United States Government Accountability Office

Washington, DC 20548 

June 14, 2007 

The Honorable Daniel K. Inouye 

Chairman 

The Honorable Ted Stevens 

Vice Chairman 

Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

United States Senate 

The Honorable James L. Oberstar 

Chairman 

The Honorable John L. Mica 

Ranking Republican Member

Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 

House of Representatives

Subject: National Transportation Safety Board: Observations on the Draft 

Business Plan for NTSB’s Training Center 

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) opened a training center in 2003 to 

train its investigators and others from the transportation community on accident 

investigation techniques. As we reported last year,1

 NTSB’s training center is not 

cost-effective, as its revenues, when combined with the external training costs NTSB 

staff avoid by using the center, do not cover its costs. In fact, in fiscal year 2006, 

costs exceeded revenues by $2.7 million. We concluded that potential strategies to 

increase revenues or decrease costs could increase the cost-effectiveness of the 

training center; however, vacating the space may be the strategy that reduces costs 

the most. As a result, we recommended that NTSB (1) develop a business plan to 

increase the utilization of its training center or vacate it and (2) submit the plan to 

Congress. On December 21, 2006, Congress passed Public Law 109-443, requiring 

NTSB to prepare a utilization plan for the training center that would, among other 

things, consider other revenue-generating measures, such as subleasing the training 

center to another entity; include a detailed financial statement covering current 

training center expenses and revenues and an analysis of the projected expenses and 

revenues; and submit the plan to us for review and comment within 90 days of 

passage of the act. 

 1

GAO, National Transportation Safety Board: Progress Made, Yet Management Practices, 

Investigation Priorities, and Training Center Use Should Be Improved, GAO-07-118 (Washington, 

D.C.: Nov. 22, 2006). 

GAO-07-886R NTSB’s Training Center Business Plan 
NTSB prepared a draft business plan for the training center and provided the draft to 

us on March 28, 2007. We are mandated to review and comment on the draft plan so 

that NTSB can submit a final plan to Congress within 180 days of the enactment of 

Public Law 109-443. The draft plan provides an overall strategy to outsource to a 

vendor (1) the management and operations of the training center and (2) 

development of new courses. The vendor would be responsible for managing the 

facility and courses, and renting out unused space under a revenue-sharing 

arrangement with NTSB.2

 The plan projects yearly increases in the percentage of 

operating expenses (excluding rental costs) covered by revenue, with 100 percent 

coverage by the end of fiscal year 2010. The plan relies on marketing and financial 

data and assumptions to realize this objective. To fulfill this plan, NTSB solicited 

vendors through a request for proposal issued on April 18, 2007. NTSB expects to 

award the contract in August 2007 and the vendor to be operating at the training 

center within 30 days of the award of the contract.

In reviewing and commenting on the draft business plan, we are addressing the 

following questions: (1) To what extent are relevant marketing and financial data and 

assumptions included in the plan? (2) Based on the available information, is the plan 

likely to achieve its objective of self-sufficient operation of the training center by the 

end of fiscal year 2010? In addition, we assessed how the business plan could be 

improved and provide a list of suggested improvements in appendix II of enclosure I. 

To address these questions, we assessed NTSB’s draft business plan and request for 

proposal using the opinions of internal GAO experts on financial management, 

contracting, training, and legal issues and two external experts on business plans and 

marketing. We also identified GAO reports and other literature for leading practices 

relevant to business plans and interviewed NTSB officials for further clarification and 

documentation of information contained in the plan and request for proposal. (See 

app. I of enclosure I for additional information on our methods.) We conducted our 

work from April 2007 through June 2007 in accordance with generally accepted 

government auditing standards. 

On June 5, 2007, we provided information to NTSB on the results of this work. This 

report summarizes the information provided and officially transmits the slides used 

to provide the information to NTSB. 

Summary

The business plan provides little rationale for its relevant marketing and financial 

data and assumptions. For example, the business plan includes certain marketing 

information but expects the market analysis and data to be provided by the vendor. 

In addition, the business plan presents some historical and projected financial data 

and calls for a revenue-sharing strategy with a vendor for the length of the contract 

but lacks explanations of important assumptions, such as a 10 percent growth in 

revenues. The plan also does not provide significant information about historical or 

 2

The vendor would be paid for course development under a fee-for-services arrangement.

Page 2 GAO-07-886R NTSB’s Training Center Business Plan 
projected revenues and expenses of the training center, such as whether (1) expenses 

are presented as full cost, (2) salaries and benefits of NTSB staff used for teaching or 

developing courses are included in expenses, and (3) revenue includes an amount 

representing fees that NTSB staff attending the training center would pay if they were 

charged. 

The business plan lacks sufficient data or analysis to determine whether it is likely to 

achieve its goal of recovering 100 percent of the training center’s operating expenses 

by the end of fiscal year 2010. In addition, the time frame for receiving proposals 

from interested vendors has already been extended once, indicating that the 

ambitious time frames contained in the plan are questionable. Furthermore, even if 

the business plan achieves its goal of self-sufficient operations by the end of fiscal 

year 2010, substantial expenses, amounting to over $2 million each year, will have to 

be covered by annual appropriations because the plan’s definition of self-sufficiency 

excludes lease payments from expenses. 

We conclude that the overall strategy presented in the business plan—to hire a 

vendor to operate the training center—is reasonable. However, the plan provided too 

little rationale for its marketing and financial assumptions for us to assess the 

viability of this strategy. Since the success of the plan relies on marketing and 

financial analyses that will be developed by the potential vendor, it will be important 

for NTSB to have staff in-house who are capable of assessing the reasonableness of 

that information or to hire outside expertise to do so. 

Agency Comments 

We provided copies of a draft of this report to NTSB for their review and comment. 

The agency provided written comments (see enclosure II). NTSB agreed with our 

suggestions for improving the plan. In addition, the agency provided technical 

clarifications, which we incorporated into the report as appropriate. 

________________________________________ 

We are sending copies of this report to the Chairman of the National Transportation 

Safety Board and other interested parties. In addition, the report will be available at 

no charge on the GAO Web site at http://www.gao.gov. 

Page 3 GAO-07-886R NTSB’s Training Center Business Plan 
If you or your staffs have any questions about this report, please contact me at 

(202) 512-2834 or dillinghamg@gao.gov. Contact points for our Offices of 

Congressional Relations and Public Affairs may be found on the last page of this 

report. Major contributors to this report were Teresa Spisak, Maren McAvoy, 

Sharon Dyer, David Hooper, and John Warner. 

Gerald L. Dillingham, Ph.D. 

Director, Physical Infrastructure Issues 

Enclosures 

Page 4 GAO-07-886R NTSB’s Training Center Business Plan 
Enclosure I: Information Provided to the 

National Transportation Safety Board 

1

Observations on the Draft Business Plan for the 

National Transportation Safety Board’s

Training Center

Information Provided to the 

National Transportation Safety Board

June 5, 2007

Page 5 GAO-07-886R NTSB’s Training Center Business Plan 
Enclosure I: Information Provided to the 

National Transportation Safety Board (cont’d.)

2

Overview

• Background

• Objective, Research Questions, and Methods

• Marketing and Financial Data and Assumptions

• Likelihood of Financial Self-Sufficiency

• Concluding Observations

• Appendix 1 – Methods

• Appendix 2 – Suggestions for Improving the Business Plan

Page 6 GAO-07-886R NTSB’s Training Center Business Plan 
Enclosure I: Information Provided to the 

National Transportation Safety Board (cont’d.)

3

Background

• The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) opened a training center in 2003 to train 

its investigators and others from the transportation community on accident investigation 

techniques. 

• In November 2006, we reported that training center revenues combined with external

training costs NTSB staff avoid by using the facility do not cover the center’s costs.

1 

• Congress passed Public Law 109-443 on December 21, 2006, requiring NTSB to prepare 

a utilization plan for the training center that would, among other things, consider other 

revenue-generating measures, such as subleasing the training center to another entity; 

include a detailed financial statement covering current training center expenses and

revenues and an analysis of projected expenses and revenues; and submit the plan to us 

for review and comment within 90 days of the passage of the act.

• In response, NTSB prepared a business plan for the training center and provided the plan

to GAO on March 28, 2007. GAO is mandated to review and comment on a draft of the

plan so that NTSB can submit a final plan to Congress within 180 days of the enactment of

Public Law 109-443. 

1GAO, National Transportation Safety Board: Progress Made, Yet Management Practices, Investigation Priorities, and

Training Center Use Should Be Improved, GAO-07-118 (Washington, D.C.: Nov. 22, 2006).

Page 7 GAO-07-886R NTSB’s Training Center Business Plan 
Enclosure I: Information Provided to the 

National Transportation Safety Board (cont’d.)

4

Overview of Business Plan

• The business plan provides an overall strategy of outsourcing to a vendor the 

(1) management and operational activities of the training center and (2) 

development of new courses. The facility management and subleasing and 

course management are under a revenue sharing arrangement, while course

development will be a fee-for-services arrangement.

• The plan projects yearly increases in the percentage of operating expenses 

(excluding rental costs) covered by revenue, with 100 percent coverage by the 

end of fiscal year 2010. The business plan relies on marketing and financial

data and assumptions to forecast the realization of this objective.

• Vendors were solicited through a request for proposal issued on April 18, 2007. 

NTSB expects to award the contract in August 2007 and the vendor to become

operational at the training center within 30 days of the award of the contract.

Background

Page 8 GAO-07-886R NTSB’s Training Center Business Plan 
Enclosure I: Information Provided to the 

National Transportation Safety Board (cont’d.)

5

Objective, Research Questions, and Methods

Objective

To review and comment on the quality and viability of NTSB’s draft business plan for 

the training center.

Research Questions

1. To what extent are relevant marketing and financial data and assumptions

included in the plan? 

2. Based on the available information, is the plan likely to achieve its objective of

self-sufficient operation of the training center by the end of fiscal year 2010?

In addition, we assessed how the business plan could be improved and provide a list

of suggested improvements in appendix II.

Page 9 GAO-07-886R NTSB’s Training Center Business Plan 
Enclosure I: Information Provided to the 

National Transportation Safety Board (cont’d.)

6

Objective, Research Questions, and Methods

Methods

• We assessed NTSB’s draft business plan and request for proposal using the

opinions of GAO experts on financial management, contracting, training, and

legal issues and two external experts on business plans and marketing.

• We also identified GAO reports and other literature for leading practices 

relevant to business plans and interviewed NTSB officials for further

clarification and documentation of information contained in the plan and 

proposal.

• See appendix I for more information on our methods.

Page 10 GAO-07-886R NTSB’s Training Center Business Plan 
Enclosure I: Information Provided to the 

National Transportation Safety Board (cont’d.)

7

1. To what extent are relevant marketing and financial data

and assumptions included in the plan?

The business plan includes certain marketing information, but NTSB told us it

expects the market analysis and data to be provided by the vendor.

• The business plan identifies groups of potential customers (e.g., NTSB staff,

active duty military, other federal agency employees, and the emergency 

response community).

• However, the portions of these groups that are potential customers are not

justified. For example, the plan assumes 1 percent of active duty military are 

potential customers but does not explain the rationale for that percentage, such

as the number of active duty military who are involved in accident investigation.

• In addition, the plan does not explain the portion of potential customers that the

training center needs to capture to achieve the revenue projection.

Page 11 GAO-07-886R NTSB’s Training Center Business Plan 
Enclosure I: Information Provided to the 

National Transportation Safety Board (cont’d.)

8

Marketing (cont.)

• The business plan assumes a 10 percent growth in enrollment but lacks an

explanation or justification to support that assumption. Moreover, our analysis

of historical enrollment information indicates that enrollment dropped 24

percent from 2005 to 2006.

• The business plan lists marketing approaches, such as the use of mailing lists

and exhibitions at conferences and trade shows, but lacks a strategy based on 

identification of the target market and other marketing approaches.

1. To what extent are relevant marketing and financial data

and assumptions included in the plan?

Page 12 GAO-07-886R NTSB’s Training Center Business Plan 
Enclosure I: Information Provided to the 

National Transportation Safety Board (cont’d.)

9

Marketing (cont.)

• The business plan describes four relevant institutions that offer either a partially

or fully competing service, but the plan lacks a competitive analysis that

discusses how the training center will compete with these institutions.

• The business plan identifies the training center’s competitive advantage as its

ability to use NTSB investigators as instructors but indicates their use will be 

limited, consistent with congressional concerns. Since contractors rather than

NTSB investigators would be the primary instructors, the training center loses

its competitive advantage, which could impact revenues.

1. To what extent are relevant marketing and financial data

and assumptions included in the plan?

Page 13 GAO-07-886R NTSB’s Training Center Business Plan 
Enclosure I: Information Provided to the 

National Transportation Safety Board (cont’d.)

10

The business plan presents some historical and projected financial data but 

lacks explanations of important assumptions.

• The plan does not provide significant information about historical or 

projected revenues and expenses of the training center, such as whether (1) 

expenses are presented as full cost, (2) salaries and benefits of NTSB staff

used for teaching or developing courses are included in expenses, and (3) 

revenue includes an amount representing fees that NTSB staff attending the

training center would pay if they were charged. 

• The plan assumes a 10 percent annual increase in projected revenues

based on historical revenues. However, from fiscal year 2005 to fiscal year

2006, earned revenues increased only 3 percent, according to our analysis

of information presented in the plan.

1. To what extent are relevant marketing and financial data

and assumptions included in the plan?

Page 14 GAO-07-886R NTSB’s Training Center Business Plan 
Enclosure I: Information Provided to the 

National Transportation Safety Board (cont’d.)

11

Financial (cont.)

The business plan calls for a revenue-sharing strategy with a vendor for the 

length of the contract.

• The plan lacks details on the percentage split for revenue sharing, leaving 

that to be presented by potential vendors in their proposals. This is a 

reasonable omission from the plan.

1. To what extent are relevant marketing and financial data

and assumptions included in the plan?

Page 15 GAO-07-886R NTSB’s Training Center Business Plan 
Enclosure I: Information Provided to the 

National Transportation Safety Board (cont’d.)

12

2. Based on the available information, is the plan likely to achieve 

its objective of self-sufficient operation of the training center by 

the end of fiscal year 2010?

The plan lacks sufficient data or analysis to determine whether it is likely to

achieve its goal of recovering 100 percent of the training center’s operating 

expenses (excluding rental costs) by the end of fiscal year 2010. In certain

cases, the limited information provided suggests the plan will not be

successful.

• Projected revenues in the plan may be overestimated due to the use of a 10 

percent growth rate while past growth has been much lower.

• Without a more in-depth and verifiable market analysis, the reasonableness of

the projected expenses cannot be determined.

Page 16 GAO-07-886R NTSB’s Training Center Business Plan 
Enclosure I: Information Provided to the 

National Transportation Safety Board (cont’d.)

13

2. Based on the available information, is the plan likely to achieve 

its objective of self-sufficient operation of the training center by 

the end of fiscal year 2010?

Because the plan’s definition of self-sufficiency excludes lease payments, about 

two-thirds of training center expenses are not projected to be covered by

revenues.

• While Public Law 109-443 calls for NTSB to develop a plan to achieve, to the

maximum extent feasible, “the self-sufficient operation” of the training center, it

does not define “self-sufficient.”

• The mandate does not state whether achieving a “self-sufficient operation” would 

include making lease payments for the training center from training center

revenues. 

• The business plan defines self-sufficiency as covering 100 percent of the training 

center’s operating expenses with training center revenues by the end of the third 

full year of the vendor contract. The plan excludes lease payments (i.e., space

rental) from expenses.

• As a result, an average deficit of $2,500,000 per year is not covered by the 

business plan, as shown on the next slide.

Page 17 GAO-07-886R NTSB’s Training Center Business Plan 
Enclosure I: Information Provided to the 

National Transportation Safety Board (cont’d.)

14

2. Based on the available information, is the plan likely to achieve 

its objective of self-sufficient operation of the training center by the 

end of fiscal year 2010?

Page 18 GAO-07-886R NTSB’s Training Center Business Plan 
Enclosure I: Information Provided to the 

National Transportation Safety Board (cont’d.)

15

The time frames of the plan may not be reasonable.

• The plan calls for the recovery of operating expenses by the end of fiscal

year 2010, with the vendor’s first full fiscal year to provide services

beginning in fiscal year 2008. This is an extremely ambitious undertaking.

• NTSB has already extended once the time frame for receiving proposals

from interested vendors. This, along with our experts’ opinion, shows that 

the current success-oriented, aggressive time frame for hiring the vendor 

and completing the transition of the training center’s facility operations and 

training is questionable.

2. Based on the available information, is the plan likely to achieve 

its objective of self-sufficient operation of the training center by 

the end of fiscal year 2010?

Page 19 GAO-07-886R NTSB’s Training Center Business Plan 
Enclosure I: Information Provided to the 

National Transportation Safety Board (cont’d.)

16

Concluding Observations

• The overall strategy presented in the business plan—to hire a vendor 

to operate the training center—is reasonable and responsive to 

congressional concerns that NTSB limit the levels of investigative

resources used to support the training center. Nonetheless, the plan 

does not reflect consideration of subleasing the entire facility to 

another entity as required by Public Law 109-443. An explanation of 

NTSB’s decision not to address this option would enhance the 

rationale for using a vendor.

• While the success of the business plan depends on the vendor’s 

performance, the plan provides insufficient rationale for marketing and 

financial information to assess the viability of this strategy. 

Page 20 GAO-07-886R NTSB’s Training Center Business Plan 
Enclosure I: Information Provided to the 

National Transportation Safety Board (cont’d.)

17

Concluding Observations

• Since the success of the business plan relies on the marketing and

financial analyses to be developed by the potential vendor, it will be

important for NTSB to have in-house the ability to assess the

reasonableness of that information or to hire outside expertise to do so, if 

necessary.

• Even if the business plan achieves its goal of self-sufficient operations by

the end of fiscal year 2010, substantial expenses with regard to the

training center’s lease payments amounting to about $2.5 million dollars 

each year will have to be covered by annual appropriations. 

• The quality and viability of the plan could be improved by including more 

detailed marketing and financial information, and the logic and clarity of 

the plan could be improved by reorganizing the information presented.

Page 21 GAO-07-886R NTSB’s Training Center Business Plan 
Enclosure I: Information Provided to the 

National Transportation Safety Board (cont’d.)

18

Appendix I – Methods

To analyze the extent to which relevant marketing and financial data and assumptions

were included in NTSB’s draft business plan, we assessed the plan and request for 

proposal using the opinions of GAO experts on financial management, contracting, training, and legal issues and two external experts on business plans and marketing. We 

also assessed the business plan according to the requirements of Public Law 109-443. In

addition, we identified GAO reports and other literature for leading practices relevant to

business plans and interviewed NTSB officials for further clarification and documentation of 

information contained in the plan and proposal.

To determine the extent to which the plan is likely to achieve its objective of the self- sufficient operation of the training center based on the available information, we consulted

with GAO financial experts and our external experts to review the underlying assumptions 

upon which the financial projections were based. We reviewed NTSB’s financial

statements to determine whether the results of projected revenues and expenses were 

realistic. We also interviewed NTSB officials.

To analyze what could improve the business plan, we consulted with GAO and our 

external experts to suggest improvements to the marketing and financial data and

assumptions. The experts also assisted in identifying organizational changes to improve 

overall presentation of the business plan to enhance logic and clarity.

We conducted our review from April 2007 to June 2007 in accordance with generally

accepted government auditing standards.

Page 22 GAO-07-886R NTSB’s Training Center Business Plan 
Enclosure I: Information Provided to the 

National Transportation Safety Board (cont’d.)

19

Appendix II – Suggestions for Improving the Business Plan

1. Consider revising the marketing information to include:

• An overview and goals of the marketing strategy and a plan for assessing

marketing effectiveness.

• Disclosure of the basis for all market assumptions, such as the current plan’s

assumption that 1 percent of active duty military are potential customers.

• Justification to support any projected growth in enrollment.

• A specific strategy for gaining market share through approaches such as the

use of mailing lists and exhibitions at conferences and trade shows.

• A competitive analysis that explains how the training center will compete with

the four institutions identified as offering similar courses.

Page 23 GAO-07-886R NTSB’s Training Center Business Plan 
Enclosure I: Information Provided to the 

National Transportation Safety Board (cont’d.)

20

Appendix II – Suggestions for Improving the Business Plan

2. Consider revising the financial information to include:

• Detailed statements of net costs, balance sheets, and cash flow statements for 

3 historical and 5 forecast years, and a break-even analysis using a daily tuition

rate assumption (operation and rent excluded in this case).

• Categories of costs that are material—i.e., more than 5 percent of total cost—

for any period shown separately for all periods.

• Discussion of primary causes for changes in annual training center revenues 

and expenses since 2004, actual and forecast.

• Identification of whether the financial information is presented on an accrual

basis or a cash basis and consistent presentation throughout the plan.

• Annual revenues shown by type (e.g., break out revenues by rental space,

course revenue, and continuity of operations plans). 

• Explanation of whether costs to vacate NTSB’s headquarters’ space or regional

office space at the training center are included or credited overall.

• Discussion of how price elasticity supports any expected annual growth in

revenue.

• The percentage of revenue sharing once a vendor has been selected.

Page 24 GAO-07-886R NTSB’s Training Center Business Plan 
Enclosure I: Information Provided to the 

National Transportation Safety Board (cont’d.)

21

Appendix II – Suggestions for Improving the Business Plan

2. Consider revising the financial information to include: (cont.)

• Disclosure of whether financial information is full cost or description of items

precluding full cost presentation. 

• Disclosure of whether salaries and benefits of NTSB staff used for teaching or

developing courses are included in costs.

• Details of significant financial data for historical or projected revenues and

expenses of the training center, such as whether (1) expenses are presented 

as full cost, (2) salaries and benefits of NTSB staff used for teaching or 

developing courses are included in expenses, and (3) revenue includes an 

amount representing fees that NTSB staff attending the training center would 

pay if they were charged.

• Assumptions used in preparing the forecast, such as imputed revenue for 

NTSB staff attendance at the training center and the projected revenue 

increase of 10 percent. 

• Analysis of the level of attendance required to achieve the projected course

revenue each year.

• Details on curriculum offerings, enrollments, revenues, and expenses needed 

to meet the revenue-sharing goal.

Page 25 GAO-07-886R NTSB’s Training Center Business Plan 
Enclosure I: Information Provided to the 

National Transportation Safety Board (cont’d.)

22

Appendix II – Suggestions for Improving the Business Plan

3. Consider reorganizing the overall presentation of the business plan to 

improve logic and clarity.

Plan currently contains the following sections:

• Executive Summary, Background, Business Plan Concept of Operations,

Justification for Contracting Out Operational Support of the Training Center,

Benefits, Acquisition Program Concepts and Implementation, Risk Mitigation,

Reporting Requirements, Appendixes

Consider revising sections to include the following:

• Executive Summary, Organizational Plan, Transition and Management,

Marketing Plan, Notional Schedule (Timeline), Reporting Requirements,

Financial Documents, Supporting Documents

Page 26 GAO-07-886R NTSB’s Training Center Business Plan 
Enclosure I: Information Provided to the 

National Transportation Safety Board (cont’d.)

23

Appendix II – Suggestions for Improving the Business Plan

4. In the revised sections, consider including this additional information:

• Organizational Plan section: An analysis of strengths, weaknesses,

opportunities, and threats to clarify why the training center needs to be

more effectively utilized and more cost-effective.

• Transition and Management section: Detail the transition, how it will be 

managed, how the new model will result in the desired outcome, and why

an outside vendor would be in a better situation to run the facility

profitably.

• Notional Schedule section: Explain revised dates such as extending the 

deadline for the receipt of proposals from May 18, 2007, to June 4, 2007.

• Supporting Documents section: A copy of the proposed contract that

would be negotiated with the selected vendor, NTSB’s lease with George

Washington University for the training center, and research documents.

Page 27 GAO-07-886R NTSB’s Training Center Business Plan 
Enclosure II: Comments from the National Transportation Safety Board 

(540152)

Page 28 GAO-07-886R NTSB’s Training Center Business Plan