Contract tower controllers’ salaries are based on Department of Labor (DOL) wage rates, which are lower than the salaries paid to FAA controllers. For example, based on current DOL rates, an air traffic controller at a contract tower near Tampa, FL, would receive base pay of about $56,000 per year, whereas an FAA-employed air traffic controller in Sarasota, FL, an area with similar costs of living, would receive base pay ranging from about $63,000 to $85,000 per year, depending on the controller’s experience. 

While contract towers continue to operate at a lower cost than comparable FAA towers, the FAA has opportunities to improve its oversight of the contractual and operational aspects of the FCT Program. OIG’s 1998 review of the FCT Program found that contract towers were not staffed in accordance with contractor staffing plans, raising concerns that the Government was being billed for services that were not actually provided.  

In response to OIG’s report, the FAA included a provision in subsequent contracts to enhance oversight of contractor performance. This provision requires contractors to submit a staffing plan that includes the number of controllers that will work at the tower and the total annual number of hours those controllers will work, exclusive of vacation, holiday, and sick leave.  

Once the FAA approves the staffing plan, the contractors must comply with the staffing levels and hours of service called for in the plan, and actual hours worked must be within plus or minus 3 percent of the approved plan. If the contractor works less than 97 percent of the hours specified in the contract, the amount paid to the contractor could be reduced for each hour not worked.