UAS BAA Call 001-2026 for Whitepapers Final.pdf

Solicitation: 697DCK-25-R-00278 Call 001-2026

697DCK-25-R-00278

WHITEPAPER CALL 001-2026

DEMONSTRATION AND VALIDATION OF SYSTEMS AND TECHNOLOGIES TO

ENABLE THE SAFE INTEGRATION OF UNMANNED AIRCRAFT SYSTEMS

(UAS) INTO THE NATIONAL AIRSPACE SYSTEM (NAS)

Date: October 2, 2025

I. BACKGROUND

This FAA Call for Whitepapers is being issued under UAS Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) Solicitation #697DCK-25-R-00278 that was published on the System for Award Management (SAM.gov) website athttps://sam.gov/workspace/contract/opp/b21f5b8f19d74a479b1ce8befa69ad54/view on September 30, 2025. To be eligible for consideration and potential award, Respondents must adhere to all requirements stated within the UAS BAA Solicitation #697DCK-25-R-00278 in its entirety, in conjunction with this request for Whitepapers when responding to this Call.

II. SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS

1. The Respondent must submit a Whitepaper associated with one of the Focus Areas listed within Solicitation #697DCK-25-R-00278.

2. The Respondent should not submit duplicate Whitepapers for any given Focus Area.

3. The Respondent must submit a Letter of Attestation (LOA) from the partnering FAA UAS Test Site, as described in Solicitation #697DCK-25-R-00278. LOAs must be signed by the UAS Test Site Director or an Authorized Representative. Letters signed by designated UAS Test Site Operators will NOT be accepted.

4. Respondents proposing testing at multiple locations must specify the number and details of the locations, keeping in mind that a FAA UAS Test Site must be one of the locations and all other locations must be under the FAA UAS Test Site’s authorization.

5. The Respondent must provide a project rough order of magnitude (ROM). For awareness, the FAA is providing notice that any resulting awards are on a cost matching price basis. The resulting contracts from this BAA shall be cost-sharing contracts. This contract type will be a cost reimbursement contract where the contractor receives no fee and is reimbursed only for an agreed upon portion of its allowable cost. Cost-sharing may be accomplished by a contribution to either direct or indirect costs, provided such costs are reasonable, allocable and allowable in accordance with the cost principles of the resulting contracts. Allowable costs which are absorbed by the contractor as its share of contract costs may not be charged directly or indirectly to the Agency or the Federal Government.

Cost-sharing may be accomplished in various forms or combinations. These include, but are not limited to: cash outlays, real property or interest therein, personal property or services, cost matching, or other in-kind contributions.

In-kind contributions represent non-cash contributions provided by the performing contractor which would normally be a charge against the contract. While in-kind contributions are an acceptable method of cost-sharing, should the booked costs of property appear unrealistic, the fair market value of the property shall be determined.

In-kind contributions may be in the form of personal property (equipment or supplies) or services which are directly beneficial, specifically identifiable and necessary for the performance of the contract. In-kind contributions must meet all of the following criteria before acceptance.

(1) Be verifiable from the contractor's books and records;

(2) Not be included as contributions under any other Federal contract;

(3) Be necessary to accomplish project objectives;

(4) Provide for types of charges that would otherwise be allowable under applicable Federal cost principles appropriate to the contractor's organization; and

(5) Not be paid for by the Federal Government under any contract, agreement or grant.

In-kind contributions accepted from a contractor will be addressed on a case-by-case basis provided the established values do not exceed fair market values. Where the FAA receives title to donated land, building, equipment or supplies and the property is not fully consumed during performance of the contract, the Contracting Officer will establish the property's value based on the contractor's booked costs (i.e., acquisition cost less depreciation, if any) at the time of donation. If the booked costs reflect unrealistic values when compared to current market conditions, the Contracting Officer may establish another appropriate value if supported by an independent appraisal of the fair market value of the donated property or property in similar condition and circumstances. The Contracting Officer will monitor reports of in-kind costs as they are incurred or recognized during the contract period of performance to determine that the value of in-kind services does not exceed fair market values. The value of any services or the use of personal or real property donated by a contractor should be established when necessary in accordance with generally accepted accounting policies and Federal cost principles.

The UAS BAA program includes a 1:1 (one-to-one) minimum cost-share requirement. The FAA will pay no more than 50% of the total cost of the work that will be specified in any award under this BAA. The amount of FAA funding under any contract award under this BAA and the portion of the specified work to be funded under the contract, either at any particular time or cumulatively under the award, in all instances, must be at the sole discretion of the FAA. The FAA’s liability at any particular time or cumulatively under an award against this BAA must not exceed the amount identified as obligated under the contract. Any additional matching funds requirements will be outlined in the BAA Calls for White Papers. If the Contracting Officer requires the submission of certified cost or pricing data, upon completion of negotiations and agreement of contract price, in association with cost and pricing data submitted, the offerors must submit a Certificate of Current Cost or Pricing Data.

The total amount of funding available for the UAS BAA program each fiscal year will be divided evenly among all UAS Test Sites designated under 49 U.S.C. §44803 for the purposes of providing matching funds to Respondents as outlined herein. 49 U.S.C. §44803(h)(2). Distributed funding is limited to policies and procedures outlined within the UAS BAA and the UAS BAA Call for Whitepapers. All funding is subject to the availability of funds. The FAA anticipates awarding at least 7 contract awards under this BAA program (one associated with each FAA UAS Test Site) but reserves the right to make more or fewer awards after assessing the needs of the program.

NOTE: Respondents that submit a Whitepaper without all the required documentation (e.g. LOA, ROM, etc.) may be considered non-responsive and therefore not considered for further evaluation.

6. SUBMISSION FORMAT:

a. File Naming Format

i. For each Submission, the Respondent must create a Respondent identifier with 8 characters: BAAC2026 - CCCCCC-TT

1. BAAC2026 – This code identifies BAA Call 2026. Do not change.

2. CCCCCC - 6 alpha/numeric characters for the respondent organization name

3. TT – State abbreviation of the partnering UAS Test Site

ii. All Whitepapers and attachments must be submitted using the correct file naming convention.

1. Whitepaper Format: File name: BAAC2026-CCCCCC- TT_WP_yyyymmdd

a. yyyy - year; mm - month; dd – day; where yyyymmdd is date of email submission

b. Letters of Attestation Format: BAAC2026-CCCCCC-TT_LOA

2. Rough Order of Magnitude: BAAC2026-CCCCCC-TT_ROM

7. SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS: Respondents Whitepaper must not exceed 10 pages in length (single sided, single-spaced, Times New Roman 12-size font, with 1-inch margins).

The 10-page limitation does not include the Cover Page, LOA, or the ROM.

Respondents are advised to refer to baseline #697DCK-25-R-00278 Section IV Whitepaper Information for instructions on Whitepaper Requirements, Preparation, Submission Instructions, Evaluation, and Whitepaper Selection and Request for Proposals.

8. Evaluation Whitepapers will be reviewed for applicability to the FAA’s mission and strategic goals and potential value to the FAA mission. Technical representatives from the FAA will review submitted Whitepapers to determine the operational readiness of the technology proposed by the Respondent, the importance to mission/agency programs, and the availability of funding. Whitepapers may be declined without further review if they are considered to be technology that is not operationally ready or not relevant to the safe integration of UAS in the NAS, if funds are not expected to be available, for other reasons in the best interests of the FAA, or if they fail to meet the requirements as stated within the announcement. The team of technical representatives will select White Papers to advance to the RFP stage based on the proposed technologies operational readiness, the importance to mission/agency programs and the availability of funding.

9. Whitepaper Selection and Request for Proposal (RFP) If the FAA selects a Respondent’s Whitepaper, the Contracting Officer will send the Respondent an RFP providing specific details and instructions regarding Proposal submission requirements. It is incumbent upon the Respondent to comply with the instructions of a specific RFP to be eligible for a potential award.

III. OTHER INFORMATION

1. ANTICIPATED AWARD DATE: On or before September 30, 2026

2. FUNDING: Funding in the amount of $12,000,000 is anticipated to be awarded under this

Call; however, funding is subject to change at Government discretion and availability.

Respondents should be aware that due to unanticipated budget fluctuations, funding in any or all areas may change with little or no notice. The total amount of funding available for the UAS BAA program each fiscal year will be divided evenly among all UAS Test Sites designated under 49 U.S.C. §44803 for the purposes of providing matching funds to Respondents selected under the UAS BAA Program. The Government reserves the right to select all, part, or none of the Whitepapers received for a Proposal, subject to the availability of funds. Awards must include a 1:1 (one-to-one) minimum cost-share requirement. The FAA will pay no more than 50% of the total cost of the work that will be specified in any Award.

3. BAA TYPE: This is a Call for Whitepapers only and will be governed by the “two-step” process described in the General Information section of UAS BAA #697DCK-25-R-00278.

Awards resulting from this two-step approach will be on a cost-matching price basis.

4. QUESTIONS DUE DATE AND TIME: Technical questions must be received no later than October 17, 2025, 3:00 pm EST and must be submitted via email to the Contracting Officer at Scott.E.Raber@faa.gov. Questions received after this time and date may not be considered. Questions and answers will be posted to SAM.gov.

5. WHITEPAPER DUE DATE AND TIME: Whitepapers are due no later than November 14, 2025, 3:00 pm EST via email to Scott.E.Raber@faa.gov.

mailto:Scott.E.Raber@faa.gov

III. OTHER INFORMATION