The Federal Aviation Administration cut short Thursday a 2007 contract with OU to provide training to air traffic controllers.
No FAA employees are expected to lose their jobs.
OU has trained controllers since 1981 at the FAA Academy located at Oklahoma City’s Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center.
A four-year, $132 million contract signed last year included an option to sever the relationship early.
The cancelled contract is due to a collaboration of all FAA training centers across the country. Roland Herwig, a public information officer with the Monroney Center, said the FAA decided to combine all its training operations with Raytheon Co., a defense technology company.
“A combined contract is easier to administer rather than two contracts,” Herwig said.
The agreement with Raytheon, announced Wednesday, is a 10-year, $437 million contract, according to an FAA press release.
“This is a performance-based contract that is designed to allow us to train controllers better, faster and cheaper,” said Robert A. Sturgell, the FAA’s acting administrator. “It holds Raytheon accountable for meeting our stringent training requirements and offers incentives for improving the quality of training while lowering the overall time and cost.”
After Thursday’s break-up, the Raytheon Company will administer training services.
Jay Doyle, press secretary and special assistant to OU President David L. Boren, said the 372 employees employed under the contract, including trainers and administrative personnel, will not be terminated because of the new agreement.
“[Raytheon’s] proposed approach included their intent to offer employment to the incumbent employees. Thus, for the vast majority of the current contractor employees, the impact on jobs will depend on whether a contractor employee chooses to work for the new contractor,” according to the FAA’s Air Traffic Control Optimal Training Solution program.
Cassandra Watson, a spokeswoman for Raytheon, said officials will be in Oklahoma City today to discuss options with the employees.
Boren released a statement Thursday saying there is a possibility OU will continue to play a significant role in providing services to Raytheon.
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SteveHulland 3 years, 8 months ago
Here We Go Again, The FAA lets a "Performance" contract to a company like Raytheon who has a long history of raping the taxpayer, unethical activities, from the CEO on down, and shafting all employees - especially those who might be in a union.
Like Lockheed with the FSS system, this will fail due to a faulty contract and the desire of the company to make more money instead of being concerned about aviation safety more than anything else. To say nothing of the FAA's desire to "outsource" everything ATC and destroy General Aviation in this country.
Of course Raytheon may have the intent to "offer employment" to the existing employees, but this is not even close to "employing all imcombant employees without fear of layoff, firing, loss of medical benefits, loss of retirement if there are any or anything else. Just a meaningless "offer of employment". What a joke.
BTW, I am not a Raytheon employee. I was a firefighter with the Raytheon Missile Plant in Tucson Arizona and helped negoitate the firefighters last contract. Raytheon from their headquarters in Waltham Mass. to their "leadership" in Tucson is nothing short of a sham. In fact, I think they have done more to hurt this country than any other "Defense Industry" in existance. Watch the taxpayers and the FAA get raped. You should know that Raytheon was and continues to be the subject of a congressional inquiry concerning their treatment of firefighters and protection of our national asset - the missile plant in Tucson, Arizona. By none other than Senator John McCain. Steve Hulland Captain, USMC (Ret)