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Three years ago, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) created the Air Traffic Organization (ATO) which included the reorganization of many of the lines of business in the FAA from the nine Regional Offices to 3 "Service Areas" in Atlanta, Ft. Worth and Seattle.  In 2006 many of the senior level engineers responsible for planning and regional coordination of modernization projects were pulled out of the Engineering Services organization and moved to the Service Areas. Despite a promise to "keep the remaining engineers where they are needed, in the regions", the FAA has embarked on a plan to move a majority of the regionally based engineering work force to the Service Areas.  The FAA claims they are “only moving design engineers” to the Service Areas.  This could not be farther from the truth.  The FAA engineers we are talking about have been trained to be “implementation engineers” and specifically, to implement facilities and equipment, while minimizing risk to the Air Traffic Control facilities they have worked and trained at.

The 2006 phase of the engineering reorganization has resulted in a chaotic system.   What once took days or weeks (such as project assignments, scope agreements, funding modifications, reimbursable agreements and schedule adjustments) now takes months, if it accomplished at all.  Right now the only thing keeping the modernization work moving is the efforts of the remaining engineering workforce in the regions.  Further reduction and realignment of the engineering workforce from the regions will have a major impact on the FAA’s ability to both sustain and modernize the National Airspace System.  We cannot allow the FAA to dismantle the workforce that is so critical to ensuring the safe and timely project implementation and modernization of facilities and equipment that make up the NAS.