Wed, Jan 05, 2011
Modernized Radar System Could Cost An Additional $500
Million
A Transportation Department official says the FAA's En Route
Automation Modernization (ERAM) is behind schedule, and could cost
as much as an additional $500 million to complete.
In a letter to the House Transportation and Infrastructure
Committee, DOT IG Calvin Scovel said that the FAA has already spent
$1.8 billion of its $2.1 billion budget for the radar-based system
designed to track high-altitude flights. When the system was tested
in Salt Lake City in March of last year, the program's projected
roll-out date of December 2010 was shelved because the tests
discovered more that 200 issues with ERAM. Now, Scovel says that
the FAA "is ... spending almost $15 million a month to field the
system. FAA originally planned to spend $131 million in fiscal year
2011 but now estimates that it will require an additional $70
million this year to correct problems with ERAM. Yet, this is a
“down payment”—not the cost to complete the
program as originally planned. Delays in implementing ERAM will
force FAA to sustain aging equipment longer than planned and
retrain controllers so they are familiar with both the legacy and
ERAM systems."
Scovel says in his letter that the ERAM delays will have a
cascading effect on NextGen. "For example, of the eight currently
identified NextGen portfolios, ERAM is a critical component of five
of them, including collaborative air traffic management and
automation needed to support aircraft separation. Further, our
analysis of FAA’s transformational programs shows critical
interdependencies between ERAM and three other transformational
programs—two of which have already been allocated more than
$500 million to integrate and align with ERAM."
Scovel says that a great deal of work remains to be done before
NextGen can be implemented. "Unless FAA effectively addresses
RTCA’s recommendations and resolves problems with ERAM, its
ability to meet mid-term goals for NextGen and safeguard
taxpayers’ investment remains uncertain." He also says that
the current problems with ERAM are "disconcerting" since the system
passed testing at FAA’s Technical Center and achieved
Government acceptance.
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