	Background

		FAA’s Mission and Organizational Structure

As an agency of the Department of Transportation, FAA’s mission is to  promote the safe, orderly, and expeditious flow of air traffic in the national  airspace. FAA’s Use of IT

FAA relies extensively on information technology to carry out its NAS  operations. Prior Reviews Identified Weaknesses in the Agency’s IT Investment Management Process

In 1995, we designated FAA’s modernization of its air traffic control system,  the principle technology component of the NAS, as a high-risk area because  of the size and complexity of the program and FAA’s many failures in  meeting projects’ cost, schedule, and performance goals. However, the ITEB has not yet implemented this aspect of its  charter. FAA Has Established Many Key Practices for Managing NAS Investments but Lacks Oversight of Operational Systems

In order to have the capabilities to effectively manage IT investments, an  agency should, at a minimum, (1) build an investment foundation by  putting basic, project-level control and selection practices in place (Stage 2  capabilities) and (2) manage its projects as a portfolio of investments,  treating them as an integrated package of competing investment options  and pursuing those that best meet the strategic goals, objectives, and  mission of the agency; and it should also conduct PIRs to maintain mature,  integrated selection, control, and evaluation processes (Stage 3  capabilities). When FAA implements all of the key practices associated with building the  investment foundation and managing its investments as a portfolio, the  agency will have greater assurance that it has selected the mix of  investments that best supports its strategic goals and that it will be able to  manage the investments to successful completion. FAA Has Established an IT Management Structure to Manage Its NAS Investments

The establishment of decision-making bodies or boards is a key component  of the IT investment management process. In-service NAS systems only return to  the JRC if they are judged to require additional funds for correction. FAA Does Not Have a Process for Effectively Overseeing Investments in All Phases of Their Life Cycles

An organization should provide effective oversight for its IT projects  throughout all phases of their life cycles. Until FAA develops a plan that would  allow for the systematic prioritization, sequencing, and evaluation of  improvement efforts, the agency risks not being able to effectively  establish mature investment management processes. Also, FAA has yet to define and implement the practices it needs to select  and control its non-NAS investments. But FAA has not  developed a comprehensive plan to guide all improvement efforts. Such a  plan would help coordinate and prioritize improvement efforts and help  sustain commitment to the efforts under way. Objectives, Scope, and Methodology

The objectives of our review were to (1) evaluate FAA’s capabilities for  managing its IT investments, (2) determine what plans the agency might  have for improving these capabilities, and (3) describe how DOT oversees  FAA’s investments and investment process. The IT investment management decisions are then incorporated into  the ARC Business Plan.
Why GAO Did This Study

The Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) mission is to promote the safe, orderly, and expeditious flow of air traffic in the United States airspace system, commonly referred to as the National Airspace System (NAS). To maintain its ability to effectively carry out this mission FAA embarked, in 1981,on a multi-billion dollar effort to modernize its aging air traffic control (ATC) system, the principle technology component of the NAS. Yet the NAS modernization has continued to be plagued by cost increases, schedule delays, and performance shortfalls. To gain insight into how FAA is meeting its management challenges, congressional requesters asked GAO to evaluate FAA's processes for making IT investment management decisions. The objectives of this review included (1) evaluating FAA's capabilities for managing its IT investments and (2) determining what plans, if any, the agency might have for improving these capabilities.

What GAO Found

Judged against the criteria of GAO's framework for information technology investment management (ITIM), which measures the maturity of an organization's investment management processes, FAA has established about 80 percent of the basic selection and control practices that it needs to manage its mission-critical investments. For example, business lines actively monitor projects throughout their life cycles. However, the agency's senior IT investment board does not regularly review investments that are in the "in-service management," or operational, phase of their life cycles, and this creates a weakness in FAA's ability to oversee more than $1 billion of its IT investments. In addition, the agency has not yet established the key practices that would allow it to manage all of its investments as one portfolio--an integrated set of competing options. Until FAA has established the practices that would enable it to effectively manage its annual IT budget of about $2.5 billion, agency executives lack assurance that they are selecting and managing the mix of investments that best meets the agency's needs and priorities. The agency has initiated efforts to improve its investment management processes, but it has not yet developed and implemented a comprehensive plan--supported by management--to guide all of its improvement efforts. Such a plan is crucial in helping FAA to coordinate and prioritize its improvement efforts and sustain its commitment to the efforts it already has under way. Without such a plan--and controls for implementing it--FAA will be unlikely to develop a mature investment management capability.