Recent report shows STARS to be costly and unreliable 

(Washington, D.C.) — For more than three months, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) has been at the forefront criticizing the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for its development and implementation of the Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System (STARS), a project designed to modernize the nation’s air traffic control system, due to numerous delays, cost overruns, and technical failures.  Last week the General Accounting Office (GAO) released its audit of the program, drawing many of the same conclusions as CAGW.

“This is a major step in providing oversight of a program that is currently four years behind schedule and has cost taxpayers an estimated $390 million more than expected,” CAGW President Tom Schatz said.  “We commend Reps. Sonny Callahan (R-Ala.) and Ellen Tauscher (D-Calif.) for initiating this GAO investigation, and call for continued oversight of this project.”

The initial goal of STARS was to modernize the air traffic control systems in 172 FAA terminal facilities and 199 Department of Defense sites.  The project involved installing new hardware and software at these sites to better monitor nearby aircraft.  It was originally scheduled to commence in 1998 at a cost of $940 million.  Current estimates have the first major installation of the system being installed in Philadelphia in November of this year, and finally being completed in 2005 at a cost of $1.33 billion.  This new estimate includes a change in plans to only install STARS in 74 airports as opposed to the original 172.  This change results in a 41 percent increase in costs, despite installations taking place in 57 percent fewer airports.  The remaining airports will use Common ARTS, a system that the FAA installed while waiting for the completion of STARS at a cost to taxpayers of $90.5 million.

In addition to costs, the GAO reports that STARS is rife with technical difficulties.  As of August 30, there were 73 trouble reports remaining that must be corrected before STARS can be installed.  Despite these problems, plans are underway for the full version of STARS to be in place at Philadelphia on November 17; a decision that could greatly impact the 24 million passengers who travel through Philadelphia annually.  Further complicating matters, the air traffic controllers union has expressed concerns that all employees would not be properly trained by the time STARS was up and running.

“Air traffic controllers need the safest, most reliable, and efficient equipment to properly monitor the skies,” continued Schatz.  “This program has been wrought with problems since the beginning and has cost taxpayers millions of additional dollars.  The FAA and Congress need to closely examine whether this is a program worth continuing to pursue or whether we should just cut our losses with STARS and find a more suitable solution.”

“We strongly encourage new FAA Administrator Marion Blakey to make it her priority to look into this matter,” concluded Schatz.  “The American public deserves the safest possible air transportation.”

Citizens Against Government Waste is the nation's largest nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.  For more information about our organization and issues see our website at www.cagw.org