Air Traffic Control

Ineffective Management Plagues $1.7-Billion Radar Program Gao ID: IMTEC-90-37 May 31, 1990

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) Mode Select (Mode S) air traffic control surveillance and communication program.

GAO found that: (1) it had previously questioned FAA procurement practices and cited Mode S as a system for which FAA prematurely awarded a production contract; (2) FAA has not resolved Mode S technical problems, but expects the contractor to deliver the first fully capable system for deployment in 1993, 5 years later than planned; (3) technical problems have led to extensive schedule delays; (4) FAA officials did not fully appreciate the severity of the problems until 1989; (5) FAA failed to analyze its requirements prior to buying 259 additional systems; and (6) FAA did not justify its investment in Mode S, because it did not properly analyze its requirements, consider alternatives, or evaluate system benefits and costs.

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.

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