Folks,
Below are just two of many articles that have appeared on media, across the political spectrum, in recent days, from News Ltd. organs to the ABC.
It would be churlish to suggest that, to those in Canberra in the know, this is only the tip of the iceberg with the so-called OneSky project, which is years behind schedule, way over budget, and has been the subject of some interesting investigations into ways and means.
This is not rocket science, just an air traffic control system, but our desire to reinvent the wheel in Australia, because "the air is different" is at least consistent, when was the last time anything done by CASA or Airservices was on time, on budget, and accepted by reasonable people, instead of being virtually universally condemned, usually on all three counts.
Tootle pip!!
- The Australian
- 12:00AM February 6, 2018
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Reporter
Sydney
@EanHiggins
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The public expenditure watchdog has issued a damning review of the ambitious $1.5 billion One*SKY project designed to integrate the nation’s military and civilian air-traffic-control and navigation systems, warning it is running alarmingly late and risks not delivering value for money.
The Australian National Audit Office has found OneSKY, a joint venture between Defence and government-owned Airservices Australia, is running almost 2½ years behind schedule, meaning more federal government money will be needed to keep ageing military air-traffic-control equipment going longer than planned.
The project was approved in 2014 but a final contract has not yet been signed. This is despite individual consultants having been paid up to $5000 a day — including former RAAF officer Harry Bradford, who was dubbed the “million-dollar man” for receiving that fee to negotiate on behalf of Airservices with French aerospace group Thales,
“The offer and negotiation process has been protracted, in part due to misalignment of customer-approval processes through two separate governance structures, but also due to Thales not yet producing an acceptable offer that represents value for money for Defence and Airservices,” ANAO reports.
South Australian senator Rex Patrick has called for an independent review and warned the government against signing the contract given OneSKY is now listed by the government as a “project of concern”.
“It’s incredible that the government is even contemplating signing a contract to move this project forward when it’s in the state that it is,” said Senator Patrick of the Nick Xenophon Team.
The project’s original initial operational capability, set for late next year, has been pushed back to mid-2022, and full operational capability from late 2022 to early 2025. In a report assessing the progress of large defence projects, ANAO says Defence’s contribution to the project cannot remain capped if it is to achieve its objectives from OneSKY, and the federal government will soon have to decide whether to dish out more money to rescue it.
It says Airservices and Defence have failed to co-operate *efficiently because of “organisational differences” and that 1000 redundancies ordered by Airservices chief executive Jason Harfield gutted the cohort of top managers running it.
“Delivery of (OneSKY) may be impacted by dependent Airservices and Defence organisational inefficiencies, driven by divergent goals, or lack of oversight and control,” ANAO says.
Among other identified risks, ANAO warns the project “may not satisfy the requirements for the Civil Aviation Safety Authority accreditation” and may not meet “security requirements”.
A spokeswoman for Airservices said yesterday the final contract with Thales was expected to be signed by the end of March. Mr Harfield declined to comment.
Fears of delay over air traffic system overhaul
- The Australian
- 12:00AM February 7, 2018
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Reporter
Sydney
@EanHiggins
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The union representing air traffic controllers has expressed *unease at further delays in the $1.5 billion OneSKY program to integrate military and civilian airspace management, warning the existing equipment has *already “reached its use-by date”.
Civil Air also alleges Airservices Australia, which runs the *nation’s air traffic control and navigation system and leads the OneSKY program, has largely shut out its representative from the planning process, which the union claims has deprived planners of practical input from serving air traffic controllers.
The concerns follow the revelation from The Australian yesterday that the Australian National Audit Office has determined the project is running nearly 2½ years behind schedule, and will not be fully operational until early 2025, instead of late 2022 as originally planned.
The joint project of Defence and federal government-owned Airservices has not yet even *entered into a contract with the preferred lead contractor, French aerospace group Thales, despite millions being spent over the years on consultants.
While Airservices says a contract will be signed by the end of next month, the ANAO has warned that without it there is no guarantee the final completion date will not blow out further.
In September, airline passengers got a taste of the chaos breakdowns in the air traffic control system can produce, when Sydney airport suffered what Airservices called a “system software failure” and only a limited number of flights were able to land and depart. “There are concerns that the current equipment has reached its use-by date, and if it is blown out further, there would need to be measures put in to maintain its integrity, ” Civil Air’s executive secretary, Peter McGuane, told The Australian.
An Airservices spokeswoman said: “The current air traffic control system, Eurocat, continues to perform at the required standard to provide a safe and *effective service for our customers, and there are support *arrangements in place to ensure its safe operation through to 2024.”
Mr McGuane claimed Civil Air’s nominee to the OneSKY design planning sessions had been given the cold shoulder, told at some stages there was no need for him to attend because the project had moved into the “engineering phase”.
Airservices’ spokeswoman said the organisation “continues to work with staff from across Airservices, including experienced air traffic controllers, *engineers and representatives from Civil Air”.
South Australian senator Rex Patrick, of the Nick Xenophon Team, has called on the federal government to establish an independent review of OneSKY before allowing the contract with Thales to be signed.