BIDDERS' MEETING NOTESi

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RFP NO: Not available, as not yet released.

TITLE: Service System Modernization Program *.* 1-I=sIndustry-Wide Briefing for the Flight

AGENCY: Federal Aviation Administration

PROPOSAL DUE DATE: Late Spring 77

MEETING DATE: October 28, 1976

AGENCY ATTENDEES: Robert Buck, Acting Assistant Chief, Flight Information Services; RobertRoche, Flight Service System Program Manager; Jack Buck, Chief, Systems Design Section; PaulRosenwald, AAT Associate Program Manager for

FSS;

Abe Tenenbaum", Contracts Specialist, Logistics;George Webb> AAF Acting Associate Program Manager for

FSS;

William Young, Electronics Engineer,Data Processing; Donald Johnson, Electronic Engineer, Communications; John Gallimore, ElectronicsEngineer, Software. N

OFFEROR ATTENDEES: About 250 people were at the meeting representing companies. No list wasprovided, but the following people asked questions: Joe Finkstein of Collins Radio Divisionof Rockwell International; Frank Thornton of Burroughs; Michael Lane of Bell Telephone; BobSutton of TRW Defense and Space Systems; Bob Steele of CSC.

SUMMARY: This is a report on FAA's Industry-wide Briefing for the Flight Service System (FSS)Modernization Program. It was a Pre-Procurement meeting designed to provide information tothe private sector, particularly prospective contractors, on the present status and futureplans of the modernization program and to solicit comments and/or recommendations from themto improve the program. All figures in this report are taken from hard copies of the briefingview graphs.The meeting was well organized, the presentations were very technical, accompanied' by slides,and made in a completely dark room so that note-taking was quite difficult. After the presenta-tion there was some discussion of the expected RFP and procurement and a question and answerperiod was held.

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At the end of the meeting, one copy of draft specifications for the system was provided to eachcompany represented so they can make the requested comments. Significantly broad commentson the philosophy or comments of a policy nature were requested by November 12, with detailedprogram comments requested by early December.The current FSS has 292 Stations in the 48 continguous states, located as shown on the map infigure 2. These stations provide such things as weather information and emergency guidance,and allow for filing of flight plans. There are a number of problems with current operation.For example, users must "stand by" too often. Because the number of stations grew unsystematicallyover time, they are widely distributed, bringing excessive operational costs and station place-ment that is not necessarily responsive to traffic patterns. Finally, the system must bearheavy increases in traffic over the coming years; because it is a labor-intensive system, simplyadapting present procedures to handle the increase would raise costs from the present $100million to $300 million by 1990. Therefore, this procurement is to develop and implement anew system which uses automation, better communication, and geogrpahic consolidation toproyide better service for the increased number of users at about the same cost of today's system.Figure 2 shows the projected costs of the present and the modernized systems from now until 1990.

The procurement will have three phases—near term, intermediate term, and far term. The inter-mediate phase is often called the baseline phase and the far term is the enhancement phase. Thenear term phase, underway now, involves planning and implementation of off-the-shelf items atlarge stations—mostly for communications system improvement and a faster flight filing systemin which pilots file directly into a recorder. The intermediate or baseline phase is the subjectof this procurement and involves a

$222.6

million dollaX-PXggram. The enhancement phase entailsacquisition of additons to the basic system. Figure 3 characterizes activities of each phase.Figure 4 shows funding for the Baseline Phase and figure 5 provides a program schedule.

WASHINGTON REPRESENTATIVE SERVICES * 2430 PA. AYE IN, # 215 * WASHINGTON D.C. * (202) 223-2411 *

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he new system to be instituted in the Baseline phase will be based on 20 HUB stations at^;cations shown on the map in figure 6. Figures 7-7e are viewgraphs that list elements in'he HUB configurations. Figure 8 shows a Baseline System Building Schedule. What is beingought in this program is a Turnkey system in which both hardware and software are installed

..■i<j tested and personnel trained so that an operating system is turned over to the government atthe end of the contract. The total of

$222.6

million for funding includes $70 million for HUBbuildings. The proposer must have an operationally demonstratable system at the time ofproposal submission. JOVIAL and COBOL are allowable as higher order languages for the .Baseline system.

An RFP will be issued early in 1977 with about* 75 days to respond, and an award will be made

in early 1978. Three contracts are actually contemplated for the program, two for the Base-

line phase and one for the enhancement phase.. The first Baseline contract will be a competitivefixed-price contract for the first part of the HUBS/ with an incentive for cost and perhaps

incentives for time or performance. The second baseline contract will be sole source, probablyfixed price, and the enhancement contract will be sole source, probably cost-plus-fixed fee.

There were both morning and afternoon briefings on highlights of requirements, systems tests,

training facilites, system configurations and expected interfaces. About 75 pages of viewgraphsare available from WRS for these presentations, and the specifications—also available—pre-

sumably detail the presentations even more.

At the end of the presentations a few questions were asked. Several of them related to thequestion of lease or buy for the components. It seems that the agency has already decided to

lease the voice/call communications subsystem, but the radio equipment would be bought andequipment would be provided "right up to the console." Collins Radio and Bell TelephoneRepresentatives seemed especially concerned that criteria for a lease/buy decision had notbeen met. The man from CSC asked wha^t the timing was relative to the radio equipment decisionand when was NADIN to be ready, The^decision target is about Thanksgiving and NADIN I shouldbe ready about February, 1978.

The TRW representative questioned what had to be ready with the proposal. The answer wasthat kernel or calibration modules would be provided for bidders to run and they in returnwould provide data as a first benchmark with the proposal. The second benchmark (or test,'ci lonstration) would be required only of those companies that were determined to be in thecompetitive range.

Abe Tenenbaum (Contracts) then brought up the question of visits to current system sites atLeesburg and Atlanta. Because they cannot be made without prior arrangements, 3 days havebeen scheduled for visits to each site:

Atlanta; November 16, 30 and December 7Leesburg: November 19, December 3 and 15

A tour and briefing are available at Atlanta but only a tour at Leesburg. Mike Ryman of FAA,

is to be contacted about desired visits before November 5 and the agency will reply by November

Earlier planning documents by E Systems and Philco Ford can be viewed in Atlantic City orhard copies can be purchased (about

$300).

A listing and address is provided with^ the speci-fications. Mr. Tenenbaum also cautioned that the RFP, not statements at this meeting willgovern the procurement. There will be firm buys and options specified in the RFP, and the pricejudgement will be based upon the total price of firm buys and options, so price carefully.

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" FSS LocationsFederal Aviation Administration" International FSS Locations"Combined Station/Tower Locations

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" P^lPEfi 04 14 SYSTEM— LABORIOUS DATA RETRIEVAL

— REPETITIVE OPERATIONS

— LOW PRODUCTIVITY

— POOH l¥0«C/Na CONDITION®

© HIGHLY DISTRIBUTED OUTLETS '

— EXCESSIVE COSTS OF OPERATION

— UNRESPONSIVE TO TRAFFIC PATTERN CfMtiSSS

Jlff^3®f Costs

FISCAL Y£AR

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FSS Program - Chronological Summary

1967 I 1970 I 1971 I 1972 1973 I 1974 I 1975 1978 1977

© Industry-Govn't.Site Issua Award Install T&EWorking Group ¥

Pr E-Svstems

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i Atl Completerr c oyaicma D«v«lopm©nt . A AStudy Atl

* AWANSAward

Comm. Issue Philco-Ford Amend $l© FSS Modernization Pr E-Systems Pr CompeteEst'd.

(RDU) A .Team Study User FinalEst'd. Drafted Cord Report

© OST/FAA Evaluation

Mitre/NAFEC TSC RT Inrtlal FieldDev. Test Dev. Tests Complete

Direct Access Devices

Configuration AnalysisStart Complete

System Design

Manual MapsStart \ j AWANS

A M A® Leesburg Prototype

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NEAR TERM—MID 70$— WEATHER & EFAS— FACILITY IMPROVEMENTS— EQUIPMENT IMPROVEMENTS/REPLACEMENTSBASELINE SYSTEM—BO'S

ATLANTA )"" LEESBURGf PROTOTYPE FACILITIES— DESIGN AND BUILD AWP

"*

— ESTABLISH SUPPORT FACILITIES ( NAFIEC— CONSTRUCT 20 FSS HUBS ' °K°— IMPLEMENT BASELINE HARD/SOFTWARE— /A//" IE CONSOLIDA TION OF FSS TO HUBS \

" ENHANCED SYSTEM— FAR TERM— ROUTINE INWRFACES SHIFTED WCOMPUTER

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— SPECIALIST MANAGES DATA I EXCEPTION SIWATIOttS

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6 to 10 Year Time Frame

Bosic© Standardized Design

20 FacilitiesNomina! 23,000 Sq. Ft.

" Site Adaptation loir Ist Location

Options

® Additional Site Adaptation

" Improvement/Modification Feasibility/D©§lgn© On-site Construction Management Assistance© Documentation Maintenance

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BaseSirs© System Finding

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Fiscal YearItem 75 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 TotalA. R&D Funding 2.8* 1.8 1.3 1.4 0.2 7.5B. F&E Funding

AWP SystemAWP BuildingSoftwareDocumentation, Training, Testing,

System Design, Etc.Academy SystemNAFEC SystemHUB SystemsHUB BuildingsRelocation Costs

0.70.89.0

12.2

0.70.89.0

12.23.05.2

103.670.610.0

5.2

3.05.25.23.50.5

10.43.50.5

20.714.02.0

20.714.02.0

20.714.02.0

20.710.5

1.50.6 10.5

1.5

Totals 3.4 29.7 18.7 15.8 36.9 36.7 36.7 32.7 12.0 222.6

* Includes Funding for sth Quarter.

Implementation and Transition PlansSystem

I 76 | 77~1 78 1 79 1 80 1 81 I 82 I 83 I 84 | 85 I 86]75 I 76 |~77 I 78 j 79T"80 | 81 I 82 \ 83 | 84 I 85J

FYCV

® Site Planning

Constructiono

Baselsne Procurement

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Baseline Acquisition0Operational

Baseiine Transition£'

Enhancement Developmentcand Specification

Enhancement Acquisition ass£>

BS KB raz 838 H3Enhanced System€

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Baseline Automation Facilities

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BuildingsCommercia! PowerHeating and Air-ConditioningVoice Communications (PABX—ACD

Interphone— Leased Lines)TWEB— PATWAS Equipment

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RequirementsCollocated ARTCC Sites (20)

— Fail Soft System — 24 Hr. Operation— Commercial /Backup Power— Alternate Routing Critical Comm.

InterfacesWX RadarAWPRemote TerminalsNADIN(AV-AWOS)DF

NAVAIDS

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Operational FunctionsPilot Briefings NOTAMSFlight Plans — EnrouteComm.Emergency AssistanceMass WX Dissemination

NAVAID Monitoring*Military Fit. Service*

Support FunctionsDevelopment/ Proficiency TrainingOn-Site Hardware/ Software Maintenance

if-puJL "?^

HUB Cont'd

© Operational Configuration — 53 PositionsAssistant Chief (1)

Supervisor(l) Supervisor (1)Inflight (8) Preflight (28)

tEFAS(3) NOTAM(I)TWEB/PATWAS (4) Data Coord. (2)

Miscelleanous (7)TrainingMaintenanceAutomation

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" Highlights

" Functional Position Grouping*— Supervision/Operational Spec.

" Fail Soft SystemRedundant Critical ElementsManual ReconfigurationDegraded Operation

InterfacesPositions

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HUB Cont'd

" Graphics Display

" RequirementsSimultaneous Viewing

— Selective Retrieval WX + Fit Planning Data© Alternatives

Large Screen DisplayCluster MonitorsMultiple Specialist Displays

© Data Base

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Pilot Specialist

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Aviation Weather Processor (AWP)

" RequirementsFail Safe-24 Hr. OperationCommercial /Backup PowerAlternate Routing Critical Comm.Computer Hdwre Subset HUB System

— Collocated With Existing Facility© Interfaces

HUB — NADINAFOS — WMSC

Baseline System Building Schedule20 FSS Hub Operations

Preliminary ActionsFunds Approved Jan 76PR for A&E Design Jan 76Master Plan Approved Jun 76Expansion Concept Approved Mar 76

DesignA&E Contract Award Feb 77Coordinate Design-Wash. & Regions Oct 77Final Design Approval Jan 78IFB Package to Regional Offices Apr 78

ConstructionAward Ist Contract Oct 78Complete Ist Construction Mar 80

InstallationCommence (Telco, Comm) Mar 80Computer Delivery Dec 80lOC May 81

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