The Department of Transportation Inspector General last week released
To expand, theOffice of the Inspector General (OIG) reports that facility staffingstandards remain undefined — this precludes effective placement ofnew hires and so staffing ranges for each location are recommendedfor the FAA’s next update of the workforce plan. Controllerretirements in 2005 exceeded FAA projections by 36 percent — theFAA’s forecast method needs to be refined. Overall trainingimprovements are evident, according to the OIG, but on-the-jobtraining time is still too high — OIG recommends that clearinstructions should be issued to all facilities. The FAA’s goal ofreducing controller staffing were met in 2005, but increases inproductivity can not be measured, because the FAA failed to definebaseline metrics for measuring improvement. Finally, the FAA has notyet identified the cost of hiring and training more than 11,800 newcontrollers, according to the report. The bright spot, according tothe report, is the FAA’s controller hiring process, which has beencentralized, allowing earlier management of process, earlier noticeof new hires to facilities and reduced clearance time.