**GAO-08-76**                      Published: Oct 19, 2007. Publicly Released: Oct 19, 2007.                  

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## Highlights

In January 2007 Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reported the results of its study that assigned the fiscal year 2005 costs of its Air Traffic Organization (ATO) to users. FAA used this study to support the President's proposal to replace many current excise taxes with cost-based fees for commercial aviation users and higher fuel taxes for general aviation users. GAO assessed (1) the consistency of FAA's cost assignment methodology with established standards and guidance, (2) the support for selected cost assignment assumptions and methods, and (3) the impact of including budgeted capital costs in the cost baseline. GAO compared FAA's methodology to federal accounting standards and international guidance, reviewed available documents and analyses supporting FAA's assumptions and methods, and interviewed FAA officials and consultants.

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## Topics

Transportation

Air traffic control systemsAllocation (Government accounting)Budget outlaysCommercial aviationCost accountingCost analysisCost controlDocumentationFederal fundsFunds managementFuture budget projectionsPolicy evaluationProgram evaluationStandardsUser feesPolicies and procedures