1. Introduction The purposes of this Request for Information (RFI) are to: (1) announce the FAA’s intent to conduct a competitive source selection for a refined set of message services currently obtained under the Aeronautical Communications Services (ACS) contract (DTFAWA-10-C-00047); and (2) obtain industry comments on the attached sections of the draft Screening Information Request (SIR). This public announcement is being issued in accordance with the FAA Acquisition Management System (AMS) Section 3.2.1.3.11. Interested parties are advised that: • This is not a SIR or Request for Proposals; • 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 the RFI; and • Any costs associated with the RFI response submittals are solely at the interested party’s expense. 2. Description of the Required Services The ACS contract will be the means through which the FAA meets its information exchange requirements with airlines and other aviation industry stakeholders for the following types of messages: – National Airspace Data Interchange Network (NADIN) messages, – Dynamic Oceanic Track Service (DOTS) messages, – Traffic Flow Management System (TFMS) messages, and – Meteorological Data Collection and Reporting System (MDCRS) data. The message services will be ordered on an indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (IDIQ) basis. In providing these services, it is expected that the ACS Contractor will: a) Provide connectivity between the FAA and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) network servicing airlines and the aviation industry; b) Provide IATA routing of messages to and from the FAA; c) Encapsulate Aeronautical Fixed Telecommunications Network (AFTN) messages within IATA messages and provide the necessary address correlation functionality for the delivery of the messages; d) Provide an IATA and IATA-encapsulated AFTN filtering capability; e) Provide message service delivery to NAS Enterprise Security Gateway (NESG) locations in Atlanta, Georgia, and Salt Lake City, Utah; f) Provide a Common Message Handling Protocol (CMHP) interface for the delivery of NADIN/AFTN and DOTS messages; g) Provide an IBM MQ interface or Contractor-recommended alternative (subject to Government approval) for the delivery of TFMS messages; and h) Provide IP delivery of MDCRS information in CMHP format from the MDCRS Contractor to the FAA for ultimate delivery to the National Weather Service (NWS). In support of the required message services, the ACS Contractor will also be required to provide program management, engineering, solution development, testing, implementation, service monitoring, and security management support. The requirements for support in these areas are more fully described in the attached draft Statement of Work (SOW). 3. Nature of the Competition The FAA is contemplating award of a competitive single award Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract with a five-year period of performance. 4. NAICS Code The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Code for this procurement is 517919, All Other Telecommunications. 5. Incumbent Contractors The incumbent contractor for the existing ACS contract is ARINC now a part of Rockwell Collins. 6. Contract Type The FAA anticipates awarding an IDIQ type contract with Firm Fixed Price (FFP) CLINs for message services and a basic set of support services (e.g., program management, service verification, etc.). FFP task orders may also be issued as needed. 7. Responses to the RFI Interested parties should submit the following items in response to this RFI by March 25, 2015: (a) A one-page letter of transmittal; and (b) Completed Draft SIR Comment Matrix - Firms interested in commenting on the attached ACS draft SIR sections may do so by providing any questions, recommendations, comments, or suggestions that may assist the FAA in the development of the final solicitation document. There is no page limit for the completed comment matrix. Vendor responses and comments may be posted to FAACO by the Government. As such, vendor questions and comments must not contain any proprietary or sensitive information. The FAA will publish responses to any questions determined to be beneficial to the development and submission of vendor proposals. The identity of the vendor submitting the question will not be published. No bidder or pre-proposal conferences are planned. 8. RFI Response Submission Instructions RFI responses must be submitted via electronic mail (e-mail) to Benette Chen (
[email protected]) by the date below. Files must be compatible with MS Office 2010. No other form of submission will be accepted. Submissions are due by 4:00 pm EDT on March 25, 2015. Attachments: ACS Draft SIR (Sections B, C (SOW), D, E, F, G, H, L, M, Attachment J-1, and Attachment J-2) Blank ACS SIR Comment Matrix (End of Announcement) If you're viewing this announcement from a source other than Federal Aviation Administration Contract Opportunities (FAACO), visit https://faaco.faa.gov/index.cfm/announcement/view/19900 to view the original announcement.