STARS will replace controller workstations with new color displays, processors, and computer software at FAA and DOD terminal air traffic control facilities. (See fig. 1.) The total number of facilities scheduled to receive STARS has fluctuated between 70 and 190 because some of the facilities have received interim systems and may not get full STARS. FAA is designing STARS to provide a platform that allows easy and rapid incorporation of new hardware- and software-based tools to help improve controllers’ productivity and make the nation’s airspace safer and managed more efficiently. For each acquisition project that the agency undertakes, FAA officially estimates, or develops baselines for, the project’s life-cycle costs, schedule, benefits, and performance in a formal document called the acquisition program baseline. This baseline, which is approved by the Joint Resources Council, FAA’s acquisition decision-making body, is used to monitor a project’s progress in these four areas. The initial acquisition plan for STARS was approved in March 1996; and in September 1996, FAA signed a contract with Raytheon Corporation to acquire STARS. The initial strategy for STARS included two phases: (1) initial system capability, which was to provide the same functions as the equipment in use at the time and (2) final system capability, which was to implement new functions to help controllers move traffic more safely and efficiently. FAA’s acquisition policy requires that projects follow a structured and disciplined test and evaluation process appropriate to the product or facility being tested. Typically, this process includes system testing and field familiarization testing. System testing usually includes development and operational, production, and site acceptance testing. Field familiarization testing includes system and software testing in an operational environment to verify operational readiness. Raytheon and FAA have already conducted a series of tests of the STARS software and plan to continue such testing. As problems arise during these tests, they are documented using program trouble reports (PTR) and are classified from type 1, the most severe, to type 4, the least severe. FAA’s policy defines each type. The policy states that type-1 PTRs prevent the accomplishment of an operational or mission-essential capability and could jeopardize safety and security. Type-2 PTRs adversely affect but does not preclude the performance of an operational or mission-essential capability and a workaround solution is not available. Type-3 PTRs adversely affect but does not preclude the performance of an operational or mission-essential capability and a workaround solution is available. Type-4 PTRs prevent or adversely affect the accomplishment of a nonessential capability and can be handled procedurally. FAA’s contract with Raytheon calls for the contractor to correct all type-1 and type-2 PTRs and, as directed by the government, to correct type-3 and type-4 PTRs. The timing of the corrective action depends, in part, on the severity of the PTR and on its relevance to upcoming activities. From the project’s inception until 2001, a multidisciplinary team oversaw STARS and was responsible for carrying out the acquisition strategy for implementing the project. In November 2000, FAA began formulating a new organization that would be responsible for all terminal modernization activities. This new organization, the Terminal Business Service, was intended to move the agency from a project-driven to a point-of-service approach, which would address performance issues at each facility in an integrated fashion. This new organization is now responsible for the STARS program along with other projects for terminal facilities. The current STARS program is not the program that FAA contracted for in 1996. When FAA awarded the contract in September 1996, it estimated that STARS would cost $940 million and be implemented at 172 facilities by 2005. This estimate was based on acquiring STARS through a commercial off-the-shelf technology with limited development, since a version of this technology was already in use in other countries. In 1997, when FAA first introduced STARS, FAA controllers, who were accustomed to using the older equipment, began to voice concerns about computer-human interface issues that could hamper their ability to monitor air traffic. For example, the controllers noted that many features of the old equipment could be operated with knobs, allowing controllers to focus on the screen. By contrast, STARS was menu-driven and required the controllers to make several keystrokes and use a trackball, diverting their attention from the screen. The maintenance technicians also identified differences between STARS and its backup system that made it difficult to monitor the system. For example, the visual warning alarms and the color codes identifying problems were not consistent between the two systems. Addressing these and other issues required extensive software development because the commercial version of STARS that Raytheon delivered to FAA very tightly coupled the software for the information that would be displayed on the screen and the software that would calculate aircraft position. Because of this coupling, it was difficult for Raytheon to implement the new or modified display requirements that FAA had identified. Accordingly, FAA directed Raytheon to separate the display software from the air traffic control software so that Raytheon could more efficiently implement future display- and air traffic control-related changes to each type of software. To help ensure that STARS meets all of these and other requirements, FAA is developing multiple versions of STARS software, each with specific features, and plans to integrate them into a single version, which will be deployed nationwide. (See fig. 2.) This incremental approach, according to FAA, gives air traffic controllers early experience with the software as it is being developed rather than introducing an entirely new system at the end, as was the case with the commercially available version. For example, FAA has developed a version known as early display configuration, which would replace the controllers’ current displays and monitoring equipment but would use the existing computer and processing software. Figure 2 shows FAA’s new strategy for developing STARS software incrementally. In the early display configurations, FAA separated the display software from the original commercial version and installed and tested the display software, together with some of the original software, at El Paso and Syracuse. In the initial system configuration, FAA took the original software and added some air traffic control software and tested this software at Eglin Air Force Base. After each type of software was tested, FAA began combining the two types to run together in a version called full STARS 2. Subsequent versions of full STARS incorporate additional functions. Figure 3 provides the schedule for when each version of STARS became or is scheduled to become operational at the first facility. Since 1996, FAA acquisition executives have approved two changes to the cost and schedule estimates for STARS. These changes are presented in table 1. The October 1999 change was approved to give Raytheon enough time to add and modify the display software in order to resolve computer- human interface issues. The March 2002 change was approved after FAA decided to deploy STARS to facilities where frequent equipment failures caused delays; to new facilities; and to facilities where a digital radar, needed to operate STARS, is available. Under this strategy, FAA is also assessing how to deploy STARS to remaining facilities in a cost-effective manner. Facilities that previously received new hardware and software so that they could continue to operate while waiting for STARS would get new technology but may not get the full STARS system. FAA responded to the DOT IG’s concerns about the agency’s plans for deploying STARS at Philadelphia by stating that FAA plans to follow its policy for testing STARS and addressing critical software problems. However, FAA officials, controllers and maintenance technicians all have concerns about whether required training can be completed by the November 17, 2002, deployment date. In June 2002, the DOT IG questioned whether FAA’s commitment to deploy STARS in Philadelphia before testing it first in Memphis, as planned, would allow the agency to test the system adequately and address critical software problems that might be identified before deployment. While the Memphis terminal facility has fewer and less complex air traffic control operations than more congested facilities, such as the one in Philadelphia, FAA changed its plans because meeting the commitment to deploy STARS in Philadelphia would not allow enough time to test STARS first in Memphis. FAA testified in September 2001 that it would deploy STARS to Philadelphia to coincide with the opening of a new terminal, scheduled for November 17, 2002. FAA officials said they view the achievement of the November 17, 2002, deployment as important to the agency’s credibility and that they believe they will learn more from testing STARS in Philadelphia, which is more representative of terminal facilities, than they would have learned in Memphis. According to FAA, its plans for deploying STARS in Philadelphia are consistent with its testing policy, which calls for independent operational testing of a system after it has been deployed in one location. Under the current plan, FAA will use STARS to control live traffic at Philadelphia beginning on November 17, 2002—a step signifying initial operating capability—but the current air traffic control system will remain available as a backup. In accordance with its policy, the agency will then conduct independent testing after a “period of use,” scheduled from the day after initial operations through December 2002. At that point, as the policy directs, the agency will declare the system ready for operational use and will complete the switch to the new system. At that time, now scheduled for February 2003, the new system will be formally commissioned and the current system decommissioned. To address critical STARS software problems identified prior to deploying STARS, FAA is attempting to resolve the most critical problems (type-1 and type-2 PTRs) before November 17, 2002. According to FAA’s definition, type-1 problems are those that, if not corrected, might prevent the accomplishment of an operational or mission-essential capability or might jeopardize safety, while type-2 problems adversely affect but does not prevent the accomplishment of an operational or mission-critical capability.