6.033--Computer System Engineering

Background information on:

Federal Aviation Administration, Advanced Automation System.

comp.lang.ada,  Date: Thu, 25 Apr 1996 18:09:31 PDT
From: Nancy Leveson 

  1. The system cost 6 billion dollars

Sorry, I got the number a little bit wrong (but not much).  According to
Business Week, April 26, 1993, the AAS project had cost (at that time)
$5.1 billion, which was already $1.5 billion over its budget, and
climbing.  I don't know what the final total is (or will be?).

  2. Almost all of it has been thrown away.

The process started in 1982, when the FAA started the system development
and said that it would be introduced first into the Seattle area in
1992.  In 1990, Congress was upset about projected delays (the FAA
announced a 19-month delay) and launched an investigation into cost
overruns and mismanagement of AAS.  In 1992, more problems arose and a
second 14 month delay was announced.  The FAA threatened IBM with
cancellation of the program (they issued a "cure" letter, which is the
first legal step in interminating a contract).  At the time of the
Business Week article I noted above (April 1993), IBM announced that
the project was at least 9 years from completion and the new system
would not be in place until well after 2000.

IBM Federal Systems Division (now part of Loral) is general contractor.

     What are they using if they threw away the new system?

The old system.  (Air Route Traffic Control, ARTC system.  Uses IBM 9020E
mainframes designed ca 1968.))

Troy E. Swallow:  4000 developers, in at least a dozen locations,
divided into four separate deliveries, to be implemented in sliding
schedules, and development staff growing in double digits.

bn@alsys.com (Brian Nettleton @pulsar):  The original AAS contract with
IBM has been cancelled and replaced with a new program called DSR
(Display System Replacement).  DSR is re-using most of the software
(design and code) from AAS which is applicable.

AAS had a multitude of problems ranging from changing specifications to
congressional meddling (the original consolidation of certain
facilities within the FAA proved to be politically unacceptable) to
grandiose expectations (it proved to be impractical to build a system
with only 3 seconds of downtime per year).


The new DSR has dramatically reduced the scope of the original AAS
contract.  Last I heard (January) the system was on schedule and maybe
even a week or so ahead of schedule.

The system has not been thrown away, but rather scaled down.  While the
new system will provide much the same support as exists in the field
today, it will install a platform which provides for expansion in the
future.  Hindsight being 20/20 this is probably what should have been
done in the first place, instead of trying to bite everything off at
once.