FAA Sees ADS-B Interest

The FAA said it received multiple responses from vendors interested in bidding for the Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) broadcast services contract, which is set to be awarded this summer. ITT Corp., Lockheed Martin and Raytheon responded to the agency's request, which the FAA said was designed to help determine which vendors or teams understand the contract requirements well enough to proceed in the acquisition process. The agency said a group of subject-matter experts will review and evaluate the companies’ submissions. The goal, the FAA said, is not to select a vendor, but “to determine which vendors have logical and coordinated approaches to this important contract.”
FAA will announce by the end of February which vendors will be eligible to continue to participate in the process. Under the contract, the selected vendor or team will provide ADS-B broadcast services to users across the national airspace system. These services will include both Traffic Information Services-Broadcast (TIS-B) and Flight Information Services-Broadcast (FIS-B). TIS-B will give pilots and air traffic controllers radar-like displays of air traffic updated in near real-time. FIS-B services will provide up-to-the-minute weather information from the national weather service and relevant flight information, such as temporary flight restrictions. This technology has been identified as the enabler for the Next-Generation Air Transportation System. More