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RCED-00-110R 1 (2000-09-06)

handle is hein.gao/gaobaallr0001 and id is 1 raw text is: SGAO Accountability Integrty * Reliability United States General Accounting Office Resources, Community, and Washington, DC 20548 Economic Development Division B-284396 September 6, 2000 The Honorable Richard C. Shelby Chairman, Sub committee on Transportation and Related Agencies Committee on Appropriations United States Senate Subject: Aviation Infrastructure: Feasibility of Using Alternate Means to Satisfy Re quireme nts of Alaska National Airspace System Interfac ility Communications System (ANICS) Phase II Dear Mr. Chairman: In the early 1990s, the Congress authorized a satellite-based communications network, now known as ANICS, to conduct voice and data transmissions for the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) air traffic control operations in Alaska. ANICS supports critical, essential, and routine services, including terminal and en route air traffic control, navigation, flight service, and weather operations. In July 1993, FAA competitively awarded a $140 million contract to the Harris Corporation. The ANICS contract was split into two distinct phases: * In Phase I, 52 dual satellite-earth stations (also referred to as sites) were constructed throughout Alaska. These stations provide critical and essential services with 99.99 percent availability-an equivalent downtime of about 52 minutes per site per year. * Phase II is to build additional single satellite-earth stations. These stations are designed to provide essential and routine services with 99.9 percent availability- an equivalent downtime of about 9 hours per site per year. The Conference Report on the Department of Transportation Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 1999 (H. Rpt. 105-825) directed FAA to look at alternatives to its current contract to satisfy the requirements of Phase II. No funding would be made available until FAA had reported on alternatives to provide these services. FAA compared the cost estimates and other information for the needed services it received from AT&T Alascom (AT&T) and General Communications, Inc. (GCI)-two commercial telecommunications service providers-to the cost of ordering additional sites from the Harris Corporation. In an April 1999 report to the Congress, FAA concluded that GAO/RCED-00-11OR Review of ANICS Phase II

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