What’s A Street Map?

We have them in our SUVs, we have them in our phones… Lost? No problem, key in your location or your destination and Voila! Found… But what would we do if GPS went away? A good question. The unthinkable just might happen, as we read more from the Channel Wire…

The Channel Wire May 20, 2009 Too Little, Too Late: GPS May Crash By 2010 Thanks in part to a lack of oversight, a government agency Wednesday warned that unless the U.S. Air Force is able to acquire new satellites soon, the Global Positioning Systen may crash by next year, wreaking havoc with the public and military operations. According to a new report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), an overhaul of the 20-year-old system has been delayed until November, putting it three years behind schedule. The project is also over budget by $870 million from the original cost estimate of $729 million, for a total of approximately $1.6 billion. “If the Air Force does not meet its schedule goals for development of GPS IIIA satellites, there will be an increased likelihood that in 2010, as old satellites begin to fail, the overall GPS constellation will fall below the number of satellites required to provide the level of GPS service that the U.S. government commits ,” the GAO stated in its report. The problem is blamed in part on the fact that no one single authority is responsible for synchronizing all procurements and fielding related to GPS. In addition, funding has been diverted from ground programs to pay for problems in the space segment of the GPS program, according to the report. The Air Force has also encountered “significant” technical problems that still threaten its delivery schedule, and has also struggled with a contractor, which was not named in the report. The GAO said that the time period between the contract award and first launch for GPS IIIA was shorter than most other major space programs it reviewed. “Though the contractor has had previous experience with GPS, it is likely that the knowledge base will need to be revitalized,” the GAO said. “The contractor is also being asked to develop a larger satellite bus to accommodate the future GPS increments and to increase the power of a new military signal by a factor of 10.” The Department of Defense (DOD) develops and operates GPS, and an interdepartmental committee—co-chaired by DOD and the Department of Transportation—manages the US space-based positioning, navigation, and timing infrastructure, which includes GPS. The DOD also provides most of the funding for GPS. The Air Force is responsible for GPS acquisition, according to the report. “The Department of Defense continues to face cost overruns in the billions of dollars, schedule delays adding up to years, and performance shortfalls stemming from programs that began in the 1990s, and after that were poorly structured, managed and overseen,” said the GAO. “What sets GPS apart from those programs is that GPS had already been “done” before.” However, the Air Force is not sitting by idly. It has taken steps to structure the new GPS IIIA program to prevent mistakes made on the IIF program. The agency also plans to invest more than $5.8 billion over the next five years in the GPS satellites and ground control segments. The Air Force is also exercising more government oversight and interaction with the contractor and spending more time at the contractor’s site, according to the report. “Nevertheless, there is still a high risk that the Air Force will not meet its schedule for GPS,” the report said. The GAO did note that the DOD concurred with its recommendations, and stated that it recognized the importance of centralizing authority to oversee the continuing synchronized evolution of the GPS and that it will continue to seek ways to improve civil agency understanding of the DOD requirements process and work to strengthen civil agency participation. Posted by Michele Masterson at 8:30 AM

The Power of The Lobbyist

Photo: TN History For Kids. Org

Lobbying is legal. Lobbyists who are properly registered in Tennessee may conduct business in Nashville within the guidelines of the law. That being said, the amount of money that flows through our capital city is staggering. Take ATT, for instance. Here’s a look from the Chattanooga Times Free Press at how much money ATT spent in the Volunteer State alone.

 By Andy Sher CHATTANOOGA TIMES FREE PRESS NASHVILLE — Telecommunications giant AT&T spent $523,000 to $623,000 from Oct. 1, 2008, to March 31 as it pushed deregulation of basic telephone service in the Tennessee General Assembly, new lobbying disclosures show. The disclosures, on file with the Tennessee Ethics Commission, include expenditures of $300,000 to $350,000 to fund an army of 20 lobbyists who plied the 99 members of the House of Representatives and the 33-member Senate. Another $200,000 to $250,000 went for lobbying-related expenses, which can include items such as public relations. The company also coughed up $23,000 on a Jan. 14 Nashville reception for lawmakers, other officials and civic leaders celebrating the introduction of its U-verse cable service in select parts of Middle Tennessee. The invitation said the event included “live jazz, open bar and heavy hors d’oeuvres.” The AT&T-pushed bill passed May 8, well after the six-month disclosure period ended March 31, and AT&T’s total expenses likely are higher. The bill did away with most price regulation of AT&T’s telephone service except in rural areas. The company can increase prices as it pleases for basic telephone service and unbundled services such as directory assistance and call waiting. Asked about the lobbying expenses, AT&T Tennessee spokesman Bob Corney said in an e-mail the company “applied reasonable resources to advocate for policies that will help AT&T compete on a more level playing field with our competitors.” He noted the bill, which he said removes many “outdated rules and process that have applied only to AT&T,” wasn’t the only issue the company is interested in this year. Moreover, Mr. Corney said the reception didn’t include just lawmakers. The six-month disclosures filed by special interests spending money to influence the General Assembly were due in to the Ethics Commission by May 15. The Tennessee Cable Telecommunications Association, which initially opposed the AT&T bill, reported spending $158,623 to $218,622 from Oct. 1 to March 31. Between $150,000 and $200,000 of the total went toward paying five lobbyists, records show. “We’re protecting the interests of the cable industry,” cable association president Stacey Briggs said. “The vast majority of those expenditures are for lobbying.” Comcast, meanwhile, reported spending $50,000 to $100,000 on one lobbyist and between zero and $10,000 on lobbying-related expenses. A cursory glance at the disclosures reveals a number of major legislative battles playing out in terms of dollars spent to hire lobbyists, fund public relations consultants and receptions. Tennessee’s three natural gas distributors — Chattanooga Gas Co. (AGL Resources), Atmos Energy and Piedmont Natural Gas — collectively reported spending $45,000 to $100,000 on 10 lobbyists in an ultimately unsuccessful bill aimed at making it easier for them to raise rates. The companies spent somewhere between nothing and $30,000 on lobbying-related expenses. Chattanooga Gas reported spending $10,000 to $25,000 on four lobbyists. Those opposing the bill included the Chattanooga Manufacturers Association, which had no report on file, according to the Ethics Commission Web site. Meanwhile, commission filings show nursing home interests spent at least $510,000 and as much as $635,000 lobbying on issues including a losing bid to cap damage awards in lawsuits. The Tennessee Health Care Association, an umbrella trade group for nursing homes, reported spending $250,000 to $300,000 to send nine lobbyists to Capitol Hill. National Healthcare Corp. of Murfreesboro spent $250,000 to $300,000 for seven lobbyists, records show. National Healthcare also reported spending between $10,000 to $25,000 on lobbying-related expenses. Trial lawyers who fought the measure, reported spending between $100,000 and $150,000 on five lobbyists. Meanwhile, one of Tennessee’s newest corporations, Volkswagen, which is building a $1 billion plant in Chattanooga, reported spending between $10,000 and $25,000 on its five-person Miller & Martin law firm lobby team.