JPALS ATC Shipboard Integration 2019

The Department of the Navy Naval Air Systems Command Naval Air Warfare Center awarded the JPALS ATC Shipboard Integration 2019 Master IDIQ on April 25, 2019, a multiple-award contract with no set-aside at the vehicle level for systems engineering support to the Joint Precision Approach and Landing System and related air traffic control and landing programs. Ordering remains open through April 24, 2029, leaving 2 years and 5 months of ordering authority, under a $98.6 million shared ceiling. The vehicle succeeds the JPALS NUCAS WFN AAR, awarded August 15, 2013, and the solicitation describes it as a re-compete of a MAC issued under N00421-10-R-1063.

Ordering has slowed sharply: seven of nine task orders were placed in 2019, one in 2020, and one in 2021, with none since February 1, 2021. Of the $73.6 million combined task-order potential value, $55.8 million, or 76%, has been obligated. Eight of nine orders carry no set-aside, and one (11%) is Total Small Business.

The two orders above the minimum-guarantee tier define the scope. A Labor Working Capital Fund order (N0042119D0049-N0042121F4727) carries $25.0 million obligated against a $36.5 million ceiling, and a NAPIE task order for the Air Traffic Control and Landing System Naval Avionics Platform Integration Emulator (N0042119D0052-N0042120F0220) carries $30.8 million obligated against a $37.1 million ceiling. Both are cost-plus-fixed-fee. The remaining seven are firm-fixed-price minimum-guarantee orders, each with a $10,000 ceiling. These are contractual floors, not representative order values, and three were de-obligated to $0.00.

J.f. Taylor, Inc. (two orders, $37.1 million) and Coherent Technical Services, Inc. (two orders, $36.5 million) account for effectively all of the combined potential value. Booz Allen Hamilton Inc., Engility Services, LLC, and BAE Systems Technology Solutions & Services Inc. each hold one order at $10 thousand combined potential value, and two further primes make up the seven-firm total. The Department of the Navy Naval Air Systems Command Naval Air Warfare Center is the sole customer agency for all nine orders.

The Air Traffic Control (ATC) Systems Division, Naval Air Warfare Center, Aircraft Division (NAWCAD) is the In-Service Engineering Agent (ISEA) and Software Support Activity (SSA) for Air Traffic Control and Landing Systems (ATC & LS). The ATC Division provides systems engineering support to developmental programs such as the Joint Precision Approach and Landing System (JPALS), Navy Unmanned Combat Air System (N-UCAS) and various unmanned programs. The JPALS program is developing the next generation air traffic control and landing system. Satisfactory performance of the system will depend on both aircraft and shipboard algorithms that can adequately integrate Global Positioning System (GPS) and inertial sensor outputs through a robust data link.