JPALS ATC Shipboard Integration 2019

The Department of the Navy Naval Air Warfare Center awarded this Master IDIQ on April 25, 2019, to provide systems engineering support for the Joint Precision Approach and Landing System (JPALS) and related air traffic control and landing systems. Ordering closed on April 24, 2024; this vehicle is no longer active.

The vehicle established a $98.6 million ceiling over a five-year ordering period. Task orders awarded under it carry a combined potential value of $73.6 million, of which $56 million (76 percent) has been obligated. Activity concentrated front-loaded: seven orders issued in 2019, one in 2020, and one in 2021. The most recent task order award occurred on February 1, 2021. The vehicle succeeded a predecessor IDIQ, JPALS NUCAS WFN AAR, awarded in 2013.

Work comprises systems engineering, testing, logistical support, and program integration for aircraft and shipboard algorithms that integrate Global Positioning System and inertial sensor outputs through robust data links. Place of performance is St. Inigoes, Maryland (Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Patuxent River Code 4.11.7). All funding flows from the Department of the Navy Naval Air Systems Command Naval Air Warfare Center; no cross-agency customer base exists.

Two firms dominate the prime contractor base. J.f. Taylor, Inc. holds 2 task orders worth $37.1 million combined potential value; Coherent Technical Services, Inc. holds 2 orders worth $36.5 million combined potential value. These two primes account for roughly 99 percent of the vehicle's combined potential value. Booz Allen Hamilton Inc., Engility Services, LLC, and BAE Systems Technology Solutions & Services Inc. each hold 1 order with $10 thousand potential value; a wider field of small business contractors completes the roster.

The vehicle was unrestricted at award. Task-order set-aside mix reflects this: eight orders (89 percent) carry no set-aside; one order (11 percent) is designated Total Small Business. Two major cost-plus-fixed-fee task orders dominate the portfolio—one to Coherent Technical Services, Inc. (ceiling $36.5 million, obligated $24.98 million, completion April 22, 2026) and one to J.f. Taylor, Inc. (ceiling $37.1 million, obligated $31 million, completion April 14, 2026). Multiple orders carried minimum-guarantee ceilings of $10 thousand.

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.