At the FAA, some say, program management has traditionally been an oxymoron. Several past and current programs attest to that assessment, one of them being NextGen’s En Route Advanced Modernization (Eram) system, which faces significant delays and cost overruns. Delivery of that system’s upgrade could now slip from 2010 to 2016, and its costs go from $2.15 billion to $2.65 billion.
Who keeps an eye on things to prevent such delays and overruns? The obvious answer is the FAA itself, through its individual program managers and its senior management. And when things start to get out of hand, the Congressionally appointed Government Accountability Office (GAO) watchdog steps in. But no one gets fired, or demoted, although individuals can be transferred to less demanding assignments. Several years ago the FAA and sympathetic legislators successfully pleaded that the agency’s quasi-commercial business model necessitated that it be allowed to operate on a fairly loose leash, compared with the other, more tightly controlled, government agencies. But the other side of that coin is that while the GAO’s auditors probably routinely tear their hair over questionable FAA program problems and decisions, they appear to be allowed only to be sympathetic when told of the reasons behind them.
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