CAP SRA.docx

Common Automation Platform (CAP)

Solution Readiness Assessment

1. Background On November 20th, 2025, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a Request for Information (RFI) for the Common Automation Platform (CAP) to assess the availability, maturity, and applicability of industry solutions aligned with the Agency’s platform-based automation strategy. The CAP aims to replace the legacy systems—ERAM (En Route Automation Modernization), STARS (Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System)—with a unified, state-of-the-art platform. The FAA is also considering the inclusion of ATOP (Advanced Technologies and Oceanic Procedures) as part of the CAP solution, however, the FAA priority is on deploying a solution to integrate the ERAM and STARS systems.

The FAA is very appreciative of industry submissions and the RFI responses confirmed that viable industry solutions exist, while also demonstrating significant variations in end-to-end capability, operational maturity, and programmatic readiness.

Based on this market insight, the FAA is issuing this Solution Readiness Assessment (SRA) to determine whether proposed solutions meet a defined set of minimum requirements necessary to support potential Other Transaction Agreement (OTA) prototype and implementation efforts.

2. Purpose This SRA represents a continuation of the November 2025 CAP RFI and transitions the CAP acquisition (see Section 3 for an overview of the Challenge-Based Acquisition (ChBA)) from market research to solution qualification. The purpose of this SRA is to:

· Determine whether proposed solutions meet or do not meet minimum CAP requirements

· Validate that solutions represent complete, end-to-end capabilities, rather than individual components or integration services

· Assess respondent’s readiness to participate in potential OTAs focused on CAP prototype development, implementation and operational validation activities

The FAA will consider information provided in response to the November 2025 CAP RFI together with SRA submissions when making OTA award determinations.

3. Challenge-Based Acquisition Overview As a follow-on to the market research activities to date, the FAA has initiated a multi-phased ChBA, with the goal of facilitating open communication between the FAA and industry to understand the problem and achieve an innovative solution. The following is an overview of the process.

· Phase I – Market Research (in progress): The FAA issued an RFI in November, 2025 with the intent of understanding industry capabilities for providing a unified state-of-the-art platform. Upon review of the vendor responses, the FAA has subsequently issued this SRA to determine whether proposed solutions meet or do not meet minimum CAP requirements. Based on the responses to the November 2025 CAP RFI as well as submissions to this SRA, the FAA will make an OTA award determination for respondents that will receive invitations to Phase II.

· Phase II Solution Demonstration: This phase will provide offerors with up to 45 days to prepare a prototype against FAA provided scripts and use cases as well as required deliverables. The FAA will also require a Rough Order of Magnitude (ROM) cost estimate to be submitted within 30 days of the OTA award. Phase II will culminate in vendor demonstrations of their proposed solutions, and an FAA facilitated question and answer period. The offeror(s) that best addresses the scripts, use cases provided, required deliverables and the associated evaluation criteria will be invited to Phase III.

· Phase III Solution Refinement: This phase will provide offerors up to 60 days to refine their working prototype and required deliverables based on identified weaknesses and risks from the Solution Development Phase. As with Phase II, this will culminate in vendor demonstrations of their proposed solutions, and an FAA facilitated question and answer period. The offeror(s) that best addresses the scripts, use cases provided, required deliverables and the associated evaluation criteria will be invited to Phase IV.

· Phase IV Transition and Production Preparation: The FAA intends to select offeror(s) from Phase III to move into a production vehicle with an initial operational capability and planned deployment date of December 2028.

3.1 ChBA Selection Process

1. The FAA’s decisions throughout all phases of this challenge will be inherently subjective. The FAA seeks concepts that are technically feasible, understandable, and usable and that will meaningfully address the objectives of this and subsequent supporting announcements, along with a reasonable business arrangement for the OTA(s).

2. Throughout all phases of this challenge, the FAA reserves the right to request additional written information from any, some, none, or all offerors. The FAA also reserves the right to hold one-on-one exchanges with any offeror to clarify deliverables and outcomes for the prototype, and any and all terms and conditions for the production vehicle. Since this will not be a standard evaluation and award process, communications can be specific to one or more offerors at the sole discretion of the FAA.

3. The FAA reserves the right to cancel this ChBA at any time. The FAA also reserves the right to refine the ChBA approach and the phases.

4. The FAA also reserves the right not to enter into a production vehicle at the end of this challenge.

4. SRA Evaluation Approach The FAA will employ a minimum requirements evaluation approach to determine whether each Solution Readiness Assessment (SRA) submission meets or does not meet the minimum requirements necessary to support consideration for CAP prototype OTAs. This approach is intended to:

· Establish clear minimum requirements for potential OTA awards

· Ensure alignment with CAP technical, operational, and programmatic objectives

· Advance only end-to-end, deployable solutions appropriate for near-term prototype execution and implementation

4.1 Evaluation Criteria

Each SRA submission, in conjunction with the RFI submissions, will be assessed against the required minimum criteria defined in Appendix A: Minimum CAP Requirements. Respondents must submit a completed Appendix A: Minimum CAP Requirements Table. The completed Table must be signed by an authorized representative of the Respondent.

Only those Respondents rated “Meets” for the evaluation criteria will be eligible for prototype OTA consideration.

Respondents will be rated “Meets” for the evaluation criteria if the Respondent responds “Yes” to every question in the Minimum CAP Requirements Table.

Respondents will be rated “Does Not Meet” for the evaluation criteria if the Respondent responds “No” or fails to respond to any question in the Table.

Submissions containing any deviation from the provided Table may result in the elimination of the Respondent for prototype OTA consideration.

The FAA reserves the right to contact Respondents for the purpose of verifying the accuracy and completeness of the information provided.

Submissions that meet all the minimum requirements criteria, when considered together with the Respondent’s CAP RFI responses, may be used by the FAA to:

· Initiate one-on-one discussions with selected vendors

· Define prototype scope and objectives

· Award prototype OTAs to selected vendors

The respondent must provide the completed Appendix A Minimum CAP Requirements Table by 12:00 PM Eastern Time on January 20th, 2026. Please email responses to the Contracting Officer at David.L.Reynolds@faa.gov.

Appendix A: Minimum CAP Requirements

Please provide substantiation to your responses provided below (maximum two-page limit). If your response is substantiated as part of your RFI submission, please provide the appropriate reference from your RFI submission.

Operational Deployment: Do you currently have an Air Traffic Control (ATC) automation system operationally deployed and in continuous use by at least one Air Navigation Service Provider (ANSP)?

Domain Coverage: Does your solution currently support both en route and terminal ATC operations in an operational environment?

Scalability: Can your solution scale to reliably support a minimum of 10,000 simultaneous flight tracks in an operational environment?

Integration: Have you successfully integrated your solution with legacy ATC systems (e.g., surveillance sensors, flight data processing, and voice communications systems) in at least one operational deployment?

Safety Certification: Has your solution achieved safety certification or equivalent operational approval from a national civil aviation authority for safety-critical air traffic control operations?

Standards Compliance: Does your solution support ICAO-compliant data exchange standards (FIXM, AIXM, IWXXM) and SWIM-compatible interfaces?

Architecture: Will your solution be built on a service-based architecture that includes separation between computing resources, standards-based software platforms, and mission-specific applications/services to support independent deployment and scaling of system components?

Experience: Does the Respondent have the experience, capabilities, and proven track record of success on programs with the scope, scale, and complexity comparable to the CAP modernization effort?

Availability: Has your operational solution achieved and sustained ≥99.99% uptime (four nines or better) for safety-critical functions over a minimum 12-month continuous operational period (not including scheduled maintenance)?

Implementation: Is the Respondent able to demonstrate that it can implement an operational capability at (1) one key site designated by the FAA no later than December 2028?

The undersigned hereby certifies that the representations made herein are accurate and true regarding the entity identified above. I authorize my electronic signature to carry the same weight and legal effect as my written signature.

Respondent

Authorized Representative Signature

Authorized Representative Name

Authorized Representative Title

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