To develop a monitoring system for flight service specialist staffing and training under service contracts for flight service stations.

SA 3520. Ms. MURKOWSKI submitted an amendment intended to be proposed
to amendment SA 3452 proposed by Mr. Rockefeller to the bill H.R. 1586,
to impose an additional tax on bonuses received from certain TARP
recipients; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

On page 458, after line 23, add the following:
(d) Flight Service Stations.--
(1) Establishment of monitoring system.--Not later than 60
days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the
Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration shall
develop and implement a monitoring system for flight service
specialist staffing and training under service contracts for
flight service stations.
(2) Components.--At a minimum, the monitoring system
developed under paragraph (1) shall include mechanisms to
monitor--
(A) flight specialist staffing plans for individual
facilities;
(B) actual staffing levels for individual facilities;
(C) the initial and recurrent certification and training of
flight service specialists on the safety, operational, and
technological aspects of flight services, including any
certification and training necessary to meet user demand; and
(D) system outages, excessive hold times, dropped calls,
poor quality briefings, and any other safety or customer
service issues under a contract for flight service station
services.
(3) Report to congress.--Not later than 90 days after the
date of the enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall
submit a report to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and
Transportation of the Senate and the Committee on
Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of
Representatives that includes--
(A) a description of monitoring system;
(B) if the Administrator determines that contractual
changes or corrective actions are required for the Federal
Aviation Administration to ensure that the vendor under a
contract for flight service station services provides safe
and high quality service to consumers, a description of the
changes or actions required; and
(C) a description of the contingency plans of the
Administrator and the protections that the Administrator will
have in place to provide uninterrupted flight service station
services in the event of--
(i) material non-performance of the contract;
(ii) a vendor's default, bankruptcy, or acquisition by
another entity; or
(iii) any other event that could jeopardize the
uninterrupted provision of flight service station services.
(4) Alaska flight service stations.--Not later than 180
days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the
Administrator, in conjunction with flight service station
personnel, shall develop, implement, and submit to Congress a
plan for the future of flight service stations in Alaska that
includes--
(A) the establishment of a formal training and hiring
program for flight service specialists; and
(B) a schedule for necessary inspection, upgrades, and
modernization of stations and equipment.
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