Subject: [NEXTEL-1] GAO sees flaws in radio project

From: [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 13 Aug 2003 14:42:15 -0400

GAO sees flaws in radio project
BY Dan Caterinicchia
Aug. 12, 2003

 http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2003/0811/web-jtrs-08-12-03.asp

The Defense Department has made progress in
developing the multibillion-dollar Joint Tactical Radio
System (JTRS), but the lack of a strong management
structure hampers the program, the General
Accounting Office said in a letter sent this week to
congressional leaders.

The new tactical radios can be programmed for any
waveform, making them more flexible than current
radios, which are limited to specific frequency ranges
that differ for each military branch. Production for the
new units is expected in 2005, according to the prime
contractor, Boeing Co.

Current JTRS management includes not only a Joint Program Office — which brings
together the services' individual efforts on software-defined radios — but also
program clusters for each service and other military organizations doing related
acquisition activities. Such a "fragmented" bureaucracy makes it hard to reconcile
the needs of different military services and slows the "production of key program
documents," according to a GAO letter sent Monday.

That has resulted in delays of more than a year for several projects, including
new handheld radios, GAO officials said. "In the meantime, the Army has purchased
more existing radios with fewer communications capabilities, which may further
delay the delivery of JTRS capabilities to users," wrote GAO auditors, who
reviewed the radio program from October 2002 to April 2003.

GAO recommended that the Secretary of Defense strengthen the joint-program
management structure of JTRS by establishing centralized program funding,
realigning the Joint Program Office under a different organizational arrangement,
and placing the cluster development programs under Joint Program Office control.

Michael Frankel, deputy assistant secretary of defense (C3, space and information
technology programs), agreed with all GAO's recommendations except the
consolidation of procurement and integration funding. In a July 29 letter, Frankel
wrote that those budget elements are best left to the individual services.

GAO officials also found that the initial batch of new radios for helicopters and
ground vehicles were developed at first with "technology readiness levels lower
than those recommended by best practices." Other technologies — such as
miniaturized components, batteries and multimodal antennas — will take several
years to mature.
The accounting office found considerable progress in planning and development
through the radio project's Joint Program Office. JTRS officials have developed a
standard architecture that provides the foundation for building radios and
creating an open systems approach for future technology. And the program office
reduced risk by using an "evolutionary" approach that adds new communications
features gradually, the GAO report said.

Total program expenses have yet to be determined, but the Army's effort to produce
about half of the necessary 250,000 JTRS radios is expected to cost $14.4 billion.

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