ERAM Update 8-16-11

The Google News alert on ERAM went off again last night. From Fierce Government IT:

ERAM plan shows deployment rate of 5 to 7 a year

”The Federal Aviation Administration plans to deploy a troubled software effort to its 20 air route traffic control centers at a rate of 5 to 7 a year through Sept. 30, 2014, according to a corrective action plan obtained by FierceGovernmentIT through a Freedom of Information Act request.”

Is it a bad sign when a news organization has to file a Freedom of Information Act request to get information about a multi-billion dollar NextGen program?

”The FAA, based on an October 2010 Mitre study (also obtained by FierceGovernmentIT through FOIA), recently estimated that ERAM will cost $330 million more than expected and not be fully deployed until the fall of 2014.”

I’m guessing it’s a bad sign. Especially when you have to file two FOIA requests. And I’m also guessing that $330 million will not begin to cover the cost overruns on ERAM.

Read the full story here.

If you ever want to read a summary of the ERAM program’s history, a small newspaper in Southern California has taken an interest in the program -- The Argonaut. They have a two-part story on their web site which is really a compilation of numerous sources including this blog, Fierce Government IT and Inspector General reports. It’s dense and complicated reading, but it’s all in one place and laid out in a logical fashion. That’s always a nice thing to have.

Here’s part one.

And part two.

Don Brown
August 16, 2011