FAA May Not Achieve Future GPS Milestones

Although FAA has met all milestones for GPS to date, the agency will face more complex and difficult tasks in achieving future milestones. We are concerned that the revised schedule for augmenting GPS will not give the agency enough time to develop and implement the wide area system by 1997, when civil aircraft are expected to use the augmented GPS domestically as a primary means of navigation. However, FAA estimates that the system’s software development alone may take from 24 to 28 months, thereby leaving little time for the agency to accept and commission the system. FAA’s Actions Are Encouraging, but Plans Provide Incomplete Information to Decisionmakers

In 1994, FAA took several actions to strengthen its capacity to manage its GPS-related efforts, including integrating GPS activities within the agency, securing additional funding to develop the wide area system, and issuing plans for developing and implementing the augmentation systems and a draft plan for transitioning to GPS. However, the plans are not comprehensive because they exclude schedule and cost estimates for implementing augmentation systems and information on the likelihood of achieving these estimates. Some of these problems are beyond FAA’s control, such as the difficulties that may be experienced during the launching of commercial communication satellites. FAA has the above information for the wide area system. B* and C*: Milestones based on the implementation of the wide area augmentation system. FAA determines whether GPS augmented by local area systems can support these types of precision approaches.
Why GAO Did This Study

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) augmentation of the Global Positioning System (GPS) for use in civil aviation navigation, focusing on whether FAA: (1) will have sufficient time under its new milestones to augment GPS; and (2) has taken appropriate actions to better manage its GPS-related efforts.

What GAO Found

GAO found that: (1) although FAA has met all of its milestones to date, its future milestones involve more complex and difficult tasks; (2) FAA may not have enough time to develop and implement its wide area system augmentation by 1997, although civil aircraft are expected to use the augmented GPS without relying on other navigation aids for backup; (3) FAA estimates that system software development alone may take 24 to 28 months; (4) implementation of the wide area system may be delayed by factors beyond FAA control, such as the launching of commercial satellites needed to support the system; (5) in 1994, FAA strengthened its GPS management by integrating its GPS activities, securing the necessary funding to accelerate the wide area system's development, and issuing plans for developing and implementing augmentation systems and transitioning to GPS; and (6) the FAA GPS plans are not comprehensive, since they omit a schedule for implementing the local area system, cost estimates for the local and wide area systems, and the probabilities of meeting schedule and cost estimates.