I

104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 3484

To authorize the Federal Aviation Administration’s research, engineering,

and development programs, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MAY 16, 1996

Mrs. MORELLA (for herself and Mr. WALKER) introduced the following bill;

which was referred to the Committee on Science, and in addition to the

Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of

such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

A BILL

To authorize the Federal Aviation Administration’s research,

engineering, and development programs, and for other

purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘FAA Research, Engi5 neering, and Development Reform Act of 1996’’.

6 SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

7 Section 48102(a) of title 49, United States Code, is

8 amended—
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1 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph

2 (1)(J);

3 (2) by striking the period at the end of para4 graph (2)(J) and inserting in lieu thereof ‘‘; and’’;

5 and

6 (3) by adding at the end the following new

7 paragraph:

8 ‘‘(3) for fiscal year 1997—

9 ‘‘(A) $10,000,000 for system development

10 and infrastructure projects and activities;

11 ‘‘(B) $39,911,000 for capacity and air

12 traffic management technology projects and ac13 tivities;

14 ‘‘(C) $20,371,000 for communications,

15 navigation, and surveillance projects and activi16 ties;

17 ‘‘(D) $6,411,000 for weather projects and

18 activities;

19 ‘‘(E) $6,000,000 for airport technology

20 projects and activities;

21 ‘‘(F) $37,978,000 for aircraft safety tech22 nology projects and activities;

23 ‘‘(G) $36,045,000 for system security tech24 nology projects and activities;
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1 ‘‘(H) $23,682,000 for human factors and

2 aviation medicine projects and activities;

3 ‘‘(I) $3,800,000 for environment and en4 ergy projects and activities;

5 ‘‘(J) $1,500,000 for innovative/cooperative

6 research projects and activities; and

7 ‘‘(K) such sums as may be necessary for

8 other research, engineering, and development

9 activities described in the President’s fiscal year

10 1997 budget request to the Congress under the

11 category ‘Engineering, development, test, and

12 evaluation’ of Facilities and Equipment.’’.

13 SEC. 3. RESEARCH PRIORITIES AND BUDGETING.

14 (a) Section 48102(b) of title 49, United States Code,

15 is amended—

16 (1) by redesignating paragraph (2) as para17 graph (3); and

18 (2) by striking ‘‘AVAILABILITY FOR RE19 SEARCH.—(1)’’ and inserting in lieu thereof ‘‘RE20 SEARCH PRIORITIES.—(1) The Administrator shall

21 consider the advice and recommendations of the re22 search advisory committee established by section

23 44508 of this title in establishing priorities among

24 major categories of research and development activi-
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1 ties carried out by the Federal Aviation Administra2 tion.

3 ‘‘(2)’’.

4 (b) Section 48102(c) of title 49, United States Code,

5 is amended to read as follows:

6 ‘‘(c) DESIGNATION OF ACTIVITIES.—(1) The

7 amounts appropriated under subsection (a) are for the

8 support of all research and development activities carried

9 out by the Federal Aviation Administration that fall with10 in the categories of basic research, applied research, and

11 development, including the design and development of pro12 totypes, in accordance with the classifications of the Office

13 of Management and Budget Circular A–11 (Budget For14 mulation/Submission Process).

15 ‘‘(2) The President’s annual budget request for the

16 Federal Aviation Administration shall include all research

17 and development activities within a single budget category.

18 All of the activities carried out by the Administration with19 in the categories of basic research, applied research, and

20 development, as classified by the Office of Management

21 and Budget Circular A–11, shall be placed in this single

22 budget category.’’.

23 (c) Section 44508(a)(1) of title 49, United States

24 Code, is amended—
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1 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of subpara2 graph (B);

3 (2) by striking the period at the end of sub4 paragraph (C) and inserting in lieu thereof ‘‘; and’’;

5 and

6 (3) by inserting after subparagraph (C) the fol7 lowing new subparagraph:

8 ‘‘(D) annually review the allocation made by the

9 Administrator of the amounts authorized by section

10 48102(a) of this title among the major categories of

11 research and development activities carried out by

12 the Administration and provide advice and rec13 ommendations to the Administrator on whether such

14 allocation is appropriate to meet the needs and ob15 jectives identified under subparagraph (A).’’.

16 (d) Section 44501(c) of title 49, United States Code,

17 is amended—

18 (1) in paragraph (2)(A) by striking ‘‘15-year’’

19 and inserting in lieu thereof ‘‘5-year’’;

20 (2) by amending subparagraph (B) to read as

21 follows:

22 ‘‘(B) The plan shall—

23 ‘‘(i) provide estimates by year of the schedule,

24 cost, and work force levels for each active and

25 planned major research and development project
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1 under sections 40119, 44504, 44505, 44507, 44509,

2 44511–44513, and 44912 of this title, including ac3 tivities carried out under cooperative agreements

4 with other Federal departments and agencies;

5 ‘‘(ii) specify the goals and the priorities for allo6 cation of resources among the major categories of

7 research and development activities, including the

8 rationale for the priorities identified;

9 ‘‘(iii) identify the allocation of resources among

10 long-term research, near-term research, and develop11 ment activities; and

12 ‘‘(iv) highlight the research and development

13 activities that address specific recommendations of

14 the research advisory committee established under

15 section 44508 of this title, and document the rec16 ommendations of the committee that are not accept17 ed, specifying the reasons for nonacceptance.’’; and

18 (3) in paragraph (3) by inserting ‘‘, including

19 a description of the dissemination to the private sec20 tor of research results and a description of any new

21 technologies developed’’ after ‘‘during the prior fiscal

22 year’’.

23 SEC. 4. PROGRAM GUIDANCE.

24 (a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds that—
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1 (1) considerable effort and expenditure has

2 been devoted since 1981 to the modernization of the

3 National Airspace System, with limited results;

4 (2) long-standing management, organizational,

5 and cultural impediments at the Federal Aviation

6 Administration have led to cost overruns, schedule

7 delays, program terminations, and other wasteful in8 efficiencies;

9 (3) a lack of coordination between the tech10 nology developers and operational sections of the

11 Federal Aviation Administration has led to research,

12 engineering, and development programs that are un13 balanced because they either are too technology driv14 en or have operational requirements that are unreal15 istic or unwarranted;

16 (4) the research, engineering, and development

17 functions of the Federal Aviation Administration

18 have been carried out without the benefit of critical

19 management education and competencies;

20 (5) the failure to employ contemporary manage21 ment techniques and industry best practices has led

22 to inadequate contractor oversight and poor risk

23 management; and

24 (6) significant improvements in modernizing the

25 National Airspace System will require fundamental
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1 changes in the Federal Aviation Administration’s ac2 quisition management system and in the orientation

3 of the officials who implement the system.

4 (b) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section—

5 (1) the term ‘‘affordable’’ means having life6 cycle costs that are in consonance with the long7 range funding and operational design plans for the

8 National Airspace System;

9 (2) the term ‘‘evolutionary acquisition’’ means

10 an acquisition strategy in which a core capability is

11 fielded with a modular structure that allows for

12 changes as requirements are refined;

13 (3) the term ‘‘life-cycle costs’’ means the total

14 costs to the Federal Government of a system over its

15 useful life, including the costs of research, develop16 ment, acquisition, support, and disposal;

17 (4) the term ‘‘nondevelopmental’’ means not re18 quiring significant further development to be made

19 usefully operational; and

20 (5) the term ‘‘pre-planned product improve21 ment’’ means an acquisition strategy that defers

22 technically difficult or unknown system requirements

23 to mitigate risks or to field a system that incor24 porates design considerations that facilitate future

25 changes.
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1 (c) OPERATIONAL PRINCIPLES.—The Federal Avia2 tion Administration shall develop, implement, and main3 tain a disciplined acquisition management system that fa4 cilitates the transforming of broadly stated requirements

5 into affordable, operationally effective and suitable prod6 ucts and services to meet the needs of users of the Na7 tional Airspace System. Such acquisition management sys8 tem shall be based on and incorporate the following prin9 ciples:

10 (1) The employment and integration of—

11 (A) a process to establish and validate re12 quirements;

13 (B) full life-cycle acquisition management;

14 and

15 (C) planning, programming, and budget16 ing.

17 (2) Full involvement of both acquisition and

18 operational Federal Aviation Administration person19 nel in the processes described in paragraph (1) (A),

20 (B), and (C).

21 (3) Early and continuous involvement of Na22 tional Airspace System operators and users, advisory

23 committees, and industry vendors and experts in es24 tablishing and stabilizing sound, realistic operational

25 requirements.
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1 (4) Assignment of acquisition officials based on

2 demonstrated leadership, professionalism, and prov3 en acquisition management competencies, consistent

4 with their positional responsibility and authority.

5 (5) Full life-cycle, event-driven acquisition

6 strategies which explicitly link major interim pro7 gram decisions and contractual commitments to

8 demonstrated accomplishments in research, engi9 neering, and development.

10 (6) The balancing of system design require11 ments and constraints based on cost-benefit sensitiv12 ity analysis.

13 (7) Consideration of maximum practicable use

14 of nonmaterial, nondevelopmental, or commercial so15 lutions before embarking on protracted research, en16 gineering, and development activities by the Federal

17 Aviation Administration.

18 (8) Consideration of evolutionary acquisition

19 and pre-planned product improvement strategies to

20 mitigate risks and expeditiously field products and

21 services.

22 (9) Use of contemporary management tech23 niques and industry best practices to—

24 (A) compare the current status of a pro25 gram to where it should be;
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1 (B) reassess the goals of a program and

2 the plans for achieving those goals;

3 (C) assess program risks and strategies for

4 mitigating those risks; and

5 (D) assess whether the program is afford6 able.

7 (d) DOCUMENT OF APRIL 1, 1996.—The Congress

8 recognizes that the acquisition management system set

9 forth in the document dated April 1, 1996, issued by the

10 Federal Aviation Administration, is substantially compat11 ible with the principles stated in subsection (c) of this sec12 tion. The Federal Aviation Administration may implement

13 that proposed system as a suitable compliance with the

14 requirements of this section, and may modify elements of

15 that system to the extent that those modifications conform

16 with the principles stated in subsection (c) of this section.

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