Applicability of Public Law 89-306 to the FAA Procurement of Computers for the Air Traffic Control System

In response to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) planning, management, and acquisition of automated information systems for air traffic control and FAA management purposes.

By the mid-1980's, FAA plans to replace the computers at the nation's en route air traffic control centers with computers capable of running the existing software with minimum modifications. The new computers which FAA plans to buy will be general purpose, mass-produced, commercially available computers. However, FAA officials do not plan to follow the process established under applicable law by the General Services Administration (GSA) for buying such automatic data processing (ADP) equipment. An important objective of the law is the economic acquisition of government ADP equipment. To carry out an acquisition of general purpose, mass-produced, commercially available ADP equipment, an agency must submit a procurement request to GSA for a delegation of procurement authority. FAA officials stated that they are procuring an air traffic control system, not a computer system, and that it is not subject to the GSA procurement process. Since GSA has jurisdiction over the procurement of ADP equipment supplied to the government, GAO concluded that, unless the Administrator of General Services specifically exempts FAA from following the applicable regulations, it does not have the legal authority to buy such equipment.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

Director: Carl R. Palmer Team: General Accounting Office: Accounting and Financial Management Division Phone: (202) 275-5044