AMCS SIR Oct 2022.doc

693KA7-22-R-00036

SECTION B

SUPPLIES/SERVICES & PRICE/COST

B.1

TYPE OF CONTRACT

The contract type for this procurement is a Firm-Fixed-Price (FFP) except for Engineering Services Task Orders which are Time and Material (T&M).

B.2

CONTRACT TERM

The period of performance for this contract is six (6) years; one (1) year base period and five (5) one-year options. If the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) elects to exercise any of the options years, written notification of the Government’s intent to exercise the option will be provided to the Contractor at least 30 calendar days before the contract expiration date. The Contractor is directed to Section F.1, Period of Performance.

B.3

DESCRIPTION OF SERVICES

The Contractor must provide Aeronautical Mobile Communications Services (AMCS) in support of designated FAA Air Traffic Control Systems. The Contractor must provide AMCS, equipment and materials, and must perform all work and services necessary for or incident to furnishing AMCS support for the FAA’s Oceanic and Offshore program operations. The Contractor must perform the above services in accordance with specific requirements identified in Section C of the contract.

B.4 COSTs and PRICEs Schedule

Following is the Contract Line Item Number (CLIN) structure for the Program. CLINS 001 through 006 provide the FFP for the Contractor to provide all of the work described in Section C other than Section C.3.2, which is discretionary work that the FAA may issue task orders for on a T&M basis under CLIN 007.

FFP Per Month Total

SUBTOTAL

See Section C Section 3.2 See B.5 for Fully Burdened Labor Rates

NTE

TOTAL ESTIMATED CONTRACT VALUE WITH OPTIONS

B.5 fully burdened labor rates (TIME AND MATERIAL) The below tables provide the fully burdened T&M labor rates applicable for task orders that may be issued under CLIN 007 during the base year and each option year of the contract. Work under CLIN 007 may or may not be ordered by the FAA at its sole discretion. All work performed under CLIN 007, if any is ordered by the FAA, will be issued through specific task orders.

For the purposes of this contract, the FAA will only pay for productive direct labor hours, which are hours expended by the Contractor’s personnel performing work under the scope of this contract and the relevant task order. This does not include sick leave, vacation, holidays, jury duty, military leave, or any other kind of administrative leave. “Productive direct labor hours” include hours expended by the Contractor on matters related to contract management and administration, only to the extent such hours are specifically excluded from indirect rates in accordance with the Contractor’s usual accounting practices.

fully burdened labor rates (TIME AND MATERIAL) – BASE YEAR

i.Senior Lead Field Service Technician

j. Radio Operator

FULLY BURDEN LABOR RATES (TIME AND MATERIAL) – OPTION YEAR 1

i.Senior Lead Field Service Technician

FULLY BURDEN LABOR RATES (TIME AND MATERIAL) – OPTION YEAR 2

i.Senior Lead Field Service Technician

FULLY BURDEN LABOR RATES (TIME AND MATERIAL) – OPTION YEAR 3

i.Senior Lead Field Service Technician

FULLY BURDEN LABOR RATES (TIME AND MATERIAL) – OPTION YEAR 4

h. Associate Field Service Technician i.Senior Lead Field Service Technician

FULLY BURDEN LABOR RATES (TIME AND MATERIAL) – OPTION YEAR 5

i.Senior Lead Field Service Technician

SECTION C

SCOPE OF WORK

1.0 OVERVIEW

This Statement of Work (SOW) defines Aeronautical Mobile Communications Services (AMCS) contract services for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). AMCS provides mission-critical voice communications between the Advanced Technologies and Oceanic Procedures (ATOP) system or the Flight Data Processing 2000 (FDP-2000) system and international flights. The AMCS serves ZOA (Oakland ARTCC), ZAN (Anchorage ARTCC) and ZNY (Islip, NY ARTCC) facilities.

International oceanic services encompass High Frequency (HF), Very High Frequency (VHF), Satellite voice (SATVOICE), and voice and data telecommunications between aircraft pilots and controller/specialists. These services meet International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) treaty obligations in oceanic airspace delegated to the United States of America. The FAA will provide international civil aviation communications beyond the line of sight limitations of VHF communications via this contract.

The Contractor performing these services must transmit HF/VHF and Satellite voice services into the oceanic areas in accordance with U.S. Flight Information Region (FIRs). The Contractor must provide expert staffing and have the experience that meets FAA operational and quality standards. The Contractor must establish/maintain an infrastructure to support fully-staffed radio operation at all times (24 hours per day, 365 days per year). Operators must hold a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Restricted Radiotelephone Operator Permit or equal. Each authorized operator must demonstrate a comprehensive knowledge of aeronautical communications procedures and maintain a comprehensive operating knowledge of radio equipment. The Contractor must meet all of the FAA Information System Security Requirements to ensure system integrity and safe operation and to preclude illegal access, hacking, invasion or unauthorized access to the National Airspace System (NAS).

2.0 APPLICABLE DOCUMENTS

The following documents form a part of this contract to the extent specified herein. Secondary references, or those documents referenced by documents contained in this section, also form a part of this contract to the extent specified by applicable sections of the documents referenced directly in this section.

The Contractor must provide the services and meet the requirements identified in the following documents as they pertain to the AMCS. The Contractor must obtain this documentation. The Contractor must advise the Government if assistance is required to obtain FAA documentation described below. Periodically, these documents may be revised or updated. The Contractor must obtain, and utilize the current versions of these documents, unless directed otherwise in writing by the FAA.

2.1 Government Documents

2.0 FAA Orders

FAA Order 1830.1B

2.0 Other FAA Documents

9/24/2008

NAS-IC-82370001-09

Rev G Model T-28

2.0 Other Government Documents

Electronic Code of Federal Regulations (e-CFR) (http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov) Title 47 Telecommunications, Chapter 1 Federal Communications Commission, Part 87 Aviation Services dated 10/1/04, Part 87 (Aviation Services), Subpart C – Operating Requirements and Procedures (Federal Communications Commission Document) and Subpart D -Technical Requirements current as of July 21, 2021

2.2 International (ICAO) Documents

Volume 3 Communication Systems, Part 1 Digital Data Communication Systems, Volume 3 Communication Systems, Part 2 Voice Communication Systems, Volume 5 Aeronautical Radio Frequency Spectrum Utilization 20 July 2009

25 Aug 2009

2.3 Non-Government Documents

2.0 Industry and ARINC Standards

*Note: This contract will use the latest revision of ARINC Operational and Engineering Documents as identified by the ARINC program office no later than fifteen (15) days after contract award (DACA).

2.4 Order of Precedence

When referenced applicable documents are in conflict, the SOW has precedence over all documents referenced herein.

If either two or more referenced applicable documents are in conflict or two or more sections of the SOW are in conflict, the Contracting Officer must be notified to resolve the conflict.

2.5 Availability of Documents

2.0 FAA Documents

Copies of FAA specifications, standards, and publications may be obtained from the Contracting Officer. Requests should clearly identify the desired material by number and state the intended use of the material.

2.0 ARINC Documents

ARINC documents (to include AEEC documents) may be obtained from the ARINC online store at. https://www.aviation-ia.com/content/arinc-standards

2.0 ICAO Documents

ICAO documents may be obtained from the site http://www.icao.int/icao/en/download.htm.

3.0 REQUIREMENTS

The Contractor must provide aeronautical mobile communications services, including all equipment and personnel to meet the requirements of this SOW.

3.1 Program Management

The Contractor must provide program management oversight to ensure compliance with all the terms and conditions of this contract.

The Contractor must provide a detailed Program Management Plan with its proposal. The Contractor’s Program Management Plan must be updated as required by any authorized change with updates submitted to the FAA Contracting Officer Representative (COR).

The Contractor must assure an electronic means for communicating with Government personnel via telephone, voice mail, and electronic mail. The Contractor must ensure that its electronic mail communications are compatible with the Government's electronic mail system. The Contractor must also ensure that the Contractor's electronic mail has the capability to receive and retrieve attachments that are also compatible with the Government’s electronic mail system.

3.0 Program Management Plan

The Program Management Plan must describe the Contractor’s interfaces with the FAA and provide contact information for the interfaces. It must include but not be limited to the following elements:

· A hierarchical organization chart;

· Contact information for each person specified on that chart;

· A list of FAA interfaces for each position on the chart, for both ad hoc and periodic reporting, and the contact information;

· A list of periodic reports and a brief description of the process for constructing them. Key elements of the process description include specification of the interval between data collection and reporting, and designation of a contact for FAA questions and issue resolution;

· A description of the processes for problem and other ad hoc reporting. The description must include all of the elements specified in Section 3.3;

· A description of the Operational Working Group (OWG) meetings conducted between FAA and ARINC NYC and SFO;

· The latest revision of ARINC Operational and Engineering Documents as identified by the ARINC program office no later than fifteen (15) days after contract award (DACA); and

· A description of the quality assurance activities performed on AMCS services, their relationship to ISO 9001-compliant Contractor practices, and their impact on the management of the program. See Section 3.13 for further detail.

As part of the Program Management Plan, the Contractor must construct and maintain a ready reference card listing the responsibilities and contact information for all personnel involved in the problem reporting process, both Federal and Contractor. The ready reference card will be made available to the FAA COR, Oceanic Operations Support Managers at the ARTCCs and any additionally identified points of contact provided by the FAA at contract award for the purpose of contacting the Contractor in the case of outages, emergency assistance, loss of coverage, technical or operational difficulties, etc. The Contractor must keep the ready reference card up to date and submit updates independent of Program Management Plan updates. The Contractor must disseminate the card to each person identified on the card, plus others as specified by the AMCS Program Manager/COR.

This plan will be in Contractor format as approved by the Government.

CDRL A001, Program Management Plan

3.0 Monthly Status Report

The Contractor must provide a progress and status report to the Government on the 15th business day of each month. The report must address operational and systems engineering status performance for the previous month, and must identify individual work activities to be performed by the Contractor. The report must also include:

· Technical status of the operational and engineering work in progress (planned HW or SW changes or updates), estimated completion date, projected or actual completion date, and a brief narrative regarding the status of each activity;

· Planned activities for the next reporting period;

· Deliverable status;

· Summary of meetings; and

· Issues, actions, and recommendations.

The report will be in Contractor format as approved by the Government.

CDRL A002, Monthly Status Report

3.0 Contract Status Reviews and Technical Interface Meetings

The Contractor must provide a quarterly contract status briefing to the FAA. The Contractor must include in this briefing:

· Technical status of the communication link which includes the performance of the communication service against the benchmarks specified in this SOW;

· Any communication interruptions, delays, or discrepancies occurring during the reporting period;

· Schedule for contract deliverables;

· Contract actions, both open and completed since the last review;

· Operational issues effecting performance of this contract;

· Technical issues effecting performance of this contract; and

· Information System Security performance issues or non-conformances.

The Contractor must include in the briefing a list of actions items identified by the Contractor and the Government. In the action item list, the Contractor must include a description of the action, date assigned, due date, and status. The Contractor must maintain and update the action item list. The format and level of detail must be as agreed to by the Contractor and the COR after contract award.

The FAA COR may request technical interface meetings (TIM) with the Contractor to discuss technical, operational or information system security issues, action items, or task orders, etc., during the conduct of this contract. In addition, the Contractor must be able to implement corrective action and resolve any contractual issue identified by the CO & COR and ATC Support Manager (ZOA, ZAN, ZNY). The Contractor must prepare TIM minutes & action items which the Contractor must use to document and satisfy issues related to this contract.

The report will be in Contractor format as approved by the Government.

CDRL A003, Contractor Quarterly Status Review

3.0 Annual AMCS Facility/Network Configuration Report/Block Diagrams

The Contractor must provide a Facility/Network Configuration Report. The Contractor must update the report/block diagrams as major changes occur and at no greater interval than annually from the contract award. The report must identify changes made since the Facility/Network configuration report was previously submitted, including changes to the information, drawings, and graphical depictions. These include, without limitation:

a. A high-level block diagram that graphically depicts the major network components. This must include a depiction of the communications center configuration of individual stations and positions, with the number of positions and the function of each station clearly identified on the diagram;

b. A connectivity drawing illustrating voice and data paths to outside major connecting facilities. These facilities must include ARTCC, transmitter, receiver, and transceiver sites. The drawing should include the vintage and quantity of radio equipment at sites, frequency groups supported at each site, and the location of connecting sites;

c. A connectivity drawing depicting type and quantity of communications links between facilities. As an example, specifically note if connectivity is through dedicated VG-8 circuits, digital T-1 lines, microwave or satellite paths, ring-down lines, etc. Also, describe the type of terminating equipment on the far end as it relates to ARINC-owned termination equipment; and

d. A spreadsheet categorizing major equipment and identifying equipment for the entire service must be provided.

Changes to these documents and drawings may occur at any time throughout the year. The Contractor must notify the FAA about the changes when they occur. These reports must be fully updated annually and a detailed database of circuits and assets will be provided. An electronic copy of each report will be provided to the FAA AMCS COR.

The report will be in Contractor format as approved by the Government.

CDRL A004, Annual AMCS Facility/Network Configuration Report

3.2 Additional Engineering Support (Task Orders)

The Contractor may be directed by the Contracting Officer to provide additional support via task orders or task order revisions as necessary for AMCS support. These task orders will be issued under CLIN 007 of this contract. This must include supporting technical upgrades and operational changes to the existing Oceanic infrastructure, including technical interfaces associated with the ATOP and FDP-2000 Systems. The Contractor must report on the activities performed in these task orders and they must be included in the monthly and quarterly status reports. The Contractor must report when the task order has been completed, identify any issues or open items associated with the task order and identify all remaining funding not utilized during the completion of the task order.

The Contractor must provide qualified technical and engineering personnel for these services as necessary to complete assigned tasks. These services must be provided on a time-and-material basis. Estimates must be submitted in accordance with labor categories identified in Section B. FAA will issue requests for Task Order proposals for work required.

The Contractor must begin Task orders only after written authorization has been received from the Government Contracting Officer.

3.3 Reporting

At Contract Award the Contractor must provide the most recent list of reporting capability that gives the FAA:

1. A toll-free number for ATO Oceanic Air Traffic control personnel at ZOA, ZNY and ZAN ARTCC’s as well as any additionally identified POC by the FAA to phone and report problems, obtain status on outages and service interruptions, and other operational information. This service must be available 24 hours per day, seven days per week, 365 days a year and will feed into the Contractor’s trouble management system; and

2. A hierarchical escalation policy for notification of HF & VHF Voice communication outages and service interruptions. The policy must be based on service criticality and outage time so that FAA management in the affected ARTCC is notified via electronic message and/or telephone call when:

(a) The Contractor’s primary or alternate service path to a transmitter or receiver site is down for more than one hour;

(b) A primary or alternate service path between the FAA and the Contractor’s facility is down for more than 15 minutes;

(c) Any redundant equipment associated with the HF & VHF Voice Communication and data link communication service is down for more than 15 minutes;

(d) Primary power or back up power is lost or dropped;

(e) Operational capability of a facility is compromised or at risk;

(f) A total loss of a path occurs;

(g) Primary and back-up power support is lost at a Contractor facility; and

(h) Recovery is made from any of the conditions described in (a) through (g).

If service delivery is at risk due to any conditions described in items (a) through (g); the Contractor must notify the FAA Oceanic Support manager at the affected ARTCC and the FAA AMCS Program Manager via electronic messages and voice communication within 15 minutes of occurrence unless otherwise specified. The Contractor must report restoration upon occurrence [i.e., report occurrence of item (h)].

3.4 Operations, Maintenance and Control

The Contractor must provide Operations, maintenance, and control support, which must include:

a. Operating the AMCS network such that it provides communications services described herein 24 hours per day, seven (7) days a week in accordance with International Civil Aviation Organization Standards and Recommended Practices, FAA Procedures, and Federal Communications Commission requirements for the relay of voice and data messages to and from aircraft and ground facilities:

Letter of Agreement(s) (LOAs): The FAA and the Contractor must prepare, update, and maintain existing Operational Agreements as identified in section J-1. The purpose of these agreements mandates the communication procedures to be used between specified Air Route Traffic Control Centers (ARTCCs) and the Contractor. These LOAs shall provide supplemental instructions to the procedures and responsibilities of the Contractor in providing all services outlined in the contract and SOW. The current list of LOA’s (section J-1) must be fully identified, updated and approved by the FAA COR, Contractor Program Manager, FAA Air Traffic Manager, and the Contractor Operations Manager(s) located at SFO and NYC centers within 15 DACA.

b. Providing voice communications to and from aircraft over the HF, VHF frequencies and SATVOICE as per section C.3.6, in US oceanic Flight Information Regions.

c. Providing communications services between aircraft, and ground stations that support the exchange of voice and data messages originated by or addressed to FAA ATC facilities regarding the status, position, or movement of aircraft; or the status or management of FAA-controlled airspace in US oceanic FIRs. This communications requirement covers voice reported position information. It includes converting messages and re-mapping information into different protocols when necessary. Requirements include:

1. Conversion of data or voice messages received from ATC facilities, to ICAO-formatted voice messages for relay to aircraft;

2. Conversion of ICAO-formatted voice messages received from aircraft, to data messages with a format that is consistent with the interface to FAA data messaging network (e.g., AMCS, ATOP); and

3. Conversion and delivery of voice and data messages to designated ARTCC centers.

d.

Providing personnel, equipment, and facilities necessary for the establishment and maintenance of two-way air-to-ground communications that must include the following:

1. Radio to wire switching capability to enable direct controller to pilot two-way voice communications through the patching of a terrestrial voice call from an FAA facility to the air-ground frequency;

2. Satellite voice channel for direct controller/flight crew communications, on an as needed basis;

3. Point-to-point data transmission of messages addressed to or originated by FAA ATC and other air traffic management facilities; and

4. Telephone and data communications, with and between the FAA ARTCC and other FAA facilities.

e.

Supporting FAA Flight Inspections. Upon request from either an airborne FAA flight crew or Flight Inspection Central Operations (FICO) in Oklahoma City, the Contractor must either deliver a message or provide an air-to-ground phone patch. Within 30 minutes of an unsuccessful attempt to deliver a message or provide a patch, the Contractor must notify the originator of the message at the aircraft or FICO. The Contractor must provide contact numbers & frequencies must be provided at contract award.

f.

Providing end-to-end message assurance between the Contractor's communications facilities and ATC facilities to ensure that no messages are lost or delayed in transit. If any message is not completed within the delivery time specified in Section 3.6 through 3.12, the Contractor must contact the message originator immediately for disposition instructions.

g.

Monitoring the availability status of communications channels.

h.

Monitoring the network equipment and media status.

i.

Performing diagnostics.

j.

Initiating corrective actions.

k.

Generating reports.

l.

Maintaining an electronic trouble management capability throughout the life of this contract that the Contractor must use to enter, as they occur, all instances of:

1. System component, communications link, or facility outages;

2. System trouble reports;

3. Service affecting conditions; and

4. Periodic status updates;

m.

Maintaining a record storage and retention capability that contains:

1.

Documentation of any air traffic incident or accident that occurs under this contract via record retention. Retention of the record or data must be in accordance with FAAO 1350.14B Records Managment, Chapter 11, subparagraph 8020; and 2.

Maintenance logs, records, and electronically recorded voice and data. Retention of the records or data must be in accordance with FAAO 1350.14B, Records Management, Chapter 9, subparagraph 6100.

n.

Providing a reporting capability that responds to the reporting requirements shown in Section 3.3.

3.5 Service Requirements

The Contractor must provide personnel, material, services and facilities to perform the activities described in this SOW. The Contractor must provide AMCS to support control of aircraft within US Oceanic Flight Information Regions and adjacent oceanic regions as tasked to the FAA by ICAO. The Contractor must provide high frequency (HF) voice, very high frequency (VHF) voice, and Satellite Voice (SATVOICE) communications services, and ground-based data communications services for delivery of messages between aircraft and FAA Air Traffic Control (ATC) flight advisory facilities via the Contractor's and the FAA’s air/ground networks.

3.0 US Oceanic Flight Information Regions

FAA-controlled US Oceanic Flight Information Regions with their identified Sub-Regions are:

(1.) Oakland Oceanic FIR;

a. Sub-Regions

i. Central East Pacific (CEP)

ii. Central West Pacific (CWP)

iii. South Pacific (SOP)

iv. North Pacific (NOP)

(2.) New York Oceanic FIR;

a. Sub-Regions

i. Caribbean A (CAR-A)

ii. Caribbean B (CAR-B)

iii. North Atlantic A (NAT-A)

iv. North Atlantic E (NAT-E)

(3.) Anchorage Oceanic FIR;

(4.) Houston Oceanic FIR;

a. Sub-Region

i. Gulf of Mexico (GOM)

(5.) San Juan Oceanic FIR;

(6.) Miami Oceanic FIR.

3.0 US DOMESTIC ARTCC CONTINGENCY SUPPORT

Contingency support for Domestic U.S. Air Route Traffic Control Centers, when ATC Zero or ATC Minimum is declared by any Domestic ARTCC. The details will be worked later in conjunction with the ARTCCs.

a) HF radio and SatVoice communications relay for aircraft in Domestic U.S. airspace

b) VHF communications relay using coastal VHF radio stations

c) VHF communications relay using the Collins Air Ground Domestic Radio (AGDR) radio networks

3.0 Air Traffic Control Messages

The Contractor must relay air traffic control messages to include:

a) Air Traffic Control clearance, advisory and request messages;

b) Distress and flight safety messages;

c) Departure clearance and airport status advisory messages;

d) Meteorological messages;

e) Flight regularity, transfer of communications, and flight surveillance messages;

f) Flight plan and position messages;

g) Destination, alternate and contingency airport weather messages (current and forecast); and

h) Other message types as authorized by FAA.

3.0 Communications Services

The Contractor must provide communications services to relay messages as described below:

a) Accept voice and automated data messages received in voice formats from aircraft;

b) Convert voice messages received from aircraft to an agreed upon text format for delivery to the controlling FAA ATC facility;

c) Accept data or voice messages from FAA ATC facilities;

d) Convert messages received from FAA ATC facilities for voice transmittal to aircraft;

e) Deliver data to FAA and

f) Provide direct voice patching between the controller and the aircraft, upon request.

3.6 Functional Requirements

The Contractor must provide two-way voice and data communications received in voice formats from oceanic aircraft over the HF (2.850- 22.000 MHz), VHF (128.825 -132.0 and 136.5-136.975 MHz) frequencies and via SATVOICE channels in Flight Information Regions (FIRs) defined in ZOA, ZNY and ZAN and all authorized FIRs. All Contractor-provided services must meet the service requirements for performance as defined below.

3.0 Message Delivery Requirements

The delivery of messages defined under this SOW must be maintained to meet or exceed the delivery time and service performance parameters as defined below.

3.0 Completed Message

The SOW considers a message as complete when an exchange of information has occurred as defined by the following sequence:

a) Contractor receives information from an ATC facility (ATC to Contractor);

b) Contractor reads the information to the aircraft flight crew (Contractor to aircraft);

c) Aircraft flight crew relays an acknowledgement of receipt of the message via a “read back” (aircraft to Contractor);

d) Contractor relays the receipt of the flight crew’s acknowledgement in the form of a message to the ATC facility (Contractor to ATC); and

e) Contractor receives messages from aircraft and converts to the appropriate format for relay to the appropriate ATC facility.

3.0 Message Delivery Time

The SOW defines Message Delivery Time as that time limit set for the Contractor to complete each message. The Contractor must deliver Message Types 1, 2, and 3 within the delivery times specified in Table 3.6-1 below. The FAA defines delivery time as the time it takes to complete the following sequence:

a) ATC to Contractor - Time starts when the Contractor receives the message from ATC;

b) Contractor to aircraft - Contractor relays the message to the aircraft;

c) Aircraft to Contractor - Contractor receives acknowledgement of message receipt, in the form of a “read back,” from the aircraft; and

d) Contractor to ATC - Time stops when the Contractor relays back to the ATC the aircraft’s acknowledgement message.

The Contractor must deliver all messages as soon as possible, but each message type must have a specified delivery time, as identified in Table 3.6‑1 below. Each Region will have its own Message Delivery Time measurement for each of the Message Types. If the Contractor cannot complete any message within its specified delivery time, the Contractor will contact the message originator immediately for disposition instructions.

Table 3.6‑1. Message Delivery Time Objectives

The Weather message type and the letter designation of “W” has been established to manage the processing and delivery of SIGMET weather messages. Letters of Agreement (LOAs) established between the ARINC regional ground radio centers and the FAA ARTCCs they support will establish the delivery time standard for the normal delivery of “W” type weather messages.

3.7 System Operation Requirements

The Contractor must maintain data and voice communication services defined under this SOW to meet or exceed availability and restoration rate specifications as defined below.

3.0 Service Path

Section 3.12.4 defines a service path and the definition includes all communications equipment and circuitry used to receive an FAA ATC message from the FAA demarcation point through to the Contractor’s radio transmitter or receiver site used to transmit or receive messages from an aircraft. A service path is depicted in the configuration diagrams provided by the Contractor and described in Section 3.1.4. The Contractor must consider each Sub-Region in the New York and Oakland Oceanic FIRs as a service path.

3.0 Operating Time

This SOW defines Total Operating Time as the total time that the service path is operational during the measured period (measured in minutes.)

3.0 Outage Time

This SOW defines a service outage on a service path as the interruption or unavailability of the service path, based on unscheduled events, that affects the Contractors ability to deliver AMCS service/messages. Total Outage Time is the total of all time experienced on the service path in a defined Sub-Region where at least one physical equipment path does not exist for both transmit and receive from the FAA demarcation point (up to but not including the HF propagation media during the measured period). Total outage time, included in the computation of availability, must include all circumstances where service was unexpectedly interrupted during use, or where service was unavailable when use was attempted, including planned outages that interfere with normal service operations. When the Government voluntarily chooses not to use a service or terminates use of a service due to operational considerations, the Government will not consider it a service outage unless the initiator submits a trouble report. The calculation of outage time will not include outages caused by the FAA or that result from natural disasters such as earthquakes, hurricanes, or other acts of God that are beyond the control of the Contractor. However, the Contractor must state these times and durations in Contractor reports.

This SOW defines availability as the percentage of time that the service path is operationally available in the measured period to perform the SOW requirements. The Contractor must calculate Availability individually for each service path provided.

The Contractor must use the following definitions when calculating availability:

a) Availability equals the percentage of Total Operating Time that the overall system (service path) is operationally available to perform its specified functional requirements within a given period. The overall system includes Contractor-owned and Contractor-leased equipment and circuitry that provides connectivity between FAA demarcations and the locations of transmitters and receivers.

b) The Contractor must calculate Availability (A) as a percentage for a service path over a given time period as:

3.0 Maintainability

This SOW defines Maintainability as the duration of time between outages and the time to restore service once an outage has occurred. The Contractor must maintain sufficient workforce, spares, and operations management expertise to ensure rapid restoration for any service affecting or outage condition.

The Contractor must use the following definitions when calculating Maintainability:

a) Mean Time Between Outages (MTBO) equals the Total Operating Time of the measured service path in the measured period divided by the number of Service Outages in that path.

b) Mean Time to Restore (MTTR) equals the Total Outage Time of failed components in the measured service path for the measured period divided by the number of Service Outages on that path.

3.8 Performance Benchmarks

The Contractor must measure Performance based on service path to include all the equipment and connectivity between the FAA demarcation point and the associated site or sites. Two (2) logical areas exist for AMCS service delivery, the Eastern Region and the Western Region. Air traffic controllers located in the eastern part of the US are responsible for the Atlantic and Caribbean Region and controllers located on the West Coast and Alaska are responsible for the Pacific and North Polar Region.

The Contractor must provide service by Region and be measured on performance of Sub-Regions within each Region. For that region, the Contractor must measure availability and performance of communications equipment and connectivity associated with delivery of service to or from the transmitter and receiver sites (as identified by the Contractor).

3.0 Message Delivery Performance

The Contractor must measure Message Delivery against the specifications set forth in Section 3.7. This SOW defines the AMCS data month as the interval between 0001UTC hours on the first day of each calendar month and 2400UTC hours on the last day of the same month.

3.8.1.1 Minimum On-Time Message Delivery Percentage

Table 3.8‑1 below specifies the Minimum On-Time Message Delivery Time Percentage for HF, VHF and SATVOICE services. Based on the Message Delivery Time requirements of section 3.7 the percentage measures the number of messages delivered on time versus the total number of messages delivered, calculated for Message Types 1, 2, and 3. Each Region will have its own Message Delivery Time Percentage measurement for each of the Message Types.

Table 3.8‑1. Minimum On-Time Message Delivery Percentage Objectives Established for the AMCS Communication Regions for HF and SATVOICE Calls

3.9 Availability Objective

The Contractor must calculate Availability as the percentage of time a service path can be used for the delivery of AMCS messages. These paths begin at the FAA demarcation point for the Region/Media and extend to or from transmitter, receiver, and SatVoice integration sites identified in the Contractor’s configuration drawings, Section 3.1.4. This SOW defines the FAA demarcation point as the point where the Contractor delivers messages from Contractor-supplied telecommunications equipment, links, or facilities to FAA-supplied equipment, links or facilities. This FAA demarcation point is also the point where the Contractor accepts messages from the FAA and begins to process them via Contractor-supplied equipment, links, or facilities. If no outages occur within the measured period for a service path, the availability equals one hundred percent (100%).

The Contractor must provide minimum availability for each Contractor-identified service path within the Eastern, Western, and SatVoice Service Paths as shown in Table 3.9-1, on any measured path.

Note: Houston, Anchorage, San Juan, and Miami FIRs are not included in this measurement.

Table 3.9‑1. Service Path Availability Objectives

HF

SATVOICE

3.10 MTBO Objective

The Contractor must maintain components associated with each service path in a Region to minimize the failure rate, but maintenance must result in a service path MTBO greater than 2000 hours of continuous service, as shown in the Table 3.10‑1, on any measured path and calculated on a rolling twelve month basis.

Table 3.10‑1. Service Path Failure Rate Objectives

3.11 MTTR Objective

The Contractor must maintain spares and provide maintenance activities necessary to repair or replace component failures for each measured service path in the AMCS service. The Contractor must accomplish this restoration within less than or equal to four (4) hours as shown in Table 3.11‑1 and calculated on a rolling 12-month basis.

Table 3.11‑1. Service Path Restoration Rate Objectives

3.12 Definitions

3.0 Message

This SOW defines a message as a communication between an ATC Facility and an aircraft or an aircraft and an AOC.

3.0 Message Types

Messages Types are assigned based on whether they contain ATC clearance, advisory, request information; or other types of information as defined below:

a) Air Traffic Control Clearance (ATCC): Air Traffic Control (ATC) authorization for an aircraft to precede under specified traffic conditions within controlled airspace.

b) Air Traffic Control Request (ATCR): Request by an ATC authority for information from an aircraft.

c) Air Traffic Control Advisory (ATCA): Information from an ATC authority for an aircraft that is advisory in nature.

d) Air Traffic Control Weather Message (ATCW): Information from an ATC authority for an aircraft that provides Significant Meteorological (SIGMET) weather information.

e) Other: Any message exchanged between an ATC authority and an aircraft with content that does not match one of the other four types below:

Note: Information described above is time value dependant and, as such, is measured according to Performance Measures requirements defined in section 3.0.

3.0 Message Categories

a) Category A Messages: Category A Messages are directed to or from an FAA Air Route Traffic Control Center (ARTCC), the National Weather Service (NWS) or another aeronautical facility. Each counts as one (1) message in the total messages handled and tracked in a report described in Section 3.1.2.

b) Category B Messages: Category B Messages are directed to or from an aircraft and both an FAA ARTCC and an Airline Operational Control (AOC) facility. All Category B messages handled are tracked in a report described in the Section 3.1.2.

c) Category C Messages: Category C Messages are directed to or from an aircraft and an AOC facility. All Category C messages handled are tracked in a report described in the Section 3.1.2.

3.0 Contractor Definitions

AMCS provides required connectivity between aircraft and FAA demarcation points. AMCS provides this connectivity via Contractor-owned or supplied, two-way, air-to-ground, communications systems and multiple Contractor-owned or supplied radio transmitter and receiver sites.

The following definitions apply to the Contractor’s communications system:

a. Service Path – A transmission path traversing from the FAA demarcation point to either a radio transmitter site or a radio receiver site.

b. Region – A region is a geographic area that is responsible for the service delivery of the AMCS for the FAA. Regions are logically assigned based on the area of coverage that they provide to the FAA and which can provide alternate means to deliver messages within the FIR.

1. Eastern Region is composed of the service, equipment, and personnel that provide service to the North Atlantic, Caribbean, and Gulf of Mexico sub-regions.

2. Western Region is composed of the service, equipment, and personnel that provide service to the Pacific sub-regions.

c. Diversity – A physical and electrical separation in the routing of a transmission path such that a failure in one geographical location or portion of the path will not cause the loss of both paths or a disruption of service.

d. Primary Route – A service path that is the first choice by automated equipment or personnel for the delivery of communications messages between the FAA and aircraft.

e. Alternate Route – An alternate service path which provides the same connectivity as the primary route to which it is referenced but uses different facilities and equipment for diversity.

f. Demarcation Point – The electrical point where FAA generated messages are delivered to the Contractor from FAA personnel or other FAA systems. This point is also the electrical location where the Contractor delivers messages back to the FAA that were received from aircraft. These points may be to or from the Aeronautical Fixed Telecommunications Network (AFTN), ARINC Avinet, or the networks of other contract service providers.

3.13 Quality Assurance

The Contractor must have an established quality assurance program that is capable of measuring and detecting deficiencies, and correcting non-conforming issues related to the daily operations, maintenance and control of the AMCS which provides the communications services described in this Statement of Work. The Contractor must establish the quality assurance program based on ISO 9001:2015, Quality Management Systems – Requirements. The Contractor’s quality assurance program must have the responsibility and authority to identify, evaluate, report, and ensure corrective action of non-conforming operations, maintenance and control issues. The QA program must have an established configuration management program in which to maintain configuration control of the HW and SW systems used to perform operational activities. The Contractor must develop and report quality metrics during the quarterly program reviews established by CDRL A002, Contractor Quarterly Status Review in accordance with the performance requirements identified in the SOW.

The program management plan must contain a Quality Assurance section which identifies and describes this activity.

4.0 Information Security

The Contractor must follow the applicable security guidance contained in FAA Order 1370.121B, Information Systems Security Program, as revised, and the NIST COTS Security Protection Profile, promulgated via NIST Interagency Report 6462. Contractor-implemented security must be subject to Government approval and the system may be subject to independent penetration testing. The Contractor must assist the Government with the development and maintenance of security-related documentation such as the System Characterization document, the Information System Security Plan (ISSP) and the Information System Contingency Plan (ISCP).

The Contractor must generate, safeguard, control, and dispose of FAA sensitive security information in accordance with the guidance stated in FAA Order 1600.75.

The Contractor must accomplish the following steps to ensure the physical and operational security of the AMCS services:

1)…