House aviation subcommittee presses FAA on $12.5B modernization rollout and Peraton integrator role
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Summary
Lawmakers pressing FAA Administrator Bedford sought clarity on how the agency will spend the $12.5 billion down payment for air‑traffic‑control modernization, how Peraton will be held accountable as the prime integrator, and when Congress will receive statutorily required spending reports.
FAA Administrator Michael Bedford told the House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Aviation that the agency has committed more than $6 billion of the $12.5 billion Congress provided for air‑traffic‑control modernization and that his team has adopted a "think slow, move fast" approach to define an end state before large procurements.
Members pressed Bedford on the integrator the FAA selected to help execute the multi‑year modernization effort. "Peraton's mission is to assist the FAA and then frankly to lead us in thinking about how to execute modernization," Bedford said, explaining the company brings experience moving defense systems to digital, cloud‑native environments. Rep. Johnson, however, told the panel he was "not confident" in awarding a large modernization role to a firm founded in 2017 and owned by a private equity firm, calling the selection process "seems like a pay to play situation." Bedford defended the process as run by career FAA staff and said he, the secretary, and the president reviewed the recommendation.
Committee members also sought an accounting of how the $12.5 billion is allocated and when statutorily required quarterly reports will be delivered to Congress. Chairman Nells read line‑item totals included in the appropriation and asked whether the FAA is prepared to meet the reporting deadlines; Bedford said the agency will comply and provide the required briefings and reports.
Bedford stressed the scope of modernization extends beyond the initial appropriation, saying the first tranche funds three phases (telecom transitions, digital equipment deployments, radar acquisitions) but that a later "compute layer" migration into cloud infrastructure will require additional funding. "We need to lift that layer out of the facility and into the cloud," he said, arguing that final architecture changes are part of the next funding tranche.
Members asked for guardrails and transparency around Peraton's responsibilities, contract oversight and performance metrics. Bedford said Peraton is an implementation partner, not a replacement for FAA accountability, and pledged to provide the committee with updates and to meet reporting obligations. The subcommittee left open follow‑up oversight and requested written materials and reconciliation of spending and program milestones.
The hearing closed with lawmakers reiterating bipartisan support for modernization while reserving scrutiny over procurement choices and the pace of implementation.