Market survey 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 contract’s end date of 9/30/2030

The Federal Aviation Administration's Enroute Terminal Contracts office is conducting a market survey to determine whether adequate competition exists for an unrestricted follow-on competition to sustain the Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System (STARS) beyond the current contract end date of September 30, 2030, with capability statements due July 17, 2026.

The FAA has invested $3.55 billion in STARS through FY2025 and currently operates the system across 432 Air Traffic Control Towers, 145 Terminal Radar Approach Control facilities, and 257 Department of Defense ATC facilities. The proposed sustainment scope spans system engineering and design, software and hardware engineering, specialty engineering (reliability, maintainability, availability, and human factors), information systems security, quality assurance, configuration management, program management, test and evaluation, integrated logistics support and training, site deployment, and operational support.

Critical technical barriers to entry include managing STARS System Availability Requirements of 0.999995, obtaining data rights to approximately three million lines of Raytheon proprietary code (including proprietary AutoTrac and ATCoach software components), and securing rights to proprietary documentation (Software Requirements Specifications, Software Design Documents, Interface Control Documents, and user manuals). Vendors must also manage third-party vendor tools and processes, address hardware end-of-life impacts, and execute integration across hundreds of geographically dispersed facilities including remote DoD locations requiring security clearances.

Interested vendors must submit a capability statement limited to 40 pages (8.5" × 11" with 10-point minimum font) to peter.dewald@faa.gov by July 17, 2026 at 4:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time, addressing how they would handle identified challenges, provide relevant past experience, propose cost-avoidance solutions, manage obsolescence and supplier alignment, ensure network security and bandwidth adequacy, and obtain necessary proprietary data rights.