Aviation Weather: FAA Is Reevaluating Services at Key Centers;	 
Both FAA and the National Weather Service Need to Better Ensure  
Product Quality (11-JAN-08, GAO-08-258).			 
                                                                 
The National Weather Service's (NWS) weather products are a vital
component of the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) air	 
traffic control system. In addition to providing aviation weather
products developed at its own facilities, NWS also provides staff
on-site at each of FAA's en route centers. This group of NWS	 
meteorologists--called a center weather service unit--provides	 
air traffic managers with forecasts and briefings on regional	 
conditions including turbulence, icing, and freezing		 
precipitation. GAO agreed to (1) determine the status of NWS's	 
plans for restructuring the offices that provide aviation weather
services at FAA's en route centers, (2) identify FAA's		 
requirements and its alternative sources for these services, and 
(3) evaluate both agencies' current abilities to ensure the	 
consistency and quality of these services. To do so, GAO	 
evaluated agency plans for restructuring offices, defining	 
requirements, and ensuring quality products, and interviewed	 
agency officials.						 
-------------------------Indexing Terms------------------------- 
REPORTNUM:   GAO-08-258 					        
    ACCNO:   A79710						        
  TITLE:     Aviation Weather: FAA Is Reevaluating Services at Key    
Centers; Both FAA and the National Weather Service Need to Better
Ensure Product Quality						 
     DATE:   01/11/2008 
  SUBJECT:   Air traffic control systems			 
	     Aircraft safety					 
	     Aviation						 
	     Aviation security					 
	     Cost effectiveness analysis			 
	     Evaluation criteria				 
	     Interagency relations				 
	     Performance measures				 
	     Product evaluation 				 
	     Reporting requirements				 
	     Safety standards					 
	     Transportation safety				 
	     Weather						 
	     Weather forecasting				 

******************************************************************
** This file contains an ASCII representation of the text of a  **
** GAO Product.                                                 **
**                                                              **
** No attempt has been made to display graphic images, although **
** figure captions are reproduced.  Tables are included, but    **
** may not resemble those in the printed version.               **
**                                                              **
** Please see the PDF (Portable Document Format) file, when     **
** available, for a complete electronic file of the printed     **
** document's contents.                                         **
**                                                              **
******************************************************************
GAO-08-258

   

     * [1]Results in Brief
     * [2]Background

          * [3]FAA's Mission and Organizational Structure
          * [4]NWS's Mission and Organizational Structure

               * [5]NWS Provides Aviation Weather Services to FAA

                    * [6]Aviation Weather Center
                    * [7]Weather Forecast Offices
                    * [8]Center Weather Service Units

          * [9]Center Weather Service Units: An Overview of Systems and Ope
          * [10]FAA Is Seeking to Improve Aviation Weather Services Provided

     * [11]NWS's Plans for Restructuring Its Center Weather Service Uni
     * [12]FAA Finds Its Existing Requirements Are Not Sufficiently Pre

          * [13]FAA's Existing Requirements for NWS Services Are Imprecise
          * [14]FAA Is Redefining Its Requirements
          * [15]FAA May Consider Alternative Sources for Weather Service Sup

     * [16]Neither NWS Nor FAA Ensure the Quality of Aviation Weather S

          * [17]NWS Does Not Measure or Evaluate Aviation Weather Products a
          * [18]FAA Does Not Consistently Evaluate or Provide Feedback on Av

     * [19]Conclusions
     * [20]Recommendations for Executive Action
     * [21]Agency Comments and Our Evaluation
     * [22]GAO Contact
     * [23]Staff Acknowledgments
     * [24]GAO's Mission
     * [25]Obtaining Copies of GAO Reports and Testimony

          * [26]Order by Mail or Phone

     * [27]To Report Fraud, Waste, and Abuse in Federal Programs
     * [28]Congressional Relations
     * [29]Public Affairs

Report to Congressional Requesters

United States Government Accountability Office

GAO

January 2008

AVIATION WEATHER

FAA Is Reevaluating Services at Key Centers; Both FAA and the National
Weather Service Need to Better Ensure Product Quality

GAO-08-258

Contents

Letter 1

Results in Brief 2
Background 3
NWS's Plans for Restructuring Its Center Weather Service Units Are on Hold
11
FAA Finds Its Existing Requirements Are Not Sufficiently Precise and Is
Developing New Ones; Agency Has Not Ruled Out Private Industry Sources 12
Neither NWS Nor FAA Ensure the Quality of Aviation Weather Services at En
Route Centers 14
Conclusions 17
Recommendations for Executive Action 18
Agency Comments and Our Evaluation 18
Appendix I Objectives, Scope, and Methodology 22
Appendix II Comments from the Department of Commerce 24
Appendix III GAO Contact and Staff Acknowledgments 26

Tables

Table 1: Weather Products Developed by the Aviation Weather Center 6
Table 2: Systems Used in the Center Weather Service Units 9
Table 3: Key Products and Services Provided by Center Weather Service
Units 10

Figures

Figure 1: FAA Facilities Involved in Air Traffic Control 5
Figure 2: Center Weather Service Unit Locations and Service Areas 8

This is a work of the U.S. government and is not subject to copyright
protection in the United States. The published product may be reproduced
and distributed in its entirety without further permission from GAO.
However, because this work may contain copyrighted images or other
material, permission from the copyright holder may be necessary if you
wish to reproduce this material separately.

Abbreviations: 

FAA: Federal Aviation Administration: 

NOAA: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration: 

NWS: National Weather Service: 

[End of section] 

United States Government Accountability Office:
Washington, DC 20548: 

January 11, 2008: 

Congressional Requesters: 

The National Weather Service (NWS) plays a significant role in 
providing weather services to the aviation community. NWS's weather 
products and data are vital components of the Federal Aviation 
Administration's (FAA) air traffic control system, providing weather 
information to local, regional, and national air traffic management, 
navigation, and surveillance systems. NWS aviation weather products 
include forecasts and warnings of meteorological conditions that could 
affect air traffic, including thunderstorms, air turbulence, and icing. 

In addition to providing aviation weather products that are developed 
at its own facilities, NWS also provides staff on-site at each of FAA's 
en route centers--the facilities that control high-altitude flight 
outside the airport tower and terminal areas. This group of NWS 
meteorologists--called a center weather service unit--provides air 
traffic managers with forecasts, advisories, and periodic weather 
briefings on regional conditions. 

Over the last few years, FAA has been exploring its options for 
enhancing the efficiency of the aviation weather services provided at 
its en route centers. Because of your interest in possible changes to 
NWS's aviation weather services, we agreed to (1) determine the status 
of NWS's plans for restructuring the offices that provide aviation 
weather services at FAA's en route centers, (2) identify FAA's 
requirements and its alternative sources for these services, and (3) 
evaluate both agencies' current abilities to ensure the consistency and 
quality of these services. 

To address our objectives, we reviewed NWS's plans for restructuring 
its center weather service units, interagency agreements governing the 
aviation weather program and its requirements, and efforts by both FAA 
and NWS to ensure the quality of aviation weather service. We compared 
the agencies' efforts with best practices for quality assurance. We 
also interviewed relevant agency officials, as well as FAA and NWS 
employees at en route centers. We performed our work at FAA and NWS 
headquarters offices, an FAA air traffic control tower, and FAA's Air 
Traffic Control System Command Center, in the Washington, D.C., 
metropolitan area. In addition, we conducted work at four en route 
centers across the country and at NWS's Aviation Weather Center in 
Kansas City, Missouri. We conducted this performance audit from May 
2007 to December 2007, in accordance with generally accepted government 
auditing standards. Those standards require that we plan and perform 
the audit to obtain sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a 
reasonable basis for our findings and conclusions based on our audit 
objectives. We believe that the evidence obtained provides a reasonable 
basis for our findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives. 
Additional details on our objectives, scope, and methodology are 
provided in appendix I. 

Results in Brief: 

NWS developed a proposal for restructuring the offices that provide 
aviation weather services at FAA's en route centers, but these plans 
are currently on hold. In 2005, FAA requested that NWS restructure its 
center weather service units by consolidating offices, providing remote 
services, and reducing personnel costs. In response, NWS conducted a 
prototype that demonstrated that the services currently provided by the 
center weather service units could be provided remotely by the closest 
weather forecast office--effectively removing the center weather 
service unit staff from the en route center. It subsequently presented 
a proposal for implementing this prototype, but FAA declined this 
proposal. Instead, FAA decided to more clearly define its requirements 
for the weather services provided at en route centers. NWS officials 
stated that they may revise the proposal or consider other alternative 
organizational structures to meet FAA's needs in the future. 

FAA considers its existing requirements governing center weather 
service units to be too broad to ensure the efficiency and cost-
effectiveness of the services, so the agency worked for several months 
to redefine its requirements. By September 2007, FAA had developed 
draft requirements that specified the products and services to be 
performed by the meteorologists at the en route centers, including 
conducting weather briefings and developing local icing and turbulence 
forecasts. FAA finalized a more expansive set of requirements at the 
end of December 2007 and expects NWS to respond within 120 days on its 
ability to fulfill the requirements. FAA stated that if NWS is unable 
to meet the requirements, it will consider using alternative sources 
such as private industry or government laboratories to meet the 
requirements. 

Although interagency agreements between NWS and FAA state that both 
agencies have responsibilities for assuring and controlling the quality 
of aviation weather observations, neither agency consistently does so 
for weather products and services produced at the en route centers. 
Specifically, neither has developed performance measures and metrics, 
regularly evaluated weather service unit performance, or provided 
feedback to improve these aviation weather products and services. 
Because of this lack of performance tracking and oversight, NWS cannot 
demonstrate the quality or value of its services, and FAA cannot ensure 
the quality of the services it funds. Until both agencies are able to 
measure and ensure the quality of the aviation weather products and 
services at the en route centers, FAA may not be getting the 
information it needs to effectively manage air traffic. 

We are making recommendations to the Secretaries of Commerce and 
Transportation to ensure that NWS and FAA develop performance measures 
for aviation weather services provided at en route centers, evaluate 
the services against those measures, and provide feedback to the NWS 
staff on how to improve services. In written comments on a draft of 
this report, the Secretary of Commerce agreed with our recommendations 
and stated that after FAA provides its revised requirements, the 
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) would work with 
FAA to develop methods for performance monitoring and evaluation. The 
Department of Transportation's Director of Audit Relations also 
provided comments via e-mail on a draft of this report, but the 
department did not agree or disagree with our recommendations. In its 
comments, the department stated that FAA's revised requirements 
document establishes performance measures and evaluation procedures, 
and that FAA would negotiate with NWS to implement them. Both 
departments also provided technical comments that we incorporated as 
appropriate. 

Background: 

FAA is responsible for ensuring safe, orderly, and efficient air travel 
in the national airspace system. NWS supports FAA by providing 
aviation-related forecasts and warnings at air traffic facilities 
across the country. Among other support and services, NWS provides four 
meteorologists at each of FAA's 21 en route centers to provide on-site 
aviation weather services. This arrangement is defined and funded under 
an interagency agreement. 

FAA's Mission and Organizational Structure: 

FAA's primary mission is to ensure safe, orderly, and efficient air 
travel in the national airspace system. FAA reported that, in 2006, air 
traffic in the national airspace system exceeded 46 million flights and 
750 million passengers. In addition, at any one time, as many as 7,000 
aircraft--both civilian and military--could be aloft over the United 
States. In 2004, FAA's Air Traffic Organization was formed to, among 
other responsibilities, improve the provision of air traffic services. 
More than 36,000 employees within FAA's Air Traffic Organization 
support the operations that help move aircraft through the national 
airspace system. 

The agency's ability to fulfill its mission depends on the adequacy and 
reliability of its air traffic control systems, as well as weather 
forecasts made available by NWS and automated systems. These resources 
reside at, or are associated with, several types of facilities: air 
traffic control towers, terminal radar approach control facilities, air 
route traffic control centers (en route centers), and the Air Traffic 
Control System Command Center. The number and functions of these 
facilities are as follows: 

* 517 air traffic control towers manage and control the airspace within 
about 5 miles of an airport. They control departures and landings, as 
well as ground operations on airport taxiways and runways. 

* 170 terminal radar approach control facilities provide air traffic 
control services for airspace within approximately 40 miles of an 
airport and generally up to 10,000 feet above the airport, where en 
route centers' control begins. Terminal controllers establish and 
maintain the sequence and separation of aircraft. 

* 21 en route centers control planes over the United States--in transit 
and during approaches to some airports. Each center handles a different 
region of airspace. En route centers operate the computer suite that 
processes radar surveillance and flight planning data, reformats it for 
presentation purposes, and sends it to display equipment that is used 
by controllers to track aircraft. The centers control the switching of 
voice communications between aircraft and the center, as well as 
between the center and other air traffic control facilities. Two en 
route centers also control air traffic over the oceans. 

* The Air Traffic Control System Command Center manages the flow of air 
traffic within the United States. This facility regulates air traffic 
when weather, equipment, runway closures, or other conditions place 
stress on the national airspace system. In these instances, traffic 
management specialists at the command center take action to modify 
traffic demands in order to keep traffic within system capacity. 

See figure 1 for a visual summary of the facilities that control and 
manage air traffic over the United States. 

Figure 1: FAA Facilities Involved in Air Traffic Control: 

[See PDF for image] 

This figure is an illustration of FAA Facilities Involved in Air 
Traffic Control. The following data is depicted: 

Air Traffic Control System Command Center: 
Preflight: Air traffic control tower; 
Takeoff: Air traffic control tower; 
Departure: Terminal radar approach control; 
En route: Air route traffic control center; 
Descent: Air route traffic control center; Terminal radar approach 
control; 
Approach: Terminal radar approach control; 
Landing: Air traffic control tower. 

Source: GAO analysis of FAA data. 

[End of figure] 

NWS's Mission and Organizational Structure: 

The mission of NWS--an agency within the Department of Commerce's NOAA-
-is to provide weather, water, and climate forecasts and warnings for 
the United States, its territories, and its adjacent waters and oceans 
to protect life and property and to enhance the national economy. In 
addition, NWS is the official source of aviation-and marine-related 
weather forecasts and warnings, as well as warnings about life-
threatening weather situations. 

The coordinated activities of weather facilities throughout the United 
States allow NWS to deliver a broad spectrum of climate, weather, 
water, and space weather services in support of its mission. These 
facilities include 122 weather forecast offices located across the 
country that provide a wide variety of weather, water, and climate 
services for their local county warning areas, including advisories, 
warnings, and forecasts; 9 national prediction centers [Footnote 1] 
that provide nationwide computer modeling to all NWS field offices; and 
21 center weather service units that are located at FAA en route 
centers across the nation and provide meteorological support to air 
traffic controllers. 

NWS Provides Aviation Weather Services to FAA: 

As an official source of aviation weather forecasts and warnings, 
several NWS facilities provide aviation weather products and services 
to the FAA and aviation sector. These facilities include the Aviation 
Weather Center, weather forecast offices located across the country, 
and center weather service units located at FAA en route centers. 

Aviation Weather Center: 

The Aviation Weather Center located in Kansas City, Missouri, issues 
warnings, forecasts, and analyses of hazardous weather for aviation. 
Staffed by 65 personnel, the center develops warnings of hazardous 
weather for aircraft in flight and forecasts of weather conditions for 
the next 2 days that could affect both domestic and international 
aviation. The center also leads a collaborative effort to develop a 
forecast of expected convective events for the entire country every 2 
hours. This is used by FAA to manage aviation traffic flow across the 
country. The Aviation Weather Center's key products are described in 
table 1. 

Table 1: Weather Products Developed by the Aviation Weather Center: 

Weather product: Significant Meteorological Information; 
Description: A brief description of the development and occurrence or 
expected occurrence of certain nonthunderstorm weather conditions that 
may affect the safety of aircraft in the en route environment. These 
conditions include severe icing not associated with thunderstorms, 
severe or clear air turbulence not associated with thunderstorms, dust 
or sand storms that lower visibility to below 3 miles, volcanic ash, 
and tropical cyclones. 

Weather product: Convective Significant Meteorological Information; 
Description: A text product describing the occurrence or expected 
occurrence of thunderstorms and related weather conditions over the 
contiguous United States within 2 hours of issuance time. 

Weather product: Airman's Meteorological Information; 
Description: A brief description of the development and occurrence or 
expected occurrence of certain nonthunderstorm weather conditions that 
may affect the safety of aircraft in the en route environment, but that 
do not meet the criteria to develop a Significant Meteorological 
Information product. 

Weather product: Collaborative Convection Forecast Product; 
Description: A graphical convection forecast developed for strategic 
planning and management of en route air traffic. It is produced every 2 
hours through collaboration--by way of an online chat room--among the 
Aviation Weather Center, the Meteorological Services of Canada, airline 
meteorology departments, FAA's Air Traffic Control System Command 
Center, and the center weather service units. These collaborative 
forecasts are produced between March 1 and October 31 every year. 

Source: GAO analysis of NWS data. 

[End of table] 

Weather Forecast Offices: 

NWS's 122 weather forecast offices issue terminal area forecasts for 
approximately 625 locations every 6 hours or when conditions change. 
These forecasts consist of the expected weather conditions significant 
to a given airport or terminal area and are primarily used by 
commercial and general aviation pilots. 

Center Weather Service Units: 

NWS's center weather service units are located at each of FAA's 21 en 
route centers and operate 16 hours a day, 7 days a week (see fig. 2). 
Each weather service unit usually consists of three meteorologists and 
a meteorologist-in-charge who provide strategic advice and aviation 
weather forecasts to FAA traffic management personnel. Governed by an 
interagency agreement, FAA currently reimburses NWS approximately $12 
million annually for this support. 

Figure 2: Center Weather Service Unit Locations and Service Areas: 

[See PDF for image] 

This figure is a map of the United States, illustrating Center Weather 
Service Unit Locations and Service Areas. The following locations are 
depicted: 

Boston; 
New York; 
Washington, DC; 
Cleveland; 
Indianapolis; 
Memphis; 
Atlanta; 
Jacksonville; 
Miami; 
Houston; 
Fort Worth; 
Kansas City; 
Chicago; 
Minneapolis; 
Denver; 
Albuquerque; 
Salt Lake City; 
Los Angeles; 
Oakland; 
Seattle; 
Anchorage. 

Source: NWS (data). Map Resources (map). 

[End of figure] 

Center Weather Service Units: An Overview of Systems and Operations: 

The meteorologists at the center weather service units use a variety of 
systems to gather and analyze information compiled from NWS and FAA 
weather sensors. Key systems used to compile weather information 
include FAA's Weather and Radar Processor, FAA's Integrated Terminal 
Weather System, and a remote display of NWS's Advanced Weather 
Interactive Processing System. Meteorologists at the en route centers 
located along the Northeast air traffic corridor also use FAA's 
Corridor Integrated Weather System to oversee the interaction of air 
traffic routes and weather. Table 2 provides a description of selected 
systems. 

Table 2: Systems Used in the Center Weather Service Units: 

System: Weather and Radar Processor; 
Description: FAA's Weather and Radar Processor is used in en route 
centers and receives information from automated weather sensors located 
at airports and from other sources such as weather satellites. It 
compiles the information and provides current weather and forecasts to 
air traffic supervisors, traffic flow managers, and the center weather 
service unit meteorologists. 

System: Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System--Remote 
Display; 
Description: NWS's Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System 
integrates hydrometeorological data from a variety of sources and 
produces graphical displays at NWS weather forecast offices, river 
forecast centers, and national centers. This system aids forecaster 
analysis and decision making. Meteorologists at the en route centers 
have access to this system through a remote display system, which 
provides a dedicated connection to the supporting weather forecast 
office. The Remote Display is funded by FAA, and maintenance is 
provided by NWS. 

System: Integrated Terminal Weather System; 
Description: FAA's Integrated Terminal Weather System furnishes air 
traffic controllers and meteorologists with full-color graphic displays 
of weather information concerning airport terminal airspace within a 60-
mile radius. The system also projects movement of severe weather 
systems up to 1 hour in the future and has been installed at 22 
airports. 

System: Corridor Integrated Weather System; 
Description: FAA's Corridor Integrated Weather System is a prototype 
decision support tool that gathers weather information occurring along 
the Northeast air traffic corridor to help controllers select the most 
efficient routes for diverting traffic to avoid severe weather 
conditions. This system provides traffic flow managers with 
comprehensive convective weather data needed for tactical 
modifications, occurring within 2 hours, to the operational plan. These 
tactical modifications to the operational plan may include the weather 
impacts on air traffic control capacity, a need to modify the 
mitigation plan, and the execution of a modified mitigation plan. 

Source: GAO analysis of FAA and NWS data. 

[End of table] 

NWS meteorologists at the en route centers provide several products and 
services to the FAA staff, including meteorological impact statements, 
center weather advisories, periodic briefings, and on-demand 
consultations. These products and services are described in table 3. In 
addition, center weather service unit meteorologists can provide input 
every 2 hours to the Aviation Weather Center's creation of the 
Collaborative Convective Forecast Product, train FAA personnel on how 
to interpret weather information and, if warranted, provide weather 
briefings to nearby terminal radar approach control facilities. 

Table 3: Key Products and Services Provided by Center Weather Service 
Units: 

Product or service: Meteorological impact statement; 
Description: An unscheduled forecast of weather conditions that are 
expected to adversely impact the flow of air traffic in the en route 
center's area of responsibility within 4 to 12 hours. 

Product or service: Center weather advisory; 
Description: A short-term, unscheduled warning of hazardous weather 
conditions used primarily by air crews to anticipate and avoid adverse 
weather conditions in the en route and terminal environments. It 
describes current weather conditions or adverse weather conditions--
such as moderate to severe icing or turbulence, thunderstorms, and low 
ceilings and visibility--beginning within the next 2 hours. 

Product or service: Briefings; 
Description: Short updates provided by en route center meteorologists 
to FAA supervisors twice a day; they include current weather 
advisories, a summary of the predicted weather in the en route area, 
terminal forecasts, and jet stream and freezing information. 

Product or service: On-demand consultation; 
Description: Unscheduled verbal presentations provided to traffic 
management controllers, supervisors, and other FAA facilities within 
the en route center area. Consultations may be about the expected 
weather conditions or interpretations of weather information from the 
satellite images. 

Source: GAO analysis of FAA and NWS data. 

[End of table] 

FAA Is Seeking to Improve Aviation Weather Services Provided at En 
Route Centers: 

In recent years, FAA has undertaken multiple initiatives to assess and 
improve the performance of the center weather service units. [Footnote 
2] Studies conducted in 2003 and 2006 highlighted concerns with NWS's 
weather service units while FAA's more recent initiatives have sought 
solutions. 

In November 2003, FAA performed a study of the performance of the 
weather service units and found that the services provided at different 
en route locations were inconsistent, the products were not 
standardized, and there was little communication and collaboration 
between neighboring service units. Additionally, in January 2006, FAA 
initiated an analysis of the value of different activities performed by 
the center weather service units. Similar to the 2003 study, the 
results of this analysis noted the lack of standardization of products, 
services, tools, and procedures. In addition, the report found that 
quality assurance was provided on an informal basis, there was no 
formal feedback process for products and services, and meteorological 
training was not standardized. 

To address these concerns, FAA undertook several initiatives. In 
September 2005, FAA requested that NWS restructure its aviation weather 
services to provide improved services more efficiently. FAA also 
contracted for an analysis of whether weather information could be 
remotely delivered to air traffic controllers. The subsequent report 
[Footnote 3] confirmed that it would be possible for weather 
information, products, and services to be delivered to customers at the 
en route centers from one or many remote locations with currently 
available state of the art technology platforms. Following up on this 
information, in October 2006, FAA administered a market survey to 
determine whether the private sector could provide remote weather 
services at a lower cost than currently provided. Ten organizations, 
including private sector firms and government-funded laboratories, 
responded that they could provide the services that FAA wanted. 

NWS's Plans for Restructuring Its Center Weather Service Units Are on 
Hold: 

NWS developed a proposal to address FAA's request for more efficient 
center weather service, but any plans for restructuring the center 
weather service units are currently on hold. When FAA requested that 
NWS restructure its aviation weather services, the agency asked NWS to 
consolidate 20 of the service units (excluding the service unit in 
Alaska) to a smaller number of sites, reduce related NWS personnel 
costs by 20 percent, and deliver forecast products and services 24 
hours a day, 7 days a week. Subsequently, NWS chartered a prototype 
team to evaluate approaches for providing services to FAA and to 
prepare a proposal for modernizing the national aviation weather 
program. 

In August 2006, the NWS team conducted a prototype in which center 
weather service unit products and services were completed and delivered 
remotely from the closest weather forecast office. This prototype 
showed that remote operations were possible and effective, but that 
they would be difficult to implement because of the need for cultural 
change, technology upgrades, and communication stability. 
Specifically, forecasters in the prototype were not able to provide 
dedicated support for the aviation mission because their other duties-
-including forecasting severe weather at the weather forecast office--
took precedence. In addition, a collaboration technology used during 
the prototype was not operationally ready-to-use, servers were 
unstable, critical radar data were inconsistent with weather forecast 
office data, and communications lines were unstable throughout the 
prototype. In spite of these difficulties, in October 2006, NWS 
presented its proposal for restructuring its aviation weather services 
to FAA. 

In April 2007, FAA declined NWS's proposal. FAA officials explained 
that NWS's proposal was not viable because it did not consolidate the 
offices to a smaller number of sites and it involved higher training 
costs. Instead, FAA reported that it would redefine its requirements 
for the functions provided by the center weather service units. 
Officials stated that once FAA's requirements are more clearly defined, 
NWS may revise its proposal or consider other alternative 
organizational structures to deliver those requirements. 

FAA Finds Its Existing Requirements Are Not Sufficiently Precise and Is 
Developing New Ones; Agency Has Not Ruled Out Private Industry Sources: 

FAA considers its existing requirements governing NWS's center weather 
service units to be too broad to ensure the efficiency and cost-
effectiveness of the services, and has therefore worked for several 
months to redefine its requirements. By September 2007, the agency had 
developed draft requirements that specified activities and performance 
measures. In late December 2007, after we completed our review, FAA 
finalized a more expansive set of requirements. It expects NWS to 
respond within 120 days as to whether they are able to meet the 
requirements. If NWS is unable to fulfill the new requirements, FAA has 
stated that it will consider using alternative sources from private 
industry or government laboratories to obtain the weather services 
necessary to meet its requirements. 

FAA's Existing Requirements for NWS Services Are Imprecise: 

FAA's existing requirements for the center weather service units are 
broadly outlined in an interagency agreement that is updated every few 
years. The interagency agreement specifies that NWS is to provide 
meteorological advice and consultation to en route center operations 
personnel and other designated FAA air traffic facilities within the en 
route area of responsibility. [Footnote 4] This agreement establishes 
specific terms that govern the number of NWS staff, their working 
hours, and cost reimbursement details. It does not specify the 
contents, quality, or frequency of weather products. 

An NWS directive, signed in May 2006 and intended for NWS's weather 
forecast offices and center weather service units, provides more 
specific information regarding the content of weather products, 
including daily briefings, meteorological impact statements, and center 
weather advisories. Specifically, a service unit's briefings are to 
contain sufficient information for air traffic controllers to make 
decisions and appropriate operational adjustments based on weather 
impacts, including a discussion of advisories in effect, weather 
systems and their movements within the en route center area, flight 
conditions (including convective weather, turbulence, and icing), 
weather conditions for large airports (including heavy snow, freezing 
precipitation, and low visibility), wind direction and speed, and any 
other locally required items. The service unit's meteorological impact 
statements are to detail weather conditions expected to adversely 
impact air traffic flow in the service unit area of responsibility and 
should include the location, height, extent, and movement of the 
weather conditions. In addition, the center weather advisories may 
include forecasts of conditions expected to begin within 2 hours of 
issuance. Center weather advisories typically include the issuance 
time, the time the meteorologist expects the condition to begin, other 
weather advisories that are augmented by the center weather advisory, 
and the location and a brief description of the weather phenomenon. 

FAA Is Redefining Its Requirements: 

In April 2007, FAA's Air Traffic Organization began refining its 
requirements for aviation weather services at the en route centers. To 
do this, FAA collected all related NWS and FAA orders and directives 
and developed a list of over 100 products and services that the 
different service units provide. FAA then sent this list to traffic 
managers in each of the en route centers, asking them to specify the 
products and services that they need, the ones they do not need, and 
any new products or services that they would like. Traffic managers 
were also able to specify whether they needed some of the more 
customized weather products that are currently available at selected en 
route centers. 

Using results from this survey, FAA developed a list of approximately 
47 products and services. Examples of products and services include 
conducting scheduled briefings, developing local turbulence and icing 
forecasts, and issuing products such as the meteorological impact 
statement and the center weather advisory. In commenting on a draft of 
this report, FAA noted that it finalized a more expansive set of 
requirements on December 19, 2007. 

NWS will have 120 days to respond as to whether they are able to meet 
the requirements outlined in the final requirements document. Also, FAA 
plans to request that NWS respond to different assumptions, including 
having aviation weather services provided at the current en route 
center locations, having aviation weather services provided at an off-
site location, and potentially having a hybrid approach. 

FAA May Consider Alternative Sources for Weather Service Support: 

FAA officials within the Air Traffic Organization stated that they are 
not currently considering private industry sources for weather services 
at en route centers, but that they may do so in the future. FAA 
officials stated that until NWS responds as to whether and how it can 
fulfill the revised FAA requirements, it is premature to consider 
alternative sources. However, FAA has stated that if NWS cannot meet 
the refined requirements, it will consider taking steps to procure 
weather services from alternative sources. While acknowledging that NWS 
is not directed to be the exclusive provider of weather products and 
services to FAA, NWS's Senior Counsel stated that the Secretary of 
Commerce is required to provide meteorological reports, such as those 
provided by the center weather service units, to persons engaged in 
civil aeronautics. [Footnote 5] He stated that if NWS cannot meet FAA's 
requirements, FAA and NWS should enter into negotiations. 

Neither NWS Nor FAA Ensure the Quality of Aviation Weather Services at 
En Route Centers: 

While interagency agreements between NWS and FAA state that both 
agencies have responsibilities for assuring and controlling the quality 
of aviation weather observations, neither NWS nor FAA consistently do 
so for weather products produced at the en route centers. Leading 
organizations use quality assurance to provide staff and management 
with objective insights into processes and associated work products. 
[Footnote 6] Generally, quality assurance includes objectively 
evaluating performed processes, work products, and services against 
applicable process descriptions, standards, and procedures; identifying 
and documenting noncompliance issues; providing feedback to project 
staff and managers on the results of quality assurance activities; and 
ensuring that noncompliance issues are addressed. However, neither NWS 
nor FAA has developed performance measures and metrics, regularly 
evaluated weather service unit performance, or provided feedback to 
improve these aviation weather products and services. 

Because of this lack of performance tracking and oversight, NWS cannot 
demonstrate the quality or value of its services, and FAA cannot ensure 
the value of the services it funds. As a result, it is not clear that 
FAA is getting the information it needs to effectively manage air 
travel. FAA officials stated that they intend to establish performance 
measures for their redefined requirements and to improve their 
oversight against these measures. However, at present, FAA has not 
worked with NWS to define a comprehensive set of measures for its 
requirements, and it is unclear how the agency would develop a 
performance baseline for comparison to actual performance because many 
of the products and services have not previously been measured. 

NWS Does Not Measure or Evaluate Aviation Weather Products and Services 
at En Route Centers: 

NWS does not measure or evaluate the aviation weather services it 
provides at en route centers. Under existing interagency agreements, 
NWS is responsible for controlling the quality of its aviation weather 
observations. Specifically, NWS is responsible for monitoring and 
evaluating the quality and effectiveness of its aviation weather 
services, including the services provided at the weather forecast 
offices, the Aviation Weather Center, and the en route centers. 

While NWS has developed and continues to monitor performance measures 
for aviation weather forecasts provided by its weather forecast offices 
and the Aviation Weather Center, the agency has not done so for the 
weather products and services provided at the en route centers. 
Specifically, NWS has not developed performance measures for aviation 
weather products and services at en route centers, evaluated the 
aviation weather products and services developed at the en route 
centers, or provided feedback for those services. NOAA and NWS 
officials declined to explain why the agency does not have performance 
measures for aviation weather products or services at en route centers, 
but they noted that neither FAA nor NWS have required or funded such an 
effort. Further, the aviation services branch chief told us that he had 
planned to begin evaluations for aviation weather services at the en 
route centers but decided to wait because of the potential for large-
scale changes to the services. 

Until NWS establishes performance measures and evaluates the quality 
and effectiveness of its products against these measures, the agency 
will remain unable to ensure that it provides consistent quality 
products and to effectively demonstrate the value it provides to FAA. 

FAA Does Not Consistently Evaluate or Provide Feedback on Aviation 
Weather Services at En Route Centers: 

FAA has not consistently evaluated NWS services at its en route centers 
or adequately provided feedback on the results of its few evaluations. 
Under interagency agreements, FAA is responsible for ensuring that 
aviation weather services meet its requirements. In addition, it 
requires the traffic management officer within each traffic management 
unit to evaluate the aviation weather services at the en route centers 
annually and to provide feedback to the resident meteorologist-in-
charge. 

FAA has not consistently ensured the quality of aviation weather 
services at en route centers. Specifically, it currently does not have 
any quantitative and objective performance measures--such as 
timeliness, accuracy, or false alarm rate--by which to evaluate these 
services. Agreements between the agencies broadly specify the types of 
aviation weather products to be developed at the en route centers but 
do not provide criteria by which these products can be evaluated. In 
addition, FAA has not consistently performed its annual evaluations of 
these products and services. According to the contracting officer's 
technical representative responsible for the evaluations, the last 
evaluation was performed in 2006, and its results were largely 
anecdotal. Specifically, the evaluation called for the traffic 
management officer to rate the service unit on a scale of 0 to 4 in 
different categories, including quality and timeliness of products and 
services, knowledge of air traffic control, and participation in 
training. The technical representative told us that he could not find 
any evaluations in 2005, evaluations of only three service units in 
2004, and evaluations of a similarly small number of service units in 
2003. 

Further, FAA is not consistently providing feedback to weather staff at 
the en route centers. According to the technical representative, the 
evaluations from 2006 were not compiled or analyzed because the 
evaluations contained no glaring problems or issues that needed 
additional attention. In addition, the NWS aviation services branch 
chief told us that FAA had sent him copies of the evaluations from 2006 
but did not offer analysis of these evaluations, express concerns about 
the services, or send the results to the individual center weather 
service units. This official also stated that he was not aware that FAA 
had performed any annual evaluations of the center weather service 
units prior to 2006. 

Because FAA has not established performance requirements or 
consistently and thoroughly evaluated the aviation weather services at 
en route centers, the agency cannot be sure that the products and 
services provided by the center weather service unit meteorologists are 
adding value, and they cannot provide feedback to these meteorologists 
in order to improve the services. To address this shortfall, FAA 
officials stated that they intend to establish performance measures for 
aviation weather services at en route centers when they revise their 
requirements and to improve their oversight of NWS against these 
measures. However, FAA has not worked with NWS to develop measures for 
the products and services it will require from NWS, and it is unclear 
how the agency would develop a performance baseline for comparison to 
actual performance because many of the products and services have not 
previously been measured. 

Conclusions: 

In seeking to improve the aviation weather services provided at its en 
route centers, FAA asked NWS to develop a proposal for restructuring 
its organization to provide weather services more efficiently. NWS 
subsequently presented a proposal for providing weather services 
remotely, but FAA declined this proposal, stating that it would revise 
and reaffirm its requirements before deciding how to proceed. FAA also 
noted that if NWS is unable to meet FAA's needs, it will consider 
alternative sources including private industry. 

Assessing the value and effectiveness of current weather service 
products provided at en route centers is difficult because neither NWS 
nor FAA monitors the accuracy and quality of these aviation weather 
products. Specifically, NWS has not established performance measures 
for aviation weather products and services provided at the en route 
centers, evaluated these products and services, or provided feedback on 
them. FAA has not specified what level of performance it needs, 
consistently evaluated the aviation weather services at en route 
centers, or provided NWS feedback on how to improve its services. While 
FAA plans to include performance measures when it defines its new 
requirements, it has not worked with NWS to develop a set of measures, 
and it is not clear how the agency would develop baseline performance 
for comparison. Until the agencies establish a system of performance 
tracking and oversight, NWS will not be able to demonstrate the quality 
or value of its services, and FAA will not be able to ensure the value 
of the services it funds. Without knowing the quality of the aviation 
weather services used at en route centers across the country, FAA may 
not be getting the information it needs to effectively manage air 
travel. 

Recommendations for Executive Action: 

While many steps remain in defining the future of aviation weather 
services at en route centers--including negotiations between FAA and 
NWS on the provision of these services and FAA's subsequent decision on 
whether to obtain selected services from alternative sources--there are 
steps both agencies can take to ensure that the quality of future 
aviation weather products and services are measured and evaluated. We 
are making two recommendations to the Secretary of Commerce and three 
recommendations to the Secretary of Transportation to improve the 
quality of aviation weather products and services at en route centers. 

We recommend that the Secretary of Commerce direct the Assistant 
Administrator for the National Weather Service to: 

* assist FAA in developing performance measures and metrics for the 
products and services to be provided by center weather service units, 
and: 

* perform annual evaluations of aviation weather services provided at 
en route centers and provide feedback to the center weather service 
units. 

Further, we recommend that the Secretary of the Department of 
Transportation direct the FAA Administrator to: 

* work with NWS to define performance measures and metrics for aviation 
weather services provided by meteorologists, 

* evaluate the services it receives against those measures and metrics, 
and: 

* ensure that results of these evaluations are provided to staff 
stationed at center weather service units so that they can improve 
performance, where applicable. 

Agency Comments and Our Evaluation: 

The Department of Commerce provided written comments on a draft of this 
report (see app. II). In the department's response, the Secretary of 
Commerce agreed with our recommendations to assist FAA in developing 
performance measures and metrics, and to perform annual evaluations of 
aviation weather services and provide feedback to the center weather 
service units. The department stated that after FAA provides its 
revised requirements NOAA would work with FAA to develop methods for 
performance monitoring and evaluation. Subsequently, on December 19, 
2007, FAA provided its revised requirements to NWS. 

The Department of Transportation's Director of Audit Relations provided 
comments on a draft of this report via e-mail. In those comments, the 
department did not agree or disagree with our recommendations. The 
department stated that FAA's revised requirements are consistent with 
our recommendations in that they establish performance measures and 
evaluation procedures, and that FAA would begin to negotiate with NWS 
to implement them. 

In its December 2007 requirements document, FAA identified several new 
requirements for aviation weather. Specifically, the document calls for 
expanding the scope of the center weather service units to monitor the 
entire national airspace system, rather than the respective en route 
center regions. This national scope is expected to allow more 
integrated decision making at the national level while continuing to 
provide specialized products at the regional and local levels. The 
revised requirements also define new products and services, such as 
providing weather forecasts for terminal radar approach control 
facilities, increasing weather coverage from 16 hours a day to 24 hours 
a day, and enhancing the standardization of products among center 
weather service units. FAA also calls for NWS to prepare three 
operational concepts for fulfilling the requirements--in its existing 
configuration located at the 21 en route centers, through remote 
services provided by a reduced number of regional facilities, and 
through remote services provided by a single centralized facility. 

In addition to these requirements, FAA identifies performance measures, 
as well as processes for evaluating performance and providing feedback 
to the forecasters. However, the department did not involve NWS in 
developing its performance measures and did not leverage NWS's 
expertise in measuring the accuracy, timeliness, and quality of its 
weather products and services. As a result, the measures may not 
reflect the leading expertise in measuring the performance of weather 
forecasters. Thus, we reiterate our recommendation that FAA and NWS 
work together to establish and monitor performance measures. 

Both departments also provided technical comments that we incorporated 
as appropriate. 

As we agreed with your offices, unless you publicly announce the 
contents of this report earlier, we plan no further distribution until 
30 days from the report date. At that time, we will send copies of this 
report to interested congressional committees, the Secretary of 
Commerce, the Secretary of Transportation, the Director of the Office 
of Management and Budget, and other interested parties. In addition, 
this report will be available at no charge on the GAO Web site at 
[hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov]. 

If you have any questions about this report, please contact me at (202) 
512-9286 or by e-mail at [email protected]. Contact points for our 
Offices of Congressional Relations and Public Affairs may be found on 
the last page of this report. GAO staff who made major contributions to 
this report are listed in appendix III. 

Signed by: 

David A. Powner: 
Director, Information Technology Management Issues: 

List of Requesters: 

The Honorable Nick Lampson: 
Chairman: 
The Honorable Bob Inglis: 
Ranking Member: 
Subcommittee on Energy and Environment: 
Committee on Science and Technology: 
House of Representatives: 

The Honorable Mark Udall: 
Chairman: 
The Honorable Tom Feeney: 
Ranking Member: 
Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics: 
Committee on Science and Technology: 
House of Representatives: 

The Honorable Jerry Costello: 
Chairman: 
Subcommittee on Aviation: 
Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure: 
House of Representatives: 

[End of section] 

Appendix I: Objectives, Scope, and Methodology: 

Our objectives were to (1) determine the status of the National Weather 
Serviceï¿½s (NWS) plans for restructuring the offices that provide 
aviation weather services at en route centers, (2) identify the Federal 
Aviation Administrationï¿½s (FAA) requirements and its alternative 
sources for these services, and (3) evaluate the agenciesï¿½ abilities to 
ensure the consistency and quality of these services. 

To determine the status of NWSï¿½s plans for restructuring aviation 
weather services, we reviewed agency plans for restructuring its 
aviation weather services, including prototype plans and results, 
service unit survey results, and plans for addressing FAAï¿½s 
requirements. We also interviewed NWS officials to obtain 
clarifications on these plans. 

To identify FAAï¿½s requirements and its alternative sources for these 
services, we reviewed historical requirements documents, including the 
memorandum of understanding, interagency agreement, and NWS orders 
regarding center weather service unit products and services; 
documentation of requirements from FAA; responses from the market study 
performed by FAA; and legislation regarding aviation weather services. 
We compared FAAï¿½s current requirements development processes with best 
practices for developing and validating requirements by the Carnegie 
Mellon University Software Engineering Instituteï¿½s Capability Maturity 
Modelï¿½ Integration for Development.[Footnote 7] We also interviewed 
agency officials and employees who were involved in the requirements 
gathering process. 

To evaluate the agenciesï¿½ abilities to ensure the consistency and 
quality of these services, we reviewed agency documentation that 
governs aviation weather, including the memorandum of understanding, 
interagency agreement, and NWS orders. We also reviewed results from 
the most recent FAA evaluation of the center weather service units. We 
compared these documents with best practices for quality assurance from 
the Capability Maturity Modelï¿½ Integration for Development. In 
addition, we interviewed FAA officials responsible for evaluations of 
aviation weather services; FAA and NWS en route center staff to obtain 
information on evaluations and feedback; and NOAAï¿½s Global Systems 
Division representatives responsible for verifying certain aviation 
weather products. 

We performed our work at FAA and NWS headquarters offices, FAAï¿½s 
Potomac Consolidated Terminal Radar Approach Control facility, FAAï¿½s 
Air Traffic Control System Command Center, and the Dulles air traffic 
control tower in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area. In addition, 
we conducted work at four FAA en route center offices in Leesburg, 
Virginia; Denver, Colorado; Dallas, Texas; and Cleveland, Ohio, because 
they were geographically dispersed and were identified by NWS officials 
as some of the stronger and weaker weather service units. We also 
performed observations and interviews at NOAAï¿½s Global Systems Division 
offices in Boulder, Colorado, because of their expertise in verifying 
aviation weather products, and NWSï¿½s Aviation Weather Center in Kansas 
City, Missouri, because of its responsibilities for aviation weather 
forecastsï¿½some of which are supplemented by the center weather service 
units. We conducted this performance audit from May 2007 to December 
2007, in accordance with generally accepted government auditing 
standards. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit 
to obtain sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a reasonable 
basis for our findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives. 
We believe that the evidence obtained provides a reasonable basis for 
findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives. 

[End of section] 

Appendix II: Comments from the Department of Commerce: 

The Secretary Of Commerce: 
Washington, D.C. 20230: 

December 18, 2007: 

Mr. David A. Powner: 
Director, Information Technology Management Issues: 
U.S. Government Accountability Office: 
441 G Street, NW: 
Washington, D.C. 20548: 

Dear Mr. Powner: 

Thank you for the opportunity to review and comment on the Government 
Accountability Office's draft report entitled Aviation Weather. FAA Is 
Reevaluating Services at Key Centers; Both FAA and the National Weather 
Service Need to Better Ensure Product Quality (GAO-08-258). I enclose 
the Department of Commerce's comments on the draft report. 

Sincerely, 

Signed by: 

Carlos M. Gutierrez: 

Enclosure: 

Department of Commerce's Comments on the Draft GAO Report Entitled
"Aviation Weather: FAA is Reevaluating Services at Key Centers; Both 
FAA and the National Weather Service Need to Better Ensure Product 
Quality" (GAO-08-258/January 2008): 

General Comments: 

The Department of Commerce's National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
Administration (NOAA) appreciates the opportunity to review this report 
on aviation weather. The report does a fair and thorough job in 
assessing the status of the National Weather Service's plans for 
restructuring offices providing aviation weather services at the 
Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) en route centers and evaluating 
current abilities to ensure the consistency and quality of these 
services. 

NOAA Response to GAO Recommendations: 

Recommendation 1: "We recommend that the Secretary of Commerce direct 
the Assistant Administrator for the National Weather Service to assist 
FAA in developing performance measures and metrics for the products and 
services to be provided to center weather service units." 

NOAA Response: NOAA agrees with this recommendation. As indicated in 
the report, the FAA is redefining its requirements for products and 
services to be performed by meteorologists at en route centers. When 
the FAA provides its finalized requirements, NOAA will work with them 
to develop performance measures and metrics for the Center Weather 
Service Unit products and services. Subsequent collaboration between 
NOAA and the FAA should lead to a shared service level agreement on 
milestones, performance measures, and goals. 

Recommendation 2: "We recommend that the Secretary of Commerce direct 
the Assistant Administrator for the National Weather Service to perform 
annual evaluations of aviation weather services provided at en route 
centers and provide feedback to the center weather service units." 

NOAA Response: NOAA agrees with this recommendation. NOAA will work 
with the FAA to develop methods for performance monitoring and 
evaluation based upon the FAA's service requirements (see the response 
to Recommendation 1). These methods will involve annual evaluations, at 
a minimum. 

[End of section] 

Appendix III: GAO Contact and Staff Acknowledgments: 

GAO Contact: 

David A. Powner, (202) 512-9286, or [email protected]. 

Staff Acknowledgments: 

In addition to the contact person named above, Colleen Phillips, 
Assistant Director; Kate Agatone; Monica Perez Anatalio; Neil Doherty; 
Nalani Fraser; Amos Tevelow; and Jessica Waselkow made key 
contributions to this report. 

[End of section] 

Footnotes: 

[1] These centers include the National Centers for Environmental 
Prediction Central Operations, Aviation Weather Center, Environmental 
Modeling Center, Hydrometeorological Prediction Center, Ocean 
Prediction Center, Storm Prediction Center, Tropical Prediction 
Center/National Hurricane Center, Climate Prediction Center, and Space 
Environment Center. 

[2] FAA is also involved in a longer term initiative to increase the 
efficiency of the national airspace system and to improve its overall 
safety. This initiative, called the Next Generation Air Transportation 
System, is a joint effort between Department of Transportation, the 
National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the White House Office 
of Science and Technology Policy, and the Departments of Homeland 
Security, Defense, and Commerce. FAA anticipates that this initiative 
may lead to major changes in the aviation weather program that would 
supercede its current efforts. 

[3] Federal Aviation Administration, Center Weather Service Unit Post-
Operational Study (Washington, D.C.: 2006). 

[4] In December 2007, FAA and NWS signed an interagency agreement that 
will be effective for 21 months, with an option for one additional 
year. 

[5] 49 U.S.C. ï¿½ 44720. 

[6] The Carnegie Mellon Universityï¿½s Software Engineering Institute is 
recognized for its expertise in software and system processes. See 
Carnegie Mellon University Software Engineering Institute, Capability 
Maturity Modelï¿½ Integration for Development, Version 1.2 (Pittsburgh, 
PA: August 2006). 

[7] Carnegie Mellon University Software Engineering Institute, 
Capability Maturity Modelï¿½ Integration for Development, Version 1.2 
(Pittsburgh, PA: August 2006). Capability Maturity Modelï¿½ and 
Capability Maturity Modeling are registered in the U.S. Patent and 
Trademark Office. CMM is a service mark of Carnegie Mellon University. 

[End of section] 

GAO's Mission: 

The Government Accountability Office, the audit, evaluation and 
investigative arm of Congress, exists to support Congress in meeting 
its constitutional responsibilities and to help improve the performance 
and accountability of the federal government for the American people. 
GAO examines the use of public funds; evaluates federal programs and 
policies; and provides analyses, recommendations, and other assistance 
to help Congress make informed oversight, policy, and funding 
decisions. GAO's commitment to good government is reflected in its core 
values of accountability, integrity, and reliability. 

Obtaining Copies of GAO Reports and Testimony: 

The fastest and easiest way to obtain copies of GAO documents at no 
cost is through GAO's Web site [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov]. Each 
weekday, GAO posts newly released reports, testimony, and 
correspondence on its Web site. To have GAO e-mail you a list of newly 
posted products every afternoon, go to [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov] 
and select "Subscribe to Updates." 

Order by Mail or Phone: 

The first copy of each printed report is free. Additional copies are $2 
each. A check or money order should be made out to the Superintendent 
of Documents. GAO also accepts VISA and Mastercard. Orders for 100 or 
more copies mailed to a single address are discounted 25 percent. 
Orders should be sent to: 

U.S. Government Accountability Office: 
441 G Street NW, Room LM: 
Washington, D.C. 20548: 

To order by Phone: 
Voice: (202) 512-6000: 
TDD: (202) 512-2537: 
Fax: (202) 512-6061: 

To Report Fraud, Waste, and Abuse in Federal Programs: 

Contact: 

Web site: [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/fraudnet/fraudnet.htm]: 
E-mail: [email protected]: 
Automated answering system: (800) 424-5454 or (202) 512-7470: 

Congressional Relations: 

Gloria Jarmon, Managing Director, [email protected]: 
(202) 512-4400: 
U.S. Government Accountability Office: 
441 G Street NW, Room 7125: 
Washington, D.C. 20548: 

Public Affairs: 

Chuck Young, Managing Director, [email protected]: 
(202) 512-4800: 
U.S. Government Accountability Office: 
441 G Street NW, Room 7149: 
Washington, D.C. 20548: 

References

Visible links
  30. http://www.gao.gov/
  31. mailto:[email protected]
  32. mailto:[email protected]
  33. http://www.gao.gov/
  34. http://www.gao.gov/
  35. http://www.gao.gov/fraudnet/fraudnet.htm
  36. mailto:[email protected]
  37. mailto:[email protected]
  38. mailto:[email protected]
  39. http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-08-258
  40. http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-08-258
*** End of document. ***