Raytheon training:

[SIUav8er]

For Immediate Release

September 9, 2008
Contact: Paul Takemoto
Phone: (202) 267-3883
FAA Awards Controller Training Contract to Raytheon

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) today awarded a $437 million contract to Raytheon to support the agency in training air traffic controllers.

“This is a performance-based contract that is designed to allow us to train controllers better, faster and cheaper,” said Robert A. Sturgell, the FAA’s acting administrator. “It holds Raytheon accountable for meeting our stringent training requirements and offers incentives for improving the quality of training while lowering the overall time and cost.”

The 10-year award to Raytheon will replace separate contracts to support initial training at the FAA Academy in Oklahoma City and to support ongoing training in air traffic facilities nationwide. The consolidation into a single contract will give Raytheon the ability to support the entire lifecycle of controller training. This in turn will allow the FAA to provide more integrated training activities throughout a controller’s career.

The FAA also has the flexibility to update the training to adapt to ongoing changes in technology, aviation procedures and operations that will impact the way controllers handle air traffic in the future.

Under the terms of the contract, Raytheon will be responsible for helping the FAA train controllers from the time they’re hired and throughout their career. This includes conducting resident Academy qualification and specialized training, supporting classroom and simulation training in the field, developing and maintaining training materials, and providing administrative support for training at the Academy and in the field.

The FAA will continue to be responsible for managing the overall training program, recruiting and hiring candidates, conducting performance verification, on-the-job training and credentialing.

Another move in the direction of privatizing ATC. Im not sure I like this...

 

[PilotChip]

"...said Robert A. Sturgell, the FAA’s acting administrator."

:yeahthat:

nough said.

 

[Fox Xray]

Negative...

The FAA has contracted out training going back to the mid 80's, maybe even longer. Presently one of the big contractors is the company Washington Consulting Group (WCG), they also appear to have lost the bid to Raytheon. WCG is compromised of mostly retired controllers or FAA people, they provide much of the off the floor training to new hires at facilities.

WCG, or whatever contractor, work FOR the training department, the manager of training is there boss. We have never had the staffing where you could pull numerous people of the floor and have them conduct classroom and dysim training, WCG is staffed by controllers who worked in just about every area in the center, these guys then provide the training.

Same thing in OKC, each class has FAA people assigned to it but there are also numerous former controllers who work for a contractor that provide training.

 

[Prino]

what the article doenst say is that the university of Oklahoma (who has had the contract since around the mid 80s) lost the contract to raytheon. they make it sound like its a new contract and the faa has never contracted out that sort of thing. its not that big of a deal. btw welcome to 2 weeks ago =)