2026.06.26_2028 ILS Contract Market Survey_Draft..pdf

Market Survey Announcement 1 July 2026

MARKET SURVEY ANNOUNCEMENT

FOR

Instrument Landing System (ILS) Draft Specification

1. Introduction/Purpose

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is conducting this Market Survey in accordance with the FAA Acquisition Management System (AMS) Section 3.2.1.2.1. The

FAA has a requirement to procure Instrument Landing Systems (ILS) to establish and/or sustain the existing infrastructure for CAT I/II/III approach procedures.

An ILS is a combination of a Localizer (LOC) and Glide Slope (GS) with ancillary equipment to provide critical precision guidance to aircraft during approach and landing.

The purpose of this announcement is to share the attached draft Specification and receive industry comments to better understand current market capabilities. The information received will be used as input to refine the technical requirements and finalize the acquisition strategy for the next ILS Contract.

This Market Survey requests vendors’ input on the information listed in Section 6 below.

2. Incumbent Contractor (if applicable)

There is an active incumbent contractor currently providing similar systems to the FAA:

• Contractor Name: Thales ATM, Inc.

• Contractor Address: Overland Park, KS

• Contract Number: #693KA8-24-D-00009

3. Nature of Competition

The acquisition strategy for this procurement has not been finalized at this time. This

Market Survey will support research obtained from multiple sources and will be utilized for planning purposes.

The FAA intends to review all responses submitted as input to the acquisition strategy.

Additionally, the FAA will assess Industry capabilities and ability to mitigate risks to the

ILS acquisition.

This Market Survey is open to all interested parties.

4. Standard Language

Market Survey Announcement 2

(a) This is not a Screening Information Request or Request for Proposals of any kind;

(b) The FAA is not seeking or accepting unsolicited proposals;

(c) The FAA will not pay for any information received or costs incurred in preparing the response to the market survey; and

(d) Any costs associated with the market survey submittal is solely at the interested vendor’s expense

5. North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Code

The tentative NAICS codes projected for this procurement are as follows:

• 423610 – Electrical Apparatus Equipment, Wiring Supplies, and Related

Equipment Merchant Wholesaler;

• 334511 – Search, Detection, Navigation, Aeronautical, and Nautical System and

Instrument Manufacturing;

• 541330 – Engineering Services;

• 488190 – Other Support Activities for Air Transportation; and

• 541611 – Administrative Management and General Management Consulting

Services.

6. Submittal Requirements for Market Survey

State any submittal requirements for the market survey – such as relevant corporate experience, comments on the requirements, technical approach, corporate capabilities etc. Execution of the business declaration form (as an attachment) must also be mentioned). State any specific page limitations for the submittals.

List of Information Requested:

1. Responders must enter all comments and edits of the draft ILS Specification in the attached “Comment_Matrix_ILS Spec, June 2026”. Any comments and edits not in the correct file and format will be discarded.

2. There is no page limitation to this market survey.

3. Ultra-Wide Aperture Technology Inquiry: In alignment with FAA research into mitigating Multi-Path Interference (MPI) in high-density Radio Frequency (RF) environments, the FAA must understand the market availability of ILS antenna solutions. Interested vendors shall provide any existing Ultra-Wide Aperture ILS

Antenna technology within their product portfolios, specifically localizer arrays featuring configurations with greater than 20-elements and/or glideslope arrays with greater than 3-dipoles. If available, provide horizontal and vertical radiation pattern graphics and associated data and notable technical specifications.

Market Survey Announcement 3

a. Contractor format is acceptable for all documents related to bullet 3.

b. Contractors shall indicate the associated data rights to all information provided.

4. Provide all concepts and additional information for the FAA to consider when determining the acquisition strategy for the next ILS procurement.

7. Delivery of Submittals

Responses must be submitted electronically to the following email address:

Dwayne.Berry@faa.gov and Peter.t.rice@faa.gov.

• Deadline: October 2, 2026, at 5:00 PM EDT.

• Format: The “Comment_Matrix_ILS Spec, June 2026” must be in Microsoft

Word format. For all other documentation, submissions must be PDF with a matching Microsoft Word version (if possible).

• Subject Line: Email responses should read "ILS Program Market Survey, ILS

Specification Review".

Responses must include a company point of contact, telephone number(s), e-mail address.

Responses will not be returned. Any proprietary or confidential information in the

Market Survey submissions must be appropriately marked and will not be disseminated outside of the agency.

Telephone calls or paper submissions will not be accepted. For questions regarding this announcement, please contact the acquisition team via the email address listed above.

8. Other (if applicable)

The ILS Program Office may request a meeting with the responders point of contact to discuss submissions and clarify any information.

Responders cannot make requests to meet with the FAA.

9. Attachments

(a) Draft ILS Specification, FAA-E-xxxx_ILS Specification

(b) Comment_Matrix_ILS Spec, June 2026

(c) Business Declaration Form

Commented [A1]: Deadline is 8 weeks after posting.

Commented [A2]: I don’t have this.