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Seeking to circumvent standard bureaucratic procedure, Federal Aviation Administration chief Bryan Bedford has waived all standard agency acquisition policies for the planned modernization of the United States’ air traffic control system in order to expedite the procurement and installation of new equipment, according to an Aug. 28 memo that was reviewed by The Air Current.
The move is sweeping in its authority and in line with Bedford’s past comments decrying the sluggishness of the FAA’s acquisition policies. Beyond acquisition management, the memo also authorizes ATC modernization projects to circumvent any other FAA policy or order “without limitation” — potentially accelerating ATC modernization, but with unknown additional impacts.
The FAA’s existing Acquisition Management System (AMS) is a complex policy framework that defines how the agency manages all of its physical resources, often requiring extensive documentation and several rounds of financial and operational analyses before making acquisitions or revisions to existing infrastructure. The AMS is designed to “increase the quality, reduce the time, manage the risk, and minimize the cost of delivering safe and secure services to the aviation community and flying public,” according to an online order defining the policy.
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