Market Survey for the Sustainment of STARS V1.02 2026 0618.docx

Market Survey for the Continued System Integration and Sustainment of the Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System (STARS)

Market Survey for Continued System Integration and

Sustainment of the

Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System

(STARS)

Version 1.02

06/18/2026

1.0 Market Survey Objective

This market survey is issued in accordance with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Acquisition Management System (AMS), Paragraph 3.2.1.2.1, to obtain the information necessary to determine whether adequate competition exists to conduct an unrestricted competition for continued system integration and sustainment of the Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System (STARS) beyond the current contract’s end date of September 30, 2030.

The following activities are within the planned scope of STARS Sustainment:

· STARS Equipment Procurement

· System Engineering and System Design

· Specialty Engineering (Reliability, Maintainability, Availability, and Human Factors)

· Information Systems Security

· Software Engineering, Development and Integration

· Hardware Engineering

· Quality Assurance

· Configuration Management

· Program Management

· Test and Evaluation

· Integrated Logistics Support and Training

· Implementation

· Site Deployment

· Operational Support and Second-Level Engineering

2.0 Introduction

The FAA competitively awarded the original STARS contract in 1996 and has invested $3.55B through congressionally authorized Capital Investment Programs in STARS through FY2025 This single hardware and software baseline for all terminal facilities, along with common logistics and training programs, has made a significant reduction in the total cost of operations at over 800 terminal ATC facilities (FAA and Department of Defense [DoD]). The STARS sustainment programs build upon the infrastructure and platform that is currently in place. It is anticipated that the STARS platform will be used operationally and must be sustained until the Brand-New Air Traffic System (BNATS)/Common Automation Platform (CAP) is deployed.

STARS is used by Air Traffic (AT) controllers to perform the terminal radar Air Traffic Control (ATC) functions defined in FAA Handbook 7110.65, “Air Traffic Control,” at 432 Air Traffic Control Towers (ATCT), 145 Terminal Radar Approach Control facilities (TRACON), and 257 DoD ATC facilities. STARS is used to support both primary and secondary radar target identification; maintain target identity, radar separation, and traffic and weather advisory services; and provide navigational assistance to participating aircraft.

Key attributes of STARS include:

· Display of aircraft positional data, aircraft status, flight plan information, and general information

· Safety functions such as Conflict Alert (CA), Mode C Intruder (MCI), and Minimum Safe Altitude Warning (MSAW)

· Coordination and data display functions required by both TRACON and tower ATC personnel;

STARS is used to affect both inter- and intra-facility radar handoffs

· An integrated training capability to provide on-site AT controller training

· Supervisory and traffic management specialists operational oversight to support real-time ATC decision-making

· Multiple levels of redundancy to address National Airspace System (NAS) reliability/availability requirements and prevent loss of ATC service caused by component failures

3.0 Background

On August 24, 2018, a market survey for a follow-on STARS contract was issued to determine whether adequate competition existed to conduct an unrestricted competition to continue system integration, sustainment, and enhancement of STARS. Based on the results of that market survey, the FAA determined that adequate competition did not exist. The FAA made a public announcement on June 19, 2019, of its intent to award a single source contract to Raytheon for the continued enhancement and sustainment of STARS through September 30, 2030.

4.0 STARS Contract Challenges

The FAA will use the information received from this market survey to determine whether adequate competition exists to conduct an unrestricted competition for continued system integration and sustainment of STARS beyond the current contract’s end date of September 30, 2030. The FAA is aware of the following challenges associated with this effort, including:

1. STARS System Availability Requirements. STARS is designated a safety critical system and is the largest nationally deployed system in the NAS. It is imperative the STARS System Availability Requirements be met. The objective is to provide continuous service for STARS and expeditiously respond to and resolve any STARS site issues impacting service availability. Any STARS outage has a significant impact on the NAS and would likely result in substantial delays and monetary impacts to the aviation industry and passengers. Therefore, the award of a new contract for the continued system integration and sustainment of STARS must not result in any increased risk to satisfying the STARS System Availability Requirements (0.999995) and its overall capability and availability in the NAS.

2. Proprietary Software. The STARS platform includes the following proprietary software: (1) AutoTrac™ software, required to integrate radar and flight plan data and display accurate information to AT controllers using the Full Service Level (FSL) for STARS; and (2) ATCoach, a multi-purpose, real-time ATC simulator system that generates the data needed to supply automation systems with surveillance, weather, and flight data for STARS training and test simulation.

3. STARS Software Data Rights. Data rights to Raytheon’s proprietary software will be required to sustain STARS because there is a single software baseline (approximately three million lines of code). All current and future software changes, whether to address EOL hardware components or add new capabilities, will need to be integrated into a software baseline based on the Raytheon proprietary software. Raytheon proprietary information will not be provided as Government-furnished information.

4. Third-Party Vendor Processes and Tools. The STARS platform also uses third-party vendor processes and tools for development and deployment activities, most of which are obtained through Raytheon. These third-party tools and associated Raytheon-developed products include: ClearCase, Oracle, Ceptral (software tool), Teleuse, Totalview (debug tool), Operational Support Facility (OSF) tools (these tools are critical to the OSF adaptation specialists), Flash archives, and Installation Data Tapes (IDT).

5. STARS Program Documentation. The STARS platform utilizes the following documentation to effectively manage STARS, some which include Raytheon- proprietary documentation:

a. Software Requirements Specifications (SRS) – the SRS documents (one for each Computer Software Configuration Items [CSCI]) are the software-level requirements as decomposed from the System/Subsystem Specification (SSS).

b. Software Design Documents (SDD) – the SDDs document the software design approach used to implement the software requirements within a CSCI. As with the SRSs, there will be multiple SDDs – one per CSCI.

c. Interface Control Documents/Interface Design Documents (ICD/IDD) – the ICDs/IDDs specify the details of messages exchanged within STARS, either between hardware and software or between multiple software elements. The details will typically include message formats, field definitions, message frequency, originator/receipt of messages, etc.

d. User Documentation – this includes all user manual documents, such as Terminal Controller Workstation/Tower Display Workstation (TCW/TDW) manuals (for controllers); Maintenance Control Workstation (MCW) manuals (for Technical Operations [Tech Ops]); security administration manuals; Database Management System (DMS) manuals (for OSF personnel); etc. These user manuals form the basis for the Technical Instruction (TI) manuals and Interactive Electronic Manual (IETM) that are issued by Terminal Second Level Engineering (TSLE) (AJM-24) to support field sites and used by the training organization for AT and Tech Ops training.

e. Assembly manuals and system drawings.

6. Hardware End-of-Life/End-of-Service (EOL/EOS) Impacts. FAA budget constraints often result in product bulk buys that must be spread across fiscal years, which increases the risk of products reaching EOL/EOS before the necessary quantity can be procured. The vendor must be capable of effectively navigating these purchasing issues by accurately forecasting when equipment will reach EOL/EOS and then rapidly responding to such notification from manufacturers.

7. Integration. STARS equipment is installed and used operationally at TRACONs and ATCTs within the FAA, as well as DoD sites. STARS sustainment programs impact all these sites, so any vendors must be capable of procuring, shipping, kitting, and installing large amounts of equipment across hundreds of ATC facilities. As STARS is a safety-critical system, any integration activities will require careful planning and extreme caution while on site to avoid negative impacts to AT operations. Some DoD facilities require active security clearances to gain entry, and several are not within the continental United States. STARS sustainment challenges may also include modifications to support the transition and deployment of the BNATS/CAP.

5.0 Attachments

The STARS System Specification Document (SSD) FAA-E-2904, Revision F is provided for information.

6.0 Market Survey Responses

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

The FAA is not seeking or accepting unsolicited proposals. This announcement is not to be construed as a commitment by the government for procurement. This market survey is not a request for competitive proposals. No evaluation letters or results will be issued to respondents.

The FAA is not liable for and will not pay for any information received or costs, including administrative costs, incurred associated with the formulation, preparation, write-up, submission, and delivery of a response to the market survey and any follow-up questions. Therefore, any cost associated with the market survey submission is solely at the interested companies’ expense. All interested vendors responding to this announcement are responsible for ensuring that documents submitted contain the appropriate proprietary markings, if any. If appropriately marked, such information will not be released to the public by the FAA, except as required under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) or any other applicable law, regulation and/or policy.

Market Survey Requested Information

This information request is a fundamental part of the market survey. Please appropriately mark any information deemed proprietary in the market survey submission. The information provided in the market survey response will only be used for internal decisions and strategic planning purposes. If any vendor believes it has the capability to continue the system integration and sustainment of STARS, please submit a Capability Statement in accordance with the instructions below that clearly state the ability to do so and include details regarding the following:

1. Describe how your company can address each of the challenges in Section 4 and any other challenges you may foresee.

2. Describe any past efforts in which your company has assumed responsibility for an existing operational system with same size, complexity, system integration, and sustainment requirements like STARS that were developed by another company but transitioned to your company for sustainment support after completion of initial deployment.

3. What are some innovative solutions your company has implemented to sustain a system with similar range and depth to STARS, which resulted in cost avoidances, solution development and/or reduced cycle-times/quality improvements? Explain whether this includes leverage of automation tools such as agile project management tools and/or other highly collaborative methods.

4. Explain how your company would address End-of-Life parts and/or technology obsolescence in partnership with supplier teams and your government customers to provide long-term supportability of a complex system with a large installed base of equipment. Explain how your company has ensured suppliers align with performance standards and continuous process improvements practices to avoid low material availability for critical components.

5. How would your company ensure the STARS system maintains safe connection to existing and/or modern network and operating system services in the NAS and identify the limitations you have in addressing bandwidth issues.

6. Explain how your company would obtain data rights to Raytheon’s proprietary software required to sustain STARS, as all software planned for product improvements in STARS to be integrated and deployed with Raytheon’s proprietary software. All software is critical to the operations of the deployed system.

7.0 Submittal Requirements

The response is limited to 40 8½”-by-11” pages, with a font size no smaller than 10. Vendors may use existing technical and/or advertising material of products to demonstrate their knowledge and ability to provide the required system integration and sustainment efforts for STARS.

The Government reserves the right to ask follow-up questions on the market survey submissions as part of the market survey process. This is not a commitment by the Government to ask follow-up questions. Follow-up questions may be asked on all, some, or none of the submissions as the situation warrants. Follow-up questions may not necessitate the posting of another market survey.

Delivery of Submittals

Please provide your submittal by email. All submissions must be received no later than 4:00 pm Eastern Daylight time on July17, 2026. All submissions must be sent to the Contracting Officer (CO) Peter Dewald (peter.dewald@faa.gov).