additionally,
           JPDO could face a challenge in resolving the divergent
           perspectives that are represented by its nonfederal stakeholders.

           o  JPDO is using an iterative process to address the technical
           planning needed to develop the NGATS that appears reasonable in
           light of the system's complexity. The office has assembled a suite
           of models to iteratively analyze and understand the interactions
           among system performance parameters, demand, and economic factors,
           and has developed an enterprise architecture, or "blueprint," for
           the NGATS. JPDO is testing the adequacy of its suite of models,
           publishing the results, and seeking peer review opportunities.
           However, these modeling efforts, including those addressing human
           factors, are currently in the early stages, and more time and
           field testing will be needed to increase confidence that the final
           range of solutions for the NGATS is based on realistic
           assumptions. With respect to enterprise architecture, JPDO has
           established the organizational structure for enterprise
           architecture development-an important first step-and anticipates
           having an initial version of the architecture by the end of fiscal
           year 2006. Recognizing that further work will be required, JPDO is
           using a multiyear phased planning approach in which the enterprise
           architecture will be continuously refined. This "build a little,
           test a little" approach is similar to a process that we have
           previously advocated for FAA's major system acquisition programs.

           FAA, with research assistance from NASA, has had the primary
           responsibility for planning and implementing national airspace
           system modernization since these efforts began more than 20 years
           ago. Recently, FAA placed the modernization program under a new
           Air Traffic Organization, headed by a Chief Operating Officer.
           JPDO's approach differs from FAA's past modernization efforts in
           that its scope is "curb-to-curb," encompassing in-terminal
           passenger and baggage security screening and environmental issues.
           Additionally, JPDO's approach will require unprecedented consensus
           and cooperation among many stakeholders-federal and
           nonfederal-about necessary system capabilities, equipment,
           procedures, and regulations. JPDO seeks to leverage the resources
           of NASA and the Departments of Transportation, Commerce, Defense,
           and Homeland Security, each of which has expertise and technology
           that will play a part in the NGATS. For example, the Department of
           Defense has deployed "network centric" systems, originally
           developed for the battlefield, which are being considered as a
           framework to provide all users of the national airspace system-FAA
           and the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security-with a common
           view of that system.

           Concurrent with JPDO's efforts, the European Commission5 is
           conducting a project to harmonize and modernize the pan-European
           air traffic management system. Known as the Single European Sky
           Air Traffic Management Research Programme (SESAR), the project is
           being managed by the Air Traffic Alliance, an industry partnership
           that was awarded the management contract by the European
           Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation (Eurocontrol).6
           Eurocontrol develops, coordinates, and plans for the
           implementation of pan-European air traffic management strategies.
           While the U.S. and European efforts are both directed at
           modernization, Europe faces the additional challenge of
           harmonizing its air traffic control system-currently operated
           through a patchwork of national air navigation service providers.
           The work of the SESAR effort, which was scheduled to officially
           start this month, is being done by a 30-member consortium of
           airlines, air navigation service providers, airports,
           manufacturers, and others. The consortium is receiving 60 million
           euros ($73 million)7 to conduct a 2-year definition phase and
           produce a master plan for SESAR. The next steps following the
           definition phase, from 2008 to 2013, are currently under
           discussion. One proposal would develop the technologies for the
           new system and would be funded annually at 300 million euros ($363
           million) per year, with equal contributions being provided by the
           European Commission, Eurocontrol, and other parties.

           Our work to date shows that JPDO has engaged in practices to
           facilitate federal interagency collaboration, including defining
           and articulating a common outcome; establishing mutually
           reinforcing or joint strategies; and beginning to leverage the
           partner agency resources needed to perform the centralized,
           interagency planning function for the detailed implementation of
           the NGATS. However, JPDO faces a challenge in leveraging resources
           because it is fundamentally a planning and coordinating body that
           lacks authority over the key human and financial resources needed
           to continue developing plans and system requirements for the
           NGATS. Additionally, JPDO faces the challenge of clearly defining
           roles and responsibilities among its partner agencies. Our work
           has shown that collaborating agencies should work together to
           define and agree on their respective roles and responsibilities,
           including how the collaborative effort will be led. To its credit,
           JPDO is taking some actions to mitigate these challenges.

           JPDO's integrated plan provides a vision statement that elaborates
           on the broadly stated common outcome set forth by the Vision 100
           legislation-an air transportation system that meets potential air
           traffic demand by 2025. In working together to develop JPDO's
           integrated plan, the partner agencies agreed upon a broad
           statement of future system goals, performance characteristics, and
           operational concepts. Our research shows that, for interagency
           collaborative efforts to overcome significant differences in
           agency missions, cultures, and established ways of doing business,
           the agencies must have a clear and compelling rationale to work
           together. JPDO's partner agencies agreed to a vision statement: a
           transformed air transportation system that provides services
           tailored to individual customer needs, allows all communities to
           participate in the global economy, and seamlessly integrates civil
           and military operations.

           The plan also provides eight strategies-again developed by the
           partner agencies-that broadly address the goals and objectives for
           the NGATS. JPDO has formed eight integrated product teams (IPTs),
           one for each strategy. Our work has shown that mutually
           reinforcing or joint strategies help in aligning the partner
           agencies' activities, core processes, and resources to accomplish
           the common outcome. In addition to jointly identifying the
           strategies for the NGATS, the various partner agencies have taken
           the lead on specific strategies. (See table 1.) JPDO is currently
           reevaluating whether all of these IPTs should be expected to
           create products. For example, the IPT that is addressing the
           global interoperability strategy might be more likely to have
           cross-cutting influence over the other seven IPTs, rather than
           developing a product of its own, according to JPDO officials.

           Table 1. JPDO's Strategies and Responsible Agencies

           Source: GAO presentation of JPDO data.

           The National Research Council, in its recent study of JPDO, noted
           the IPT structure is oriented by discipline, which the Council
           believes works against a product orientation. The Council
           recommended that JPDO reorganize into three IPTs that parallel the
           way FAA currently organizes its operations-airport, terminal, and
           en route/oceanic. JPDO officials do not agree with this
           recommendation. They told us that the existing airspace
           segmentation by phase of flight-airport , terminal, and en
           route-creates inefficiencies. As aircraft transition from one
           phase of flight to the next, they encounter a "speed bump." For
           example, operations are slowed as en route air traffic controllers
           transfer responsibility for aircraft to terminal controllers. This
           segmentation is not part of JPDO's vision for the NGATS. In our
           view, if JPDO's IPT structure begins to show evidence that it is
           hindering rather than promoting progress toward achieving NGATS
           goals, JPDO might look again at the Council's recommendations to
           determine whether a different structure or fewer IPTs would help
           it achieve its goals. In the end, the progress and outcomes
           achieved by the structure are as important, if not more important,
           than the organizational model selected.

           JPDO has begun leveraging the resources of its partner agencies,
           which is another practice that we have found helps facilitate
           interagency collaboration. Our research shows that collaborating
           agencies should identify the human, information technology,
           physical, and financial resources needed to initiate or sustain
           their collaborative effort. To leverage human resources, JPDO has
           staffed its organization with partner-agency employees, many of
           whom work for JPDO as a collateral duty. The JPDO board, which
           provides coordination between partner agencies and JPDO, is
           composed of key executives of the partner agencies who can
           facilitate bringing agency resources to bear on NGATS development.
           JPDO's eight IPTs, which are developing the plans and requirements
           for the NGATS, include staff from the partner agencies.
           Additionally, Vision 100 created the Next Generation Air
           Transportation Senior Policy Committee, composed of partner agency
           senior executives, to provide ongoing policy review and identify
           resource needs from the partner agencies. (See fig. 1.)

           Figure 1: JPDO Organization Chart

           To further begin leveraging resources, during the past year JPDO
           conducted an interagency program review of its partner agencies'
           research and development programs to identify the work that could
           support the NGATS, as well as identify areas for more effective
           interagency collaboration. Through this process, JPDO identified
           early opportunities that could be pursued during fiscal year 2007
           to produce tangible results for the NGATS. For example, JPDO noted
           that FAA had amassed considerable technical expertise in the
           standards, protocols, and near-term air traffic applications for
           Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B). ADS-B is a
           technology through which an aircraft broadcasts information on its
           position to ground-based transceivers, rather than having its
           position detected by ground-based radars. JPDO envisions FAA
           beginning to purchase ADS-B transceivers, decommission obsolete
           ground-based radars, and develop air traffic procedures that would
           permit ADS-B-equipped aircraft to obtain near-term operational
           benefits such as routings that save fuel.

           Although JPDO's legislation, integrated plan, and established
           governance structure provide the framework for institutionalizing
           collaboration among multiple federal agencies, JPDO is
           fundamentally a planning and coordinating body that lacks
           authority over the key human and financial resources needed to
           continue developing plans and system requirements for the NGATS.
           Consequently, leveraging resources on a continuing basis will be
           critical to JPDO's success. Our research has also shown that
           agreement on roles and responsibilities facilitates interagency
           collaboration. However, in JPDO's situation, some important roles
           and responsibilities have not yet been clearly defined.

           The challenge of leveraging resources will likely intensify
           beginning in 2008, when JPDO expects a significant increase in the
           workload of its IPTs. JPDO anticipates needing more resources for
           the IPTs to, among other things, plan demonstrations of potential
           technologies to illustrate some of the early benefits that could
           be achieved from the transformation to the NGATS. JPDO officials
           told us that, although the partner agencies have not yet expressed
           concerns over the time that their employees spend on JPDO work, it
           remains to be seen whether partner agencies are willing to allow
           their staff to devote larger portions of their time to JPDO as the
           office develops more detailed plans and requirements for the
           NGATS. Partner agencies have a variety of missions and priorities
           other than supporting the NGATS. Some partner agency employees,
           including some IPT directors, have been told by their partner
           agencies that their work for JDPO is approved so long as it does
           not interfere with their regular assigned duties. Such resource
           issues would ultimately go to the Senior Policy Committee for
           resolution. However, the role of the committee's members, as
           stated in Vision 100, is only to make recommendations to their
           respective agencies for the required resources.

           The challenge of leveraging financial resources has already
           manifested itself. As JPDO requested, FAA included in its fiscal
           year 2007 budget request to the Office of Management and Budget
           funding to accelerate systems development of ADS-B and System Wide
           Information Management (SWIM),8 which are two key systems
           identified for the NGATS. However, JPDO officials told us that,
           while FAA did receive an increase, it did not receive the full
           amount requested in the budget formulation documents submitted to
           the Office of Management and Budget.9 Our past work on FAA's
           national airspace modernization program has shown that, among
           other factors, receiving fewer resources than planned contributed
           to delays in implementing technologies and significant cost
           increases. For example, reduced funding was one factor that caused
           FAA to reduce the initial deployment of its ASR-11 digital radar
           system from 111 systems to 66 systems, and defer decisions on
           further deployment pending additional study. In the meantime, FAA
           will have to continue to maintain the aging analog radars that the
           new system was intended to replace.

           JPDO also faces the challenge of clearly defining roles and
           responsibilities among its partner agencies. Our work has shown
           that collaborating agencies should work together to define and
           agree on the respective roles and responsibilities, including how
           the collaborative effort will be led. In JPDO's case, there is no
           formalized long-term agreement on the partner agencies' roles and
           responsibilities in creating the NGATS. According to JPDO
           officials, a memorandum of understanding that would define partner
           agency relationships was being developed as of August 2005, but
           has not yet been completed.

           Defining roles and responsibilities is particularly important
           between JPDO and FAA's Air Traffic Organization, since both
           organizations have responsibilities related to planning national
           airspace system modernization. JPDO's planning must build upon the
           Air Traffic Organization's existing modernization program, while
           the Air Traffic Organization must ensure that its ongoing
           modernization efforts are consistent with JPDO's plans. JPDO's
           former director served concurrently as the Air Traffic
           Organization's Vice President for Operations Planning, which
           helped with coordination between the two organizations. However,
           FAA now plans to establish separate positions for the JPDO
           Director and the Air Traffic Organization Vice President for
           Operations Planning. Doing so increases the importance of having a
           clearly defined relationship between these organizations.

           Ultimate decisionmaking authority is another role and
           responsibility that has not been clearly defined. According to
           JPDO, decisions are the collective responsibility of the
           government agencies. The Senior Policy Committee makes decisions
           through consensus of the members. If there are any issues that the
           committee cannot resolve among themselves, JPDO officials expect
           that the Secretary of Transportation would elevate these issues to
           the appropriate White House-level policy council, such as the
           Domestic Policy Council. Although JPDO strives to make decisions
           and resolve disputes through its collaborative bodies, its
           experience thus far is limited. It is not clear whether this
           process will be effective as the NGATS planning and implementation
           effort moves forward. As part of our ongoing work, we will further
           explore the decisionmaking and dispute resolution mechanisms
           within JPDO.

           To its credit, JPDO, in concert with the Air Traffic Organization,
           has begun to address these challenges. To assist with leveraging
           resources, JPDO has issued guidance to its partner agencies
           identifying areas that JPDO would like to see emphasized in their
           fiscal year 2008 budget requests. The Air Traffic Organization, in
           recognition of the need to align its plans with the 20-year
           planning horizon of JPDO, has extended its planning horizon.
           Finally, JPDO is working with the Office of Management and Budget
           to develop a systematic means of reviewing partner agency budget
           requests so that the NGATS-related funding in each budget request
           is easily identified. Such a process would help the Office of
           Management and Budget consider NGATS as a unified program rather
           than as disconnected line items across partner agency budget
           requests. To better define roles and responsibilities, JPDO
           planned to transmit the proposed memorandum of understanding to
           the JPDO board this month.

           As required by Vision 100, JPDO developed and implemented
           mechanisms for soliciting the expertise and views of federal and
           nonfederal stakeholders as it plans the NGATS. Although JPDO has
           obtained the involvement of over 180 participants from over 70
           organizations for the IPTs, the current air traffic
           controllers-who will play a key role in the NGATS-have not been
           involved in JPDO's efforts. In addition, JPDO may face challenges
           in sustaining stakeholder involvement over the long term.

           JPDO has structured itself in a way that involves federal and
           nonfederal stakeholders throughout its organization. Vision 100
           directed JPDO to involve federal and nonfederal stakeholders as it
           fulfills its mission. Our work shows that involving stakeholders
           can, among other things, increase their support for the
           collaborative effort. Federal stakeholders from the partner
           agencies participate with JPDO through the Senior Policy
           Committee, the JPDO board, and the IPTs. To incorporate the
           expertise and views of stakeholders in private industry, state and
           local governments, and academia, the NGATS Institute (the
           Institute) was created by an agreement between the National Center
           for Advanced Technologies and FAA.10

           Within the Institute, the Institute Management Council (the
           Council), composed of top officials and representatives from the
           aviation community, oversees the policy and recommendations of the
           Institute. The Council provides a means for advancing consensus
           positions on critical NGATS issues. It is co-chaired by the
           president of the Air Transport Association, which represents
           commercial airlines, and the president of the Air Line Pilots
           Association, which represents airline pilots. The Institute has
           solicited participation from nonfederal stakeholders and assigned
           them to each IPT. Additionally, the Institute planned to hold its
           first public meeting on March 28, 2006, to solicit information
           from other interested stakeholders who are not involved in the
           Council or the IPTs.

           JPDO officials are generally pleased with the quality of
           stakeholder participation. Through the Institute, JPDO obtained
           the participation of over 180 stakeholders from over 70
           organizations for the IPTs. The Institute received positive
           feedback from IPT directors on the skills, insight, and expertise
           of the private sector volunteers. Additionally, an official
           affiliated with the Institute told us that the collective quality
           and breadth of expertise of applicants for the IPTs has exceeded
           expectations.

           However, JPDO has experienced difficulties with soliciting the
           participation of current air traffic controllers, who will play a
           key role in the NGATS. The current air traffic control system is
           based primarily on the premise that air traffic controllers direct
           pilots to maintain safe separation between aircraft. In the NGATS,
           this premise could change and, accordingly, JPDO has recognized
           the need to conduct human factors research on such issues,
           including how tasks should be allocated between humans and
           automated systems, and how the existing allocation of
           responsibilities between pilots and air traffic controllers might
           change. JPDO is tapping the expertise of former air traffic
           controllers, but current air traffic controllers are not yet
           involved with JPDO.

           Specifically, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association
           (NATCA)-the labor union that represents air traffic controllers-is
           not participating in the development of the NGATS. In July 2005,
           FAA terminated the controller liaison program, wherein active
           controllers were assigned to, among other things, provide input on
           national airspace modernization projects. At that time, the union
           disengaged from participating on all FAA workgroups and
           technological projects, including JPDO. Although the Institute
           Management Council includes a seat for the union, an official of
           that union told us that the union's head had been unable to attend
           the Council's meetings. According to JPDO officials, the Council
           has left a seat open in hopes that the controllers will
           participate in the NGATS effort at the end of the contract
           negotiations between FAA and NATCA.

           The lack of current air traffic controllers' participation could
           result in future problems. The input of current air traffic
           controllers who have recent experience controlling aircraft is
           important in considering human factors and safety issues. Our work
           on FAA's current national airspace modernization program has shown
           that early and continuing stakeholder input is important,
           particularly concerning human factors, in avoiding costly rework
           and schedule delays late in system development efforts. For
           example, as FAA procured new air traffic controller workstations
           (known as Standard Terminal Automation Replacement Systems
           (STARS)), not adequately including stakeholders during the
           development phase contributed to unplanned work which, in turn,
           contributed to cost growth, schedule delays, and eventually a
           reduction in the number of systems to be deployed.11

           Another method for stakeholder involvement is through JPDO's
           facilitation of technology transfer in its requests for studies to
           be contracted out through the Institute. For example, at JPDO's
           request, the Institute plans to analyze trade-offs between
           potential technologies to narrow the range of options that are
           most critical for the NGATS. JPDO has sent to the Institute its
           first request for studies, including an analysis of satellite
           navigation backup technology.

           The Institute also creates industry-government partnerships
           through advanced-technology demonstrations. These demonstrations
           provide a mechanism for collaboratively testing operational
           concepts, refining requirements, and sharing technology between
           the public and private sectors. To date, two demonstration
           projects have been conducted by JPDO partner agencies, including
           demonstrations on the Small Aircraft Transportation System and
           Network Enabled Operations.

           Although JPDO has developed the mechanisms for involving
           stakeholders and brought stakeholders into the process, JPDO faces
           challenges in sustaining nonfederal stakeholder participation over
           the long term. Much as with the federal partner agencies, JPDO has
           no direct authority over the human and financial resources of its
           nonfederal stakeholders. To date, these stakeholders' investment
           in the NGATS effort has been through their pro bono participation
           on the IPTs and the Institute Management Council. The nonfederal
           stakeholders' participation varies from approximately 10 to 25
           percent of their time per week on the IPTs and involves
           approximately one meeting per month for members of the Council.
           The challenge for JPDO is to maintain the interest and enthusiasm
           of these nonfederal stakeholders, who will have to juggle their
           own multiple priorities and resource demands in order to maintain
           this level of participation, when some tangible benefits may not
           be realized for several years. For example, stakeholder support
           will be important for programs such as SWIM, which is a necessary
           prerequisite to future benefits, but may not produce tangible
           benefits in the near term.

           Rather than obtaining voluntary, pro bono participation from
           nonfederal stakeholders, several members of our expert panel
           suggested JPDO should outsource the NGATS planning efforts, as
           Europe has done. As previously noted, the European SESAR effort is
           led by an industry consortium under a contract with Eurocontrol.
           The contract calls for the consortium to deliver a master plan at
           the end of a 2-year definition phase. JPDO officials told us that
           they considered various ways to structure their work, such as
           having the government formulate plans with industry comment, or
           having industry formulate plans and provide them to the
           government. JPDO settled on the existing model, which is a hybrid
           that involves initial government work with close industry
           participation. Because of the different circumstances surrounding
           the U.S. and European approaches (such as the European need to
           harmonize various national systems), we have not taken a position
           on which approach might be more effective.

           In the wake of past national airspace modernization efforts, JPDO
           also faces the challenge of convincing nonfederal stakeholders
           that the government is financially committed to the NGATS. While
           FAA's major air traffic control acquisitions programs are
           currently on track, earlier attempts at modernizing the national
           airspace system encountered many difficulties. In one instance,
           for example, FAA developed a controller-pilot datalink
           communications system that transmitted scripted e-mail-like
           messages between controllers and pilots. One airline equipped its
           aircraft with this new technology, but because of funding cuts,
           FAA ended up canceling the program.12 In a similar vein, we have
           reported that some aviation stakeholders expressed concern that
           FAA may not follow through with its airspace redesign efforts and
           are hesitant to invest in equipment unless they are sure that
           FAA's efforts will continue.13 One expert with whom we spoke
           suggested that a way to mitigate this issue would be for the
           government to make an initial investment in a specific technology
           before requesting that airlines or other industry stakeholders
           purchase equipment.

           Finally, JPDO could face a challenge in resolving the potentially
           divergent perspectives that are represented by its nonfederal
           stakeholders. The range of nonfederal interests that JPDO has
           solicited for this effort is broad and varied, and potentially
           conflicting (for example, the interests of commercial airlines
           versus the interests of general aviation aircraft owners and
           pilots). While the intent is to ensure that all stakeholders are
           given the opportunity to participate in developing the NGATS,
           dissension among these stakeholders is nevertheless possible. A
           large portion of the nonfederal stakeholder participation is
           through the IPTs. JPDO officials told us that they expect IPT
           directors to resolve potential disputes among stakeholders and
           obtain a "convergence of opinion," which is defined by JPDO as
           working toward as close to a single position as possible while
           recognizing that the IPT director might need to make a final
           decision. JPDO officials told us that depending on the issue, the
           IPT director may elect to elevate the different views to the
           collection of IPT directors and senior JPDO officials for
           resolution. In such a situation, JPDO will be challenged to settle
           the dispute without alienating those nonfederal stakeholders who
           might believe themselves to be adversely affected by the decision.

           JPDO is using an iterative technical planning process that appears
           to be reasonable in light of the complexity of the NGATS. The
           planning process includes conducting modeling-a technique that
           mathematically represents the NGATS' system performance
           parameters, demand, and economic factors-as well as developing an
           enterprise architecture-a blueprint to guide NGATS development.

           JPDO has formed an Evaluation and Analysis Division (EAD),
           composed of FAA and NASA employees, and contractors, to assemble a
           suite of models that mathematically represent the interactions
           among system performance parameters, demand, and economic factors
           for the NGATS. These models iteratively test the relationships and
           interactions among factors based on a set of assumptions. For
           example, using models based on broad assumptions concerning fleet
           mix and passenger and flight demand, EAD has evaluated how the
           current air transportation system and proposed NGATS alternatives
           react. EAD has also used modeling to determine whether current
           airport capacity is sufficient to support a tripling of air
           traffic. The modeling results will help JPDO further refine its
           plans for the NGATS, leading to additional modeling that uses more
           precisely defined assumptions, all the while narrowing the range
           of potential solutions. In addition, EAD is modeling costs and
           benefits of proposed NGATS solutions, as well as interactions
           among system performance parameters, demand, and economic factors,
           to demonstrate to JPDO management and the Office of Management and
           Budget that the proposed solutions are a cost-effective way to
           meet strategic goals and objectives.

           Rather than creating its own models, EAD is assembling a suite of
           existing models from FAA, other agencies, and contractors. To
           assess the adequacy of these models, EAD has compared the results
           obtained from them to known previous conditions. For example, to
           assess how accurately a model reflects the impact of adverse
           weather on airport capacity, EAD has compared the model's results
           to what actually happened in a previous bad-weather event. In this
           case, the model proved to be accurate, thereby validating its
           further use.

           EAD recognizes the importance of human factors in designing the
           NGATS, but has just begun studying this issue. Specifically, EAD
           has used modeling to study how possible changes in the duties of
           key individuals, such as air traffic controllers, could affect the
           workload and performance of others, such as airport ground
           personnel. NGATS could shift some tasks now done by air traffic
           controllers to pilots. However, EAD has not yet begun to model the
           effect of this shift on pilot performance because, according to an
           EAD official, a suitable model has not yet been incorporated into
           the modeling tool suite. According to EAD, addressing this issue
           is difficult because data on pilot behavior are not readily
           available to use in creating such models. Furthermore, EAD has not
           studied the training implications of various NGATS-proposed
           solutions because further definition of the concept of operations
           for these solutions has not been completed. As the concept of
           operations matures, it will be important for air traffic
           controllers and other affected stakeholders to provide their
           perspectives on these modeling efforts.

           EAD plans to use outside experts to review the adequacy of its
           work. EAD will continue to publish results of its work in
           peer-reviewed journals. EAD officials said they are also exploring
           the possibility of pursuing a peer review relationship with SESAR
           officials. So far, however, EAD's modeling efforts are in the
           early stages and more time will be needed to conduct additional
           modeling and field testing to increase confidence that the final
           range of solutions for the NGATS is based on realistic
           assumptions.

           An enterprise architecture is a tool, or blueprint, for
           understanding and planning complex systems. It can facilitate
           NGATS planning by providing a strategic and integrated approach to
           decisionmaking. For example, enterprise architecture can help
           planners decide between various scenarios that involve flight
           takeoff, flight landing, and en route flight in bad weather. The
           NGATS enterprise architecture will provide the means for
           coordinating among the partner agencies and private sector
           manufacturers, aligning relevant research and development
           activities, and integrating equipment. The enterprise architecture
           will describe the current national airspace system, the NGATS, and
           the sequence of steps needed to transition between them.

           JPDO has taken the initial steps towards developing an enterprise
           architecture and plans to have an early version by the end of
           fiscal year 2006. The office has established and filled a chief
           architect position and established an NGATS Architecture Council
           composed of representatives from each partner agency's chief
           architect office. This provides the organizational structure and
           oversight needed to develop an enterprise architecture. While this
           is an important first step and consistent with effective practices
           that we have identified in enterprise architecture development,
           JPDO's enterprise architecture development is currently a work in
           progress. JPDO is working toward completing two tasks that we have
           also identified as effective practices. First, JPDO is planning to
           use the Federal Enterprise Architecture Security and Privacy
           Profile, currently under development by the Federal Chief
           Information Officer Council, to help ensure effective integration
           of security and privacy requirements across NGATS enterprise
           architecture. Second, JPDO is developing metrics that are to be
           compliant with guidance from us and the Office of Management and
           Budget to measure the enterprise architecture's progress in
           development and effectiveness-in-use by the end of fiscal year
           2006. JPDO recognizes that the development of the NGATS
           architecture will be a multiyear process that will involve a
           series of interim architectures.

           JPDO's phased "build a little, test a little" approach for
           developing and refining its enterprise architecture is similar to
           a process that we have advocated for FAA's major
           system-acquisition programs. After completing the initial version
           of its enterprise architecture, JPDO plans to undertake a
           comprehensive assessment to determine if additional efforts are
           necessary to improve the architecture and address any gaps that
           may have been identified. In addition, this phased development
           process will allow JPDO to incorporate evolving market forces and
           technologies in its architecture, and thus, to better manage
           change.

           In closing, Mr. Chairman, ultimate responsibility for the success
           of JPDO and the broader NGATS effort is shared among JPDO and its
           partner agencies, nonfederal stakeholders, and the Congress. JPDO
           and its partner agencies have responsibility to develop a plan,
           test technologies through demonstrations, and implement
           technologies to transform the current national airspace system in
           a timely and cost-efficient manner. Nonfederal stakeholders,
           including industry representatives, state and local government
           officials, and members of academia, must actively participate in
           developing the plan. Some of these stakeholders-such as commercial
           airlines and general aviation operators-will have to follow
           through by equipping their aircraft to realize the benefits of the
           NGATS. Finally, the success of the NGATS will undoubtedly require
           support from Congress to obtain the resources and authority
           necessary to complete the planning and testing stage, acquire the
           necessary technologies, and develop procedures. Consequently,
           Congress will face difficult decisions on how to prioritize
           funding to support the NGATS with other national priorities. These
           responsibilities are substantial, but failure in any one of these
           areas will significantly affect JPDO's chances of achieving a
           three-fold increase in airspace capacity by 2025.

           This concludes my statement. I would be pleased to respond to any
           questions that you or other Members of the Subcommittee may have
           at this time.

           For further information on this testimony, please contact Gerald
           Dillingham at (202) 512-2834 or by e-mail at [email protected] .
           Individuals making key contributions to this testimony include
           Nabajyoti Barkakati, Colin Fallon, David Hooper, Heather Krause,
           Elizabeth Marchak, Edmond Menoche, Faye Morrison, Richard Scott,
           and Sarah Veale.

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                                   Background

5The European Commission is a politically independent institution that
prepares and implements legislative instruments.

6Eurocontrol is an autonomous organization established in 1963 with the
intention of creating a single upper airspace.

JPDO Is Engaging in Effective Practices for Interagency Collaboration, but Faces
        Challenges in Leveraging Resources and Defining Responsibilities

JPDO Has Articulated a Common Outcome, Established Mutually Reinforcing or Joint
Strategies, and Begun to Leverage Resources

7A portion of this funding is in-kind services from Eurocontrol. To
convert euros to U.S. dollars, we used 1.2098, the foreign exchange rate
for Tuesday, March 21, 2006, as published in The Washington Post.

Strategy                                   Lead agency                     
Develop airport infrastructure to meet     Federal Aviation Administration 
future demand                              
Establish an effective security system     Department of Homeland Security 
without limiting mobility or civil         
liberties                                  
Establish an agile air traffic system that National Aeronautics and Space  
quickly responds to shifts in demand       Administration                  
Establish shared situational               Department of Defense           
awareness-where all users share the same   
information                                
Establish a comprehensive and proactive    Federal Aviation Administration 
approach to safety                         
Develop environmental protection that      Federal Aviation Administration 
allows sustained aviation growth           
Develop a systemwide capability to reduce  Department of Commerce          
weather impacts                            
Harmonize equipage and operations globally Federal Aviation Administration 

JPDO Faces Challenges in Continuing to Leverage Resources and Defining Roles and
Responsibilities

8SWIM would support the transition to network-centric operations by
providing the infrastructure and associated policies and standards to
enable information sharing among all authorized users, such as the
airlines, other government agencies, and the military.

9FAA's fiscal year 2007 budget request for research and development
includes about $18 million for JPDO, which is supplemented by matching
funds from NASA. NASA has committed to continuing this match in the
future, according to a JPDO official. JPDO uses these funds to conduct
planning and studies. Outyear funding plans for JPDO show a slight decline
through fiscal year 2010. Vision 100 authorized $50 million annually for
seven years for JPDO.

    JPDO Established Mechanisms to Involve Stakeholders but Faces Challenges

JPDO Is Involving Federal and Nonfederal Stakeholders

10The National Center for Advanced Technologies is a nonprofit unit within
the Aerospace Industries Association.

JPDO Faces Challenges in Maintaining Nonfederal Stakeholder Support Over the
Long Term

11GAO, National Airspace System: Transformation will Require Cultural
Change, Balanced Funding Priorities, and Use of All Available Management
Tools, GAO-06-154 (Washington, D.C.: Oct. 14, 2005).

12JPDO noted that FAA used this technology to conduct an operational
datalink demonstration that will provide valuable information for
developing future requirements and reducing development and implementation
risks.

13GAO-06-154.

             JPDO Is Using an Iterative Technical Planning Process

JPDO Has Begun to Use System Performance Modeling

JPDO Has Taken the First Steps toward Developing an Enterprise Architecture

                            Concluding Observations

                          Contact and Acknowledgements

(540121)

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To view the full product, click on the link above. For more information,
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Highlights of GAO-06-574T , testimony before the Subcommittee on Space and
Aeronautics, Committee on Science, House of Representatives

March 29, 2006

NEXT GENERATION AIR TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM

Preliminary Analysis of the Joint Planning and Development Office's
Planning, Progress, and Challenges

The health of our nation's air transportation system is critical to our
citizens and economy. However, the current approach to managing air
transportation is becoming increasingly inefficient and operationally
obsolete. In 2003, Congress created the Joint Planning and Development
Office (JPDO) to coordinate the federal and nonfederal stakeholders
necessary to plan and implement a transition from the current air
transportation system to the "next generation air transportation system"
(NGATS). JPDO, although housed within the Federal Aviation Administration
(FAA), 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. This testimony provides preliminary results from GAO's
ongoing study of the status of JPDO's efforts. GAO provides information on
(1) the extent to which JPDO is facilitating the federal interagency
collaboration and aligning the human and financial resources needed to
plan and implement the NGATS, (2) the actions taken by JPDO to adequately
involve stakeholders in the planning process, and (3) the extent to which
JPDO is conducting the technical planning needed to develop the NGATS.

JPDO is implementing a number of practices that GAO's work has shown
facilitates collaboration among federal agencies, but faces a challenge in
sustaining this collaboration over the longer term. These practices
include defining and articulating a common outcome, establishing mutually
reinforcing or joint strategies to achieve that outcome, and identifying
and addressing needs by leveraging resources among partner agencies.
However, JPDO faces a challenge in leveraging resources because it is
fundamentally a planning and coordinating body that lacks authority over
the key human and financial resources needed to continue developing plans
and system requirements for the NGATS. To its credit, JPDO is working with
its partner agencies to align their fiscal year 2008 budget requests to
support NGATS and is working with the Office of Management and Budget to
develop a budget review process that easily identifies partner agencies'
NGATS-related programs.

JPDO has involved federal and nonfederal stakeholders throughout its
organization. Federal stakeholders from the partner agencies work with
JPDO throughout multiple levels of the organization. The NGATS Institute
has been established as the mechanism for involving nonfederal
stakeholders. The Institute has obtained participation from industry and
other nonfederal stakeholders and has assigned them to work with JPDO.
However, JPDO has experienced difficulties with soliciting the
participation of current air traffic controllers, who will play a key role
in the NGATS. Additionally, JPDO could face a challenge in sustaining
nonfederal stakeholders' participation in an effort where tangible
benefits may not be realized until several years in the future.

JPDO is using an iterative technical planning process that appears to be
reasonable in light of the NGATS' complexity. The process includes
iterative modeling-a technique that mathematically represents the NGATS'
system performance parameters, demand, and economic factors-to narrow the
range of potential options. This fall, JPDO plans to have an initial
version of its enterprise architecture-a blueprint to guide NGATS
development-and will refine the architecture as the NGATS effort moves
forward.

Seven Partner Agencies Form the Joint Planning and Development Office
*** End of document. ***