A government watchdog report released on Monday revealed that over 100 of the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) 138 systems are unsustainable or potentially unsustainable – more than half of which have “critical” impacts on airspace operations.
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that 51 of the administration’s legacy systems are unsustainable and 54 are potentially unsustainable. GAO stressed that the FAA must “urgently” update these systems – 58 of which have “critical impacts on the safety and efficiency of the national airspace.”
“FAA has 64 ongoing investments aimed at modernizing 90 of the 105 unsustainable and potentially unsustainable systems; however, the agency has been slow to modernize the most critical and at-risk systems,” the report reads.
“Specifically, when considering age, sustainability ratings, operational impact level, and expected date of modernization for each system, as of May 2024, FAA had 17 systems that were especially concerning. The investments intended to modernize these systems are not planned to be completed for at least 6 years, and in some cases, they will not be completed for 10 to 13 years,” it continues.
The report’s release follows concerns voiced by Congress for the safety and reliability of the FAA’s legacy systems. In January 2023, the first nationwide ground stop since the 9/11 attacks was issued by the FAA after a contractor “unintentionally deleted files” due to an aging air traffic control (ATC) system.
Six systems of those flagged by GAO in its report were deployed over 60 years ago, 40 were deployed 30 years ago, and 73 were deployed 20 years ago.
While the agency made administrative changes to its systems after the January outage, GAO said a 2023 FAA operational risk assessment meant to prioritize investment decisions did not “prioritize or establish near-term plans to modernize” systems.
“Congress will not be fully informed on how FAA is mitigating the risks of these systems,” the report says regarding the FAA not setting guidelines.
In addition to long timelines for modernization efforts, GAO noted inconsistent oversight by FAA’s acquisition council that resulted in missed reviews of required documentation and business cases.
GAO found that 27 ATC systems related to air traffic optimization and 25 ATC communications systems were unsustainable or potentially unsustainable. Additional systems include weather, navigation, and other airline operations. Fifteen systems didn’t have any modernization plans by the FAA, the report notes.
The watchdog issued seven recommendations to the FAA to help improve oversight and risk mitigation for ATC modernization investments.
Recommendations include expediting the establishment of modernization investment baselines; ensuring that investments are organized into manageable segments; and ensuring annual approvals of business cases for key investments by FAA leadership prior to submission to the Office of Management and Budget and the IT Dashboard.
GAO also said that the Joint Resources Council (JRC) should consistently review high-risk areas and ensure acquisition documentation is completed before advancing projects. The JRC – an executive governance board consisting of senior-level FAA representatives – must perform quarterly program reviews of a baselined acquisition, the watchdog said.
“Until the FAA establishes a time frame for developing and implementing guidance to increase JRC oversight of pre-baselined investments that require additional resources or time prior to baselining, FAA will continue to experience protracted lengths of time in establishing baselines for ATC modernizations,” the report says.
The Department of Transportation (DoT), which oversees the FAA, concurred with most of GAO’s recommendations. It partially concurred with the recommendation for increased JRC oversight, saying that there is “already adequate guidance for pre-baselined programs.”
“The FAA will continue to prioritize ensuring the safety of the NAS [National Airspace] while balancing competing priorities for legacy system replacements,” Philip McNamara, DoT’s assistant secretary for administration, said in response to GAO’s report.
Earlier this year, the FAA received a $1.225 billion boost in its fiscal year (FY) 2024 budget for help with its staffing and IT modernization work and $3.429 billion for NextGen FAA facilities and equipment. The White House’s FY2025 budget request includes $8 billion over five years for FAA modernization efforts.
