FAA must deliver systems, procedures, and capabilities that provide operators with a return on their investments in NextGen avionics in order to convince operators to continue making such equipment investments. For example, a large percentage of the current fleet is equipped to fly more precise performance-based navigation (PBN) procedures, such as following precise routes that use the Global Positioning System or glide descent paths, which can save the operators money through reduced fuel burn and flight time. However, aircraft operators have expressed concerns that FAA has not produced the most useful or beneficial PBN routes and procedures to date. As a means to leverage existing technology, provide immediate benefit to the industry, and in response to the RTCA Midterm Implementation Task Force’s (Task Force) recommendations, FAA began an initiative to better use PBN procedures to resolve airspace problems in and provide benefits to areas around busy airports, known as “metroplexes.” This initiative, the Optimization of Airspace and Procedures in the Metroplex (Metroplex), is under way in eight metropolitan areas across the country and planning is under way for other areas (see fig. 1). FAA is working to design its Metroplex and other PBN initiatives to avoid some of the challenges that have limited the use and, in turn, potential benefits of existing PBN procedures. For example, FAA has found that some PBN procedures developed without air traffic controllers’ involvement have been used infrequently, if at all, because of problems with the procedure design or other challenges. In response, FAA has worked to include stakeholders, such as air traffic controllers and airlines, in the study and design of new PBN procedures. For example, FAA included airlines and local air traffic controllers in the design of PBN procedures under the Metroplex and Greener Skies over Seattle initiatives. This inclusion, according to stakeholders involved, should help to ensure that the new PBN procedures can be used by local controllers and produce quantifiable benefits to aircraft operators. Greener Skies also formally involved local airports in the PBN procedure development process to help avoid adverse environmental—largely noise-related— community impacts. As we have previously reported, effective outreach to affected stakeholders can help anticipate and address potential community concerns—particularly with regard to noise. If not addressed, these concerns can delay efforts to use airspace more efficiently. Many of FAA’s near-term improvement efforts have focused on developing new PBN procedures rather than on other near-term improvements recommended by the Task Force, such as airborne or surface traffic-management improvements. Following up on the Task Force’s work, the NextGen Advisory Committee (NAC) made recommendations in May 2012 to help FAA identify and prioritize improvements—including and in addition to PBN procedures—that could provide near-term benefits. FAA is assessing the extent to which it can make these other improvements in later rounds of the Metroplex initiative. In the meantime, the agency has turned its attention to expanding or developing some of these improvements—including the air-traffic- management tools that allow for the sequencing of planes—at some of the facilities that are the focus of ongoing Metroplex efforts. Generally, these efforts are still in the planning phase. Figure 2 shows the complexity of merging or sequencing traffic that is approaching an airport using PBN procedures, such as precision Required Navigation Performance (RNP) turns and optimized profile descents (OPD). This complexity can be mitigated with the use of new airborne traffic management tools. Given the integrated nature of near-term NextGen improvements, it will be important for FAA to determine how its Metroplex initiative and airborne and surface traffic management improvements—as well as other improvements prioritized by the NAC—will be implemented and will work together so that the full benefits of these improvements can be realized. In addition, although FAA has made progress in developing new PBN procedures with its Metroplex and other PBN initiatives, much work remains to be done to improve the overall process for amending and implementing PBN procedures. According to FAA, the current process for implementing or amending flight procedures consists of a bundle of interconnected, overlapping, and sometimes competing processes, which, on occasion, results in the implementation of low or no-benefit flight procedures that have to be reworked or amended. Likewise, RTCA has recommended that FAA address problems with what it has termed FAA’s inefficient processes for validating and certifying new technologies, which are critical steps in the process for allowing the use of new procedures. We have also expressed concerns about the time and human resources required for the validation and certification processes and have identified these processes as a significant risk to the timely and cost-effective implementation of NextGen. To address these challenges, FAA has undertaken a Navigation Lean (NAV Lean) project to streamline the implementation process for flight procedures. The agency anticipates this project will be mostly in place by the end of 2015.work for this committee that further explores issues and challenges associated with near-term NextGen implementation. As we have previously reported, FAA should regularly provide stakeholders, interested parties, Congress, and the American people with a clear picture of where NextGen’s implementation stands, and whether the capabilities being implemented are resulting in positive outcomes and improved performance for operators and passengers. We have recommended that FAA develop a timeline and action plan to work with industry and federal partner agencies to develop an agreed-upon list of outcome-based performance metrics, as well as goals for NextGen broadly and specific NextGen improvement areas. In addition, the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 requires FAA to report on measures of the agency’s progress in implementing NextGen capabilities and operational results. In 2011, the NAC recommended that FAA adopt a set of performance metrics to address operational changes affecting capacity, efficiency, predictability, and access. In addition, the NAC has continued to work on outcome-based metrics to inform the public about the overall status of NextGen implementation and the program’s contribution to national aviation policy goals. To date, FAA has established metrics for five of its key performance areas—capacity, efficiency, predictability, environment, and safety—but metrics for the three other key performance areas—access, equity, and flexibility—are still preliminary. FAA has also set performance goals for NextGen through 2018, including goals to improve the throughput of air traffic at key airports by 12 percent over 2009 levels in order to reduce delays by 27 percent from 2009 levels, and achieve a 5 percent reduction in average taxi-time at key airports. Developing metrics and NextGen performance goals are positive steps, but much work remains, including finalizing agency targets for specific improvement areas and making a link between NextGen performance goals and metrics and NextGen improvements. For example, public information about FAA’s near-term plans for implementing additional capabilities lacks specifics about the timing and locations of implementation. According to RTCA, a lack of published information with specific implementation dates and locations for NextGen capabilities is an obstacle to incentivizing airlines to equip their aircraft with additional NextGen avionics. Without a clearer picture of the return on investment— and the progress being made—aircraft operators may be hesitant to make business and operational decisions necessary to fully realize NextGen benefits. Measuring performance of near-term NextGen improvements will be critical for FAA management and stakeholders to assess various impacts, make investment decisions, and monitor NextGen progress. We will report on this issue in more detail as part of our ongoing near-term NextGen implementation work for this committee. While some operational improvements can be made with existing aircraft equipment, realizing more significant NextGen benefits requires a critical mass of properly equipped aircraft. Reaching that critical mass is a significant challenge because the first aircraft operators to purchase and install NextGen-capable technologies will not obtain a return on the investment until many other operators are similarly equipped. FAA estimates that NextGen avionics needed on aircraft to realize significant midterm NextGen capabilities will cost private operators about $5 billion to $7 billion through 2020. For example, according to the RTCA, it would cost from $150,000 to $650,000 to equip a regional jet with an RNP package, which is one of the technologies that allows for precision approaches. The FAA Modernization and Reform Act authorized the creation of a program to facilitate public-private financing, such as loan guarantees and other credit assistance tools, for equipping general aviation and commercial aircraft with NextGen technologies. According to FAA, the goal for an equipage program would be to encourage deployment of NextGen-capable aircraft sooner than would have occurred without such funding assistance in place. FAA is soliciting industry input about how to design and implement such a program but has yet to decide on how to incentivize this transition. Although authorized, no funding has been appropriated to establish a public-private financing program. According to FAA, it is working to understand what options exist for establishing a program even if it receives no appropriations toward the program. NextGen has significantly increased the number, cost, and complexity of FAA’s acquisition programs, and it is imperative that these programs remain on time and within budget, particularly given current budget constraints and the interdependencies of many NextGen-acquisitions. In February 2012, we reported that most of the key NextGen-related acquisition programs were generally proceeding on time and on budget.See appendix I for the current cost and schedule performance of select baselined NextGen and related acquisition programs. However, delays with the En Route Automation Modernization (ERAM) program—a critical program for NextGen—illustrate how delays can affect overall acquisition and maintenance costs as well as time frames for other programs.