Department of Transportation Inspector General Calvin Scovel III recently released two critical reports of the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) NextGen program.
The first report said the FAA is overly optimistic in its estimated that NextGen will provide $161 billion in benefits by 2030. The inspector general concluded the FAA had not taken into consideration the full range of factors and uncertainties.
The second report states the FAA has poor management, resulting in money being spent without contractual requirements being met. The FAA did not accurately track contractors and did not bill capital assets separately, according to the report.
The contracts include requirements and provisions allowing the FAA to monitor a contractor’s products and services, but the FAA failed to use these tools, the inspector general said.
“It’s astonishing that the FAA doesn’t know if it’s getting what it’s paying for with the taxpayers’ money,” Rep. Bill Shuster (R-PA), Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman, said. “How many more examples does Congress need before we recognize that the federal government is incapable of managing a complex, high-tech, multi-year modernization program? Now more than ever, we need to finally pass the broadly supported and bipartisan 21st Century AIRR Act and bring an end to the FAA’s decades of wasteful spending on failed NextGen plans.”