DDLS Market Survey_(8-7-25).docx

Domestic Datalink Services (DDLS) Market Survey

DISCLAIMER: The FAA is not seeking or accepting unsolicited proposals.

This is not a solicitation.

This notice is not a Screening Information Request (SIR) or a Request for Proposal (RFP) of any kind.

This notice serves as performance of an FAA market analysis in accordance with AMS Procurement Guidance T3.2.1.2.A.

This notice should not be construed as a commitment of any type by the FAA to take or not take any action.

Participation in this market survey is voluntary.

No evaluation letters or results will be issued to respondents.

The FAA will not reimburse any costs incurred by vendors in response to this notice.

This notice does not restrict the FAA to an ultimate acquisition approach it may take in connection with the requirement, nor does it restrict changes to the SOW.

The FAA has the option of conducting one-on-one communications as deemed appropriate without the obligation to hold communications with all respondents.

A business entity responding to this notice neither qualifies respondents for, nor excludes respondents from, responding to a resulting SIR, if any.

1.1 PURPOSE

This is a Market Survey for Domestic Datalink Services (DDLS). The purpose of this Market Survey is to gain market insights and capability to fulfill the requirements as listed at Attachment 1 – Draft DDLS Statement of Work (SOW) and Attachment 2 – DDLS Data Communications Network Service Description.

2.1 REQUIREMENTS DESCRIPTION

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has a requirement to continue providing Controller Pilot Data Link Communication (CPDLC) capabilities that meet the requirements of the Data Communications Network Service Description (Attachment 2).

3.1 MARKET SURVEY INSTRUCTIONS

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is performing market research to determine if there are potential vendors who can provide innovative, cost effective and demonstrable solutions for DDLS. Vendors who wish to respond to this Market Survey must submit their responses in accordance with the following instructions:

3.1.1 Company Information

Company Information: Company Name, Unique Entity Identifier (UEI), CAGE Code, Universal Reference Locator (URL) for the company’s website, company point-of-contact (POC), POC phone number and e-mail address.

3.1.1.1 Indicate whether your company qualifies as a small business relative to the NAICS codes identified in Section 3.1.3.7.1 of this Market Survey.

3.1.1.2 If you qualify as a small business relative to one of the NAICS codes in Section 3.1.3.7.1 of this Market Survey, indicate if you have any specific designation such as 8a, HubZone, Woman-owned Small Business (WOSB), Service-Disabled Veteran-owned Small Business (SDVOSB), etc.

3.1.2 Past Performance:

Provide the following information on two (2) similar projects in an environment of a similar scale to the draft SOW completed within the last five (5) years for which the responder was a Prime or Sub-Contractor.

3.1.2.1 The name and value of each project

3.1.2.2 The name, address, telephone and email address for point of contact

3.1.2.3 A description of each project (manufacturers and models), types of services, applications, number of facilities, number of users

3.1.2.4 Describe challenges and successes for each identified project; and

3.1.2.5 Your company's role and services provided for each project.

3.1.3 FAA Market Survey Questions for Industry Feedback

3.1.3.1 Potential Solutions

3.1.3.1.1 Describe current DCIS network setup and ask questions regarding alternatives to this setup.

Current ATC data link operations in the US domestic Tower and En Route airspace use existing commercial VDL-Mode 0, Mode 2 and SATCOM data communication networks (En-Route is Mode 2 only as the preferred media) via Commercial Service Providers (CSP). The technology framework being utilized is Future Air Navigation Services (FANS), which supports both Tower and En Route ATC services’ message sets. The goal is to sustain the current services while accommodating emerging FANS services over a 5-to-7-year period of performance, projected to begin in 2029.

(BEP) Comment by Winston, Pearl A (FAA): At the first mention in the document, spell out all acronyms to include these and any others used throughout

(DCM)

(DCNS)

(DCNSD)

(ERAM)

(FANS)

(FEP)

(GW)

(NEMS)

(NIS)

(PGW)

(TDLS)

(TIMS)

(VDL)

The current high-level architecture is shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1

3.1.3.2 Sustainment and Full Services Operations

3.1.3.2.1 The FAA is interested in feedback and industry solutions to the DDLS Data Communications Network Service Description requirements and the following questions.

1. A Controller Pilot Data Link Communication (CPDLC) Architecture solution with specifics on the Future Air Navigation System (FANS) Gateway (GW) functionality and its location using the FAA approved security gateway (FAA National Airspace Security Gateway – NESG) as the connection point to transfer data and information to the FAA system. Comment by Winston, Pearl A (FAA): Validate/differentiate between Airspace and Enterprise

2. Internet Protocol Suite (IPS) for CPDLC is an emerging end to end security-based technology for air-ground datalink security. How would you implement a transition from the current underlying ACARS technology to accommodate IPS support while minimizing impact to operations and accommodating existing aircraft avionics?

3. The CPDLC service under a new contract vehicle is not expected to be a drastic departure from the service currently provided (i.e. FANS over VDL-2). What would be your plan to ensure a seamless transition and timeline from the current service to the new one and what would you require from the incumbent?

4. The overall goal is to ensure that we have a robust domestic VDL-2 network that is operationally acceptable to the users and increases safety, capacity and efficiency. Achieving VDL-2 message uplink success rate of at least a 99.5% across each service volume is a key goal to ensure operational acceptability. How would you ensure that the FAA has meaningful and sufficient real-time insight into the performance of the system?

5. How would you work with operators, avionics manufacturers, and OEMs to ensure A/G interoperability of current and emerging avionics configurations?

6. What emerging air / ground technology(ies) can be implemented to improve performance or to lower cost?

7. How would you work with industry to mitigate the impact of Airline Operations Control (AOC) traffic on ATS traffic over the shared VDL-2 channel to improve performance?

8. What is your company’s approach to analyzing CPDLC outages, identifying root causes, and implementing sustainable fixes across the Data Comm system-of-systems?

9. Identify unique/novel methods for analyzing diverse inputs from multiple stakeholders into actionable insights for the FAA?

10. Monitoring functions and capabilities

a. How would you improve service availability and monitoring/management to accomplish the goals in #4 above?

b. What is your proposed maintenance and restoration process to ensure that the availability and restoration requirements defined in the Technical Specification (Attachment 2) are met? What steps would you suggest to prioritize and effectively complete restoration activities promptly in order to restore operations to normal?

c. Describe your approach for providing fast/reliable status information with feedback topics requested as follows:

· Ground station status data sent to the FAA’s Remote Maintenance Logging System (RMLS) via System-Wide Information Management (SWIM) in Maintenance Management Information Exchange Model (MMIXM) format

· SWIM exchange vs. direct connect to NAS Enterprise Security Gateway (NESG) Comment by Winston, Pearl A (FAA): Validate/differentiate between Airspace and Enterprise

· Monitoring function redundancy with seamless transition between the primary and back up sites

· Feedback on how to enhance the monitoring service to detect uplink failures or degraded service to one or multiple aircraft operators.

· Real-time reporting of system performance data.

· Real-time detection and reporting of RF coverage holes in airspace when messages can’t be sent.

3.1.3.3 Cost Control

3.1.3.3.1 How is your solution cost effective and drives down program costs during a 5-7 year contract performance period.

3.1.3.3.2 What do you view as the advantages and disadvantages of a 5-7 year contract period?

3.1.3.3.3 Do you have any unique ideas on maintaining competition throughout the life of the contract?

3.1.3.4 Security

3.1.3.4.1 Have you implemented and/or maintained, security controls for a high system baseline described in the NIST 800-53 Publication for a Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS)-199 High System for Federal Government agencies as mandated by the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA)?

3.1.3.4.2 What do you believe are the greatest cybersecurity threats to DDLS and what measures can be taken to mitigate those threats?

3.1.3.4.3 Have you implemented and maintained appropriate mitigation strategies for Denial-of-Service attacks? Describe your approach.

3.1.3.4.4 Can a threat analysis applicable to the air/Ground link be provided?

3.1.3.4.5 Will you be able to support and facilitate the Government conducting any security test (vulnerability assessment, penetration test)? Describe any limitations if any that the Government may have to execute these security tests.

3.1.3.5 Industry Feedback on Draft Requirements

3.1.3.5.1 Review the attached drafts of the DDLS Statement of Work (Attachment 1) and DCNSD Technical Specification (Attachment 2). Are there any requirements that are potential cost drivers? If so, identify the specific requirements and recommend revisions to make them less prescriptive or less cost-impacting.

3.1.3.5.2 Provide possible solutions and approaches that may currently exist in the marketplace, along with information on best commercial practices or concepts for delivering the service in question.

3.1.3.5.3 Provide information on Commercial practices (e.g., licensing restrictions, licensing restrictions upon termination, limitation of liability, retention of data from databases, etc.). A copy of a license agreement if applicable.

3.1.3.6 Available Contracts

3.1.3.6.1 Identify all GSA or other GWAC contracts or MOAs (such as eFAST) that your company holds and are applicable to this type of work. Based on the GSA contracts your company holds, which SIN(s), or Pool(s) would you recommend are applicable for this type of work? Additionally, identify the Performance Period end dates for your currently held GSA, GWAC, and eFAST contracts.

3.1.3.7 Statement of Work (SOW) Feedback

3.1.3.7.1 Provide feedback on the SOW requirements (Attachment 1). List any challenges or potential performance risk related to fulfilling the SOW requirements and any suggestions for improving the SOW requirements language for risk mitigation.

3.1.3.7 NAICS Feedback

3.1.3.7.1 The proposed identified North American Industry Classification Codes System (NAICS) for this requirement are:

· 517111 Wireless Telecommunications Carriers Comment by Winston, Pearl A (FAA): Validate this is an adequate representation. The previous listed conflicted with alternate NAICS planned.

NAICS code 517312 Wireless Telecommunications Carriers (Except Satellite) was replaced with 517111 Wireless Telecommunications Carriers. Since our alternate proposed NAICS is 517410 Satellite Telecommunications.

· 517410 Satellite Telecommunications

Recommendations for additional NAICS Codes, with supporting rationale, are welcomed.

4.1 INDUSTRY RESPONSE PARAMETERS

4.1.1 The following parameters apply to the submission of responses to this Market Survey:

4.1.1.1 Interested vendor Market Survey responses should contain “DDLS FY2025 Market Research Response – [Vendor Name]” in the subject line of the e-mail. The Market Survey response file name should be identical to the email subject line.

4.1.1.2 Interested vendor Market Survey responses must be direct and concise.

4.1.1.3 Files comprising the response to the Market Survey must be compatible with MS Office 365 or be in Adobe Acrobat PDF format. No other form of submission will be accepted.

4.1.1.4 Submissions must include the following information for one or more points of contact for the respondent: name, title, telephone number, and e-mail address.

4.1.1.5 To the extent that information submitted in response to this Market Survey is proprietary or otherwise confidential commercial information, the vendor MUST CLEARLY MARK that portion of the response that contains the proprietary/confidential information with a restrictive legend and must provide justification to the FAA of such designation if requested. The FAA requests the vendor segregate proprietary/confidential information. Proprietary or otherwise confidential commercial information will be for the sole use of the FAA and will be treated appropriately with regards to the markings. This paragraph in no way alters the FAA’s obligations under existing law, however, including any duties owed by the FAA under the Freedom of Information Act. be advised that all submissions become Government property and will not be returned.

4.1.1.6 All responses must be submitted in writing to the Contracting Officer by the listed date and in the English language. Oral responses to this Market Survey are not allowable. Page size must be 8-1/2 by 11 inches with one-inch margins. The text font must be in Times New Roman 12-point, single-spaced. Of note the FAA email server restricts file sizes to ten (10) megabytes per email. Larger files must be submitted in more than one email.

5.1 INCUMBENT CONTRACTORS

5.1.1 The incumbent contractor for this requirement is as follows:

5.1.1.1 L3 Harris Corporation DTFAWA-12-D-00058

6.1 PROJECTED DOMESTIC DATALINK SERVICES SOLICITATION RELEASE

6.1.1 The FAA anticipates releasing a solicitation for the Domestic Datalink Services requirements in FY27. The FAA is under no obligation to meet the projected solicitation release window.

7.1 QUESTIONS TO THE FAA

7.1.1 Questions regarding this announcement must be submitted in writing by e-mail to: Pearl.A.Winston@FAA.gov. no later than 5 PM EDT, August 21, 2025 (10 business days after the date the announcement is posted). Responses must be provided in the attached template format “698KA8-DDLS-MS Question & Answer Form”. The responses Subject line: “DDLS FY2025 Market Survey Response – [Vendor Name]”.

7.1.2 The FAA’s response to questions will be answered via an amendment and posted on SAM.Gov by August 15, 2025 (5 business days after the date the announcement is posted). One concise response will be provided for repeated questions. The FAA will not attribute the questions to the submitting Vendors, but the text of the questions and answers may be available to the general public.

7.1.3 Any Vendor desiring an explanation or interpretation of the Market Survey (MS), drawings, specifications, etc., is instructed to make such request as part of their submittal.

7.1.4 Oral explanations or instructions from the FAA given to Vendors before the award of the contract are non-binding.

7.1.5 If a Vendor believes that these instructions contain an error, omission, or are otherwise unsound, the Vendor must immediately notify the Contracting Officer in writing with supporting rationale.

7.1.6 Any information concerning the MS given to any Vendor will be furnished to all other Vendors via Sam.gov. Subject "DDLS FY2025 Market Survey Response – [Vendor Name]" correspondence is requested via email to Pearl.A.Winston@FAA.gov.

7.1.7 Remove example Question 1 provided.

8.1 MARKET SURVEY RESPONSES DUE DATE

8.1.1 Responses are requested no later than 5 pm. EDT., September 5, 2025 (30 business days after the announcement is posted) to Pearl Winston, Contracting Officer at Pearl.A.Winston@FAA.gov.

8.1.2 The response format should be a searchable PDF, max 20 pages (excluding appendices for technical specifications), MS Office 365 or Times New Roman 12-point font, single-spaced.

Attachments:

1 – Draft Statement of Work (SOW) - Domestic Datalink Services (DDLS) 2 – Draft Technical Specification (SPEC) – DDLS Data Communications Network Service Description image1.png