WASHINGTON - The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is seeking industry feedback on a planned challenge-based plan to modernize its application and database portfolio, aiming to reduce technical debt, remove duplication across lines of business, improve interoperability, and accelerate cost-efficient cloud adoption, automation, and machine learning (ML) across the agency.
In a market survey and request for information (RFI) issued through the FAA Acquisition Management System, the agency said the new effort would supersede and entirely replace a previously anticipated Software Solution Delivery acquisition, which was expected to be issued and awarded this fiscal year. The FAA said the revised challenge-based approach is intended to support faster delivery of innovative solutions and broader modernization across the entire agency, with a scope that is not limited to the mission support portfolio.
The FAA says it currently operates more than 200 mission support applications and about 3,000 databases, many of which are interconnected and rely on legacy architectures. The agency said modernizing this environment is critical to improving performance, agility, scalability, secure data exchange, and long-term sustainability while maintaining continuity of National Airspace System operations.
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Project objectives
Modernization objectives outlined in the RFI include reducing sustainment costs, eliminating duplicated and non-essential systems across lines of business, improving system interoperability, increasing cost-efficient cloud adoption, and ensuring long-term maintainability and sustainability. The FAA also said it is seeking "future-ready" solutions that incorporate automation and machine learning while remaining adaptable to evolving mission and operational requirements.
The agency identified several constraints that must be addressed, including safeguarding sensitive and mission-critical data, integrating with existing FAA systems and security protocols, minimizing operational disruption during deployment, and ensuring solutions can scale and remain sustainable over time.
The RFI requests detailed industry input across eight focus areas, including recommendations on acquisition and award structures such as multi-phase challenge-based models, traditional contracting vehicles, or OTAs, and whether a challenge-based approach offers advantages over existing procurement methods for accelerated, enterprise-scale modernization.
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The FAA is also seeking guidance on platform and technology choices suitable for large-scale rationalization and modernization, including low-code and no-code platforms, cloud deployment models, API-driven and microservices architectures, data mesh or data fabric approaches, and advanced automation and machine learning tools. Respondents are asked to address platform considerations, including security, integration, scalability, sustainability, and maintainability.
Timelines needed
The agency is also asking industry to propose realistic timelines for demonstrations or prototypes that demonstrate capability, recommend schedules for challenge phases and feedback cycles, and suggest down-select criteria that balance innovation, technical maturity, scalability, and deployment readiness.
Evaluation metrics are a significant focus of the RFI. The FAA said it is interested in technical and business measures spanning innovation and automation or machine learning capability, solution robustness and interoperability, user experience and operational efficiency, security and regulatory compliance, and sustainability and total lifecycle cost. The agency is also seeking recommendations on tasks that would best demonstrate artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted development maturity, such as legacy code analysis, automated testing, code conversion or migration, database schema analysis, and security vulnerability remediation.
The RFI requests input on cost estimation methodologies, labor mix, and pricing structures for phased modernization efforts, including assessment, migration, optimization, and sustainment. The agency is seeking guidance on how automation and AI-enabled development tools should be reflected in labor and cost proposals, how to measure cost and schedule efficiencies over time, and which pricing arrangements best support innovation while improving quality and efficiency.
Responses to the RFI are due by 7 January 2026 at 5 p.m. ET and must not exceed 15 pages. The agency named Daniel Farrell as the primary point of contact for this project and can be reached at [email protected]. Additional information is available at https://sam.gov/workspace/contract/opp/884823e353ab4c2fbe1d8a34ee584487/view.
