OEP Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Operational Evolution Partnership?
Hasn't the OEP been around for a while?
What is NextGen?
What will happen if NextGen is not implemented?
Who are OEP's partners?
Who is developing OEP Version 1?
Who oversees the OEP?
How will FAA use the OEP?
What will Version 1 contain?
What is OEP's relationship to the JPDO?
How does the OEP relate to other planning documents?
What are the 35 OEP Airports?
What are the 15 Metropolitan Areas?
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What is the Operational Evolution Partnership?
The Operational Evolution Partnership (OEP) is the FAA's plan for implementing the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen). The multi-agency Joint Planning and Development Office (JPDO) is tasked with developing the NextGen vision, and each member agency will execute their individual plans. Version 1 of the Operational Evolution Partnership will be published in June 2007.
Hasn’t the OEP been around for a while?
Yes, the Operational Evolution Partnership is an expansion of the original OEP (the Operational Evolution Plan). The plan was established in 2001 following a summer of crippling flight delays. Through the OEP, the FAA committed to increasing the capacity of the National Airspace System by 30 percent. The plan consolidated information about capacity-enhancement programs from across the FAA into one document. The forecasted and actual benefits of these activities were measured annually, and a team of top FAA executives, chaired by the Deputy Administrator, ensured each program was implemented on schedule. Analysis shows that the OEP will achieve its original goal by 2013.
Along the way, specific successes including new runways, resolution of airspace chokepoints, new automation systems and new collaborative decision tools have earned trust across a wide range of stakeholders including industry and Congressional leadership. Capitalizing its proven process and solid reputation, the Administrator chose the OEP as the mechanism to guide FAA’s transformation to NextGen. OEP is the first implementation plan developed by a JPDO member agency.
What is NextGen?
NextGen is a wide ranging transformation of the entire national air transportation system — not just certain pieces of it — to meet future demands and avoid gridlock in the sky and in the airports. It moves away from ground-based surveillance and navigation to new and more dynamic satellite-based systems. Technologies and activities that support this transformation are currently part of the FAA’s investment portfolio and represent a step beyond our legacy modernization programs. These new capabilities and the highly interdependent technologies that support them will change the way the system operates, reduce congestion, and improve the passenger experience. This multi-agency initiative is led by the JPDO.
What will happen if NextGen is not implemented?
Without NextGen there will be gridlock in the skies. By 2022, FAA estimates that this failure would cost the U.S. economy $22 billion annually in lost economic activity. That number grows to more than $40 billion by 2033 if the air transportation system is not transformed. Even as early as 2015 FAA simulation shows that without some of the initial elements of NextGen aviation delays will be far greater than those today.
Who are OEP’s partners?
OEP is a tool for communicating within the FAA, and with oversight organizations and particularly with the aviation community, including airlines, cargo carriers, airports, manufacturers, business and general aviation. It describes operational changes for the mid-term as well as the NextGen end state. It helps our partners understand what is coming, and when, and what they’ll need to do to get ready. It facilitates integrated planning within the FAA. It helps refine business cases for both FAA and industry investments, and provides measurement tools to track implementation progress.
Who is developing OEP Version 1?
OEP is an FAA-wide plan. It is validated by the OEP Review Board, which examines new programs for inclusion in the plan and for resource prioritization. The OEP Review Board makes recommendations to the OEP Associates Team, which includes the agency's top executives and which ultimately oversees the OEP. These bodies include representatives from many FAA lines of business, including: Airports; Aviation Safety; the Air Traffic Organization; Aviation Policy, Planning, and Environment; Financial Services; Information Services; and the JPDO. The OEP Planning Staff produces the document, manages internal coordination, and facilitates FAA-industry collaboration.
Who oversees the OEP?
The OEP Review Board examines new programs for inclusion in the OEP and for resource prioritization. It has cross-agency representation. The OEP Associates Team includes the agency's top executives who oversee the activities that make up the OEP.
How will FAA use the OEP?
To Provide a Cross-Agency View of Implementation
OEP will provide an executive-level, big picture view of FAA’s NextGen implementation. OEP will have a portfolio focus, detailing how activities from various FAA lines of business integrate to produce new capabilities. This is critical, because we can’t afford a case where the right side of the agency doesn’t know what the left side is doing. Participation by all relevant FAA executives ensures that the full range of activities (technology, training, policy, certification, and procedures) will come together at the right time to achieve operational benefits.
To Prioritize Resources
OEP will provide a single entry point for new NextGen initiatives to enter the FAA capital budget portfolio. It will provide an integrated view of the programs, systems and procedures that are being developed across all lines of business and are critical to transforming the system. It will reveal the interdependencies of these activities, so we’ll understand how changes in resource allocation to one program would impact the broader plan.
To Focus Future Development
To support NextGen needs, the FAA Research & Development program must be flexible, balanced, and dynamic to respond simultaneously to the critical near-term needs of the current system while providing for future needs. The R&D program is helping the FAA achieve NextGen by identifying challenges, understanding barriers, and developing solutions across the parameters of safety, environment, air traffic management, human factors, systems integration, and self-separation. Through OEP, the FAA will assess NextGen research and development requirements and prioritize new R&D initiatives before they are included in FAA’s budget planning.
To Partner with Industry
OEP is also FAA’s tool for collaborating with the aviation community on NextGen implementation. Through OEP we are seeking stakeholder input, evaluating available technologies, defining and prioritizing research and development requirements, establishing milestones and commitments, and providing status, context and guidance for initiatives related to NextGen. Industry collaboration is imperative for ensuring that aircraft are properly equipped for NextGen. RTCA functions as a Federal advisory committee and serves as industry’s voice to the OEP.
What will Version 1 contain?
OEP Version 1 describes the framework for the implementation plan. The plan is divided into three domains:
- Airport Development, focused on capacity enhancements and delay reduction for the airport surface.
- Aircraft & Operator Requirements, focused on developing standards for an avionics equipage package that provides the new capabilities required by NextGen.
- Air Traffic Operations, focused on producing transformative air traffic control capabilities.
OEP will contain both commitments, which are fully-funded implementation activities, and strategic initiatives, which are being validated for implementation. The first version will show how currently funded programs support the NextGen vision, and is being used to guide FY09 budget formulation.
What is OEP's relationship to the JPDO?
Because the JPDO is not an implementing or executing agency, the FAA and the other JPDO partner agencies must each develop an implementation schedule for their NextGen activities. The FAA is using the OEP to guide its transformation. JPDO representatives will participate along with the FAA in OEP development and execution.
How does the OEP relate to other planning documents?
NextGen Concept of Operations
The Concept of Operations is a document that provides a basic operational description of how the NextGen will function in 2025. The version released for comment in March 2007 describes all segments of a flight, from the time an aircraft departs until it arrives at its destination, as well as operations that take place before and after a flight, such as flight planning and security screenings. OEP, in turn, defines the major operational changes FAA will enact through technologies and procedures that will transform today’s NAS into the NextGen system.
FAA Flight Plan
The Flight Plan is FAA’s five-year strategic plan. It focused on a select group of high-priority, measurable goals and initiatives for achieving increased aviation safety, greater airspace capacity, international leadership, and organizational excellence. Further, each FAA office links portions of its respective annual business plan to the Flight Plan. In comparison, the OEP’s timeframe stretches through 2025 and includes a broader range of transformation activities related to the first three Flight Plan focus areas.
Enterprise Architectures
The NAS and NextGen Enterprise Architectures are extremely detailed system engineering plans that define timelines and milestones for key infrastructure programs. They are the backbone of the OEP. OEP describes the operational changes that these infrastructure programs, in coordination with (new procedures, avionics…) will ultimately provide. Furthermore, a team of top agency executives met regularly to assess the progress of OEP activities, and the planning office conducts frequent outreach meetings with aviation community organizations.
National Aviation Research Plan
Research and development is critical to ensuring the FAA meets NextGen goals. The annual National Aviation Research Plan (NARP) is an integrated, performance-based plan which describes the FAA R&D programs that support both the day-to-day operations of the National Airspace System and the vision for NextGen. The OEP relates R&D activities to the plan’s transformative capabilities, to show explicitly how research is moving NextGen forward.