Intent to Single Source - Rail Tec Arsenal (RTA)

In accordance with Section 3.2.2.4 of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Acquisition Management System (AMS), the purpose of this announcement is to inform industry of the basis for the FAA’s decision to contract on a single source basis to Rail Tec Arsenal (RTA) Fahrzeugversuchsanlage GmbH.

The FAA has a requirement for Ice Tunnel Testing for Urban Air Mobility/Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAM/UAS) Icing Research. This procurement will provide the FAA with test services and test results for the development of aircraft regulatory icing requirements and guidance for electrically powered Vertical-Take-Off and Landing (eVTOL) UAM/UAS operations in icing environments.

RTA’s Climatic Wind Tunnel is the only tunnel that meets the size parameter required to spin a 7-foot diameter rotor and provide the 80 m/s airspeed required for the test. In addition, RTA is the only large tunnel that can produce quality Supercooled Large Droplet icing conditions (SLD) and provide the 800 VDC @ 300A, 240KW of power required for the test.

This announcement is for informational purposes only. A competitive solicitation is not available for this procurement. The FAA is not liable for any costs associated with the preparing of a response to this announcement.

Any questions or comments about this announcement may be directed to the Contracting Officer, Paul Rosengrant at Paul.r.rosengrant@faa.gov, no later than 12:00 PM EST on January 25, 2022.