NDGPS to the chop block

GPS World, Sept, 2006

The President's proposed FY 2007 budget, now under consideration on Capitol Hill, leads forth National Differential GPS (NDGPS) as the latest GPS casualty of federal budget cuts. The FY 2007 budget slices NDGPS to $0. It appropriates no funds for program development, operations, or maintenance. New NDGPS sites previously planned for FY 2007 will not occur, and research programs such as High Accuracy (HA)-NDGPS will be shelved. Funding from FY 2006 will be carried over into FY 2007 to maintain the current system through FY 2007, which ends October 1, 2007.

"The FY06 budget provides approximately $10 million for the NDGPS program. These funds will be used to operate and maintain the existing NDGPS system through October 1, 2007," said Steven Kulm, Director, Office of Public Affairs, Federal Railroad Administration. The FY 2006 budget for NDGPS was approximately $10 million, about half of what was requested.

NDGPS looks toward a precarious future. Almost $100 million more is needed to complete the network build-out. After that, about $9.2 million is needed annually to operate and maintain the system.

"At this time, the U.S. Department of Transportation is deliberating how to administer the program in the future. We anticipate the Administration's proposed FY08 budget (to be released in early 2007) will provide guidance on what the future of NDGPS will be," said Kulm.

The NDGPS program is administered by the Department of Transportation and is based on the U.S. Coast Guard's DGPS maritime service that began broadcasting in 1996 to provide DGPS service to major harbors and the nation's coasts.

For more complete reportage by Eric Gakstatter, see the August Survey & Construction e-newsletter at www.gpsworld.com.