[JYO] FAA selects Lockheed Martin to modernize FSS - Leesburg FSS Stays!

 
Leesburg will be one of the final 20 facilities! 
- - - - 
_http://www.aopa.org/whatsnew/newsitems/2005/050201fss.html_ 
(http://www.aopa.org/whatsnew/newsitems/2005/050201fss.html)  
FAA selects Lockheed Martin to  modernize flight service stations
AOPA helps FSS move into the  21st century
FSS outsourcing in brief
What you need to  know
    *   Pilots will still be able to talk to a live briefer.  
    *   There will be no user fees.  
    *   FSS contractor must meet customer service guarantees:  
    *   Pilot 'customers' must be satisfied with service.  
    *   Phone calls answered within 20 seconds.  
    *   Radio calls acknowledged within 5 seconds, service provided within  
15 seconds.  
    *   Briefers knowledgeable of local weather, topography,  airspace.
    *   58 AFSS stations will be consolidated into 20 by March 2007.  
The flight service station system is finally going to be modernized. For the  
first time in history, pilots are going to get a contractual guarantee that a 
 live briefer will answer their phone calls within 20 seconds and acknowledge 
 their radio calls within five seconds. Flight plans will be filed within 
three  minutes. It's in the contract. 
And there will be no user fees. 
"Better service and no fees. That's the bottom line for pilots," said AOPA  
President Phil Boyer. "And as the consumer advocate for general aviation 
pilots,  AOPA fought in the halls of Congress and the FAA to make sure that FSS 
customers  are going to get the service they need." 
The FAA announced this afternoon that it had selected a team headed by  
Lockheed Martin to take over operation of the agency's 58 automated flight  
service 
stations (AFSS) in the lower 48 states, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico. Under  the 
terms of the contract, Lockheed must provide safety of flight information to  
pilots under strict safety and service requirements. 
To continue advocating for the customers, Boyer and senior AOPA staffers will 
 be meeting with Lockheed officials in AOPA's Frederick, Maryland, 
headquarters  this Thursday. 
The contract, the result of an "A-76" study started in 2003, will run for  
five years with an option for an additional five years. If the contract is  
renewed, FAA will pay Lockheed $1.9 billion over the course of the 10 years, an 
 
estimated savings of $2.2 billion over what it would have cost for the FAA to  
continue providing the service using its existing infrastructure and  
procedures. 
"This is a sound business decision," said Boyer. "The FSS system is  
antiquated and hemorrhaging money. And as any pilot who has been stuck on hold  
for 20 
minutes trying to get a weather briefing can tell you, the system is  
overloaded and frequently non-responsive." 
That will change. But not immediately. 
Lockheed's plan is to eventually consolidate the current 58 AFSS facilities  
into 20 facilities. As detailed in the winning proposal, AFSS hubs would be  
located in Ft. Worth, Texas; Leesburg,  Virginia; and Prescott, Arizona. Other 
facilities would be in  Albuquerque; Columbia, Missouri; Denver; Honolulu; 
Kankakee, Illinois; Lansing,  Michigan; Macon, Georgia; Miami; Nashville; 
Oakland, California; Princeton,  Minnesota; Raleigh, North Carolina; St. 
Petersburg, 
Florida; San Diego; San  Juan, Puerto Rico; and Seattle. Lockheed said it 
would have these centers up and  running by March 2007. 
The losers in this competition can file a protest within 15 days. And with  
the billions of dollars at stake, they likely will. The FAA is expected to  
resolve any protest within 90 days, and then a three-year transition period  
begins. 
But service will not deteriorate. That's because AOPA pushed hard for  
specific performance guarantees during the A-76 study. And AOPA successfully  
lobbied Congress to instruct the FAA to require the contractor to provide  
"comprehensive and specific customer service standards for providing flight  
briefings 
to pilots as well as a process for ongoing customer service monitoring  and 
evaluation." 
This is one of the biggest outsourcing contracts the federal government has  
awarded to date. But it is not the first. 
"DUATS services are provided by two contractors to the FAA. And many smaller  
airports have control towers operated by contractors â control towers that 
would  be too expensive to operate if the FAA were doing it," said Boyer. "It's 
 
important to understand that this FSS outsourcing contract is the same thing. 
It  is not privatization. The government retains control and responsibility 
for  providing the service." 
And what are some of those controls? 
First and foremost, pilots â the "customers" â must be satisfied with the  
"quality, timeliness, accuracy, customer service, and relevance of overall and  
specific services received." The FAA is requiring the contractor to regularly 
 survey pilots to make sure. 
And this afternoon, a senior Lockheed manager told Boyer, "We want to hear  
from AOPA. Anytime your members have a problem, let us know. We want to fix it. 
 You have my pledge." 
Calls have to be answered within 20 seconds. And pilots are to receive  
service within 15 seconds of a radio call. Pireps must be processed within 30  
seconds of receipt, 15 seconds if they are urgent. That will all be measured 
and  
reported. 
Flight service briefers must have "knowledge and skills specific to the  
flight plan areas that a given employee is servicing." In other words, they're  
supposed to know about unique local weather conditions, terrain, and airspace.  
They'll be tested. 
"The system had to change, and this is a change for the better," said Boyer.  
"Much better service at a lower cost to the taxpayers. We, the customers and 
the  taxpayers, should reap the benefits." 
February 1,  2005

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