FTI Extension Public Announcement .pdf

Public Announcement 1

Sep 2022

FTI Extension

Single Source Announcement

1. Introduction/Statement of Intent

The purpose of this announcement is to advise interested parties that the Federal Aviation

Administration (FAA) intends to extend the FAA Telecommunications Infrastructure (FTI) contract (DTFA01-02-D-03006) with L3Harris Technologies, Inc. based in Melbourne, Florida.

The planned single source award of an extension will support the continuation of services of the

FTI network.

2. General Information

This announcement is being issued in accordance with FAA Acquisition Management System

(AMS) Policy Section 3.2.2.4. Interested parties are advised that:

• This is not a Screening Information Request (SIR) or Request for Proposal (RFP).

• The FAA is not seeking or accepting unsolicited proposals.

• The FAA will not pay for any information received or costs incurred in preparing the response to this announcement; and

• Any costs associated with responding to this announcement are incurred solely at the interested party’s expense.

3. Total Estimated Value and Period of Performance

The total estimated value of the planned extension to the FTI contract, if all options are exercised, is approximately $100 Million. The FAA is planning for period of performance of up to 3-months.

4. Description of Services

The FAA obtains approximately 28,000 telecommunications services under the FTI contract. FTI provides two physically separate networks – one to support to National Airspace System (NAS) operations and one to support routine administrative and mission support functions. The FTI

NAS operational network supports seven different availability levels ranging from 0.99 to

0.9999971. To meet the required availability levels, the FTI Contractor provides dedicated nodal infrastructure at 4,000+ service delivery locations. The FTI Contractor also provides security gateways that enable FAA stakeholders (internal and external) to obtain NAS operational data without jeopardizing the security of NAS operational systems.

The FTI Mission Support network is a private Internet Protocol (IP) network that provides connectivity to approximately 1000 locations. The FTI Mission Support network has two levels of service – a premium level with 3-hour restoration and a standard level with next business day restoration. Large core sites are implemented with premium level service and most of the sites (>

90%) are implemented with the standard level of service. The FTI Contractor also provides security tokens for virtual private network (VPN) access to the Mission Support network to more than 35,000 FAA employees and support contractors.

Public Announcement 2

In addition to traditional telecommunications services, The FTI Contractor provides enterprise messaging services based upon Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) technologies. The FTI enterprise messaging services provide a standardized and secure implementation of a publisher/subscriber model for efficient distribution of information.

The nodal infrastructure comprising both the NAS operational network and the Mission Support network is the property of the FTI Contractor and its service provider teammates who are responsible for performing technology refreshes as required to ensure the continued supportability of the network. The FTI Contractor is also the Customer of Record for all the access and transport circuits comprising the FTI network.

The majority of FTI telecommunications services originate or terminate in the continental United

States (CONUS), but the FTI contractor also provides services to FAA and stakeholder locations outside the CONUS (e.g., Hawaii, Alaska, Puerto Rico, Guam, and international locations). FAA stakeholders include the Department of Defense (DoD), the National Weather Service (NWS), and foreign air traffic control entities such as NAVCANADA.

Within the CONUS, FTI relies heavily upon a dedicated backbone that consists of optical waves that connect major FTI network points of presence (POPs). FAA high-traffic volume facilities connect to the optical backbone via dual SONET rings (also referred to as “metro rings”) or direct OC-level fiber connections.

In addition to traditional landline services, the FTI Contractor provides satellite and microwave-based services as follows:

• remote earth station sites in the CONUS and the Caribbean; and

• microwave radio sites in the CONUS and OCONUS locations (Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto

Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Guam).

Since award of the FTI contract in 2002, the FAA’s service requirements have evolved from a mix of voice grade (VG) and low data rate digital circuits to much higher bandwidth trunks and services that utilize Internet Protocol (IP) interfaces. The FAA expects demand for bandwidth to continue to grow over time.

The FTI Contractor also provides an extensive set of “support services” that are integral to the operation of the FTI networks. The support services include, but are not limited to program management, network engineering, configuration management, service verification, service ordering and provisioning, network management and operations, and security management.

The FTI scope of services during the phase-out period will be similar to the current scope of services described above, although specific portions of the FTI contract may be modified to focus on activities specific to the FTI phase-out and the transition to FENS. During the period of performance for this single source extension, the FAA’s focus will be on ensuring the continuity of communications services.

Public Announcement 3

5. Reason for Single Source

The FAA is planning to extend the FTI contract on a single source basis because there is not sufficient time to establish a short-term replacement capability through another source and transition all existing highly complex, mission-critical services before the end of the current period of performance in September 2022. Additionally, shifting to another contractor would incur significant network establishment costs that would not be recoverable through competition due to the relatively short period of performance. The FAA has already issued a competitive solicitation for FENS, which is intended to serve as the longer-term successor to FTI through

2037. The FENS contract award is anticipated in early Calendar Year (CY) 2023.

6. Questions

A competitive solicitation is not available for this procurement. Interested parties are invited to provide feedback on this announcement and the FAA’s planned course of action. Responses to this announcement must be submitted by electronic mail (e-mail) to the following e-mail address

Jorge.R.Martell@faa.gov by the date and time below. Files must be compatible with Microsoft

Office 2016 or be in Adobe Acrobat PDF format. No other form of submission will be accepted.

Submissions are due by 4:00pm on 7-Oct-2022. The FAA will provide acknowledgement of receipt to each respondent via e-mail.

(end of announcement)