The FAA is extending Lockheed Martin’s contract to run the Automated Flight Service Station (AFSS) network by up to 42 months while the agency finalizes its requirements for the new Future Flight Service Program (FFSP), which is expected to integrate AFSS services with other services such as Direct User Access Terminal Service (Duats).
The FAA has been working with the aviation community on the parameters of FFSP, but said in a March 25 notice that it requires more time “to finalize the scope and requirements for flight services to conduct a competitive source selection for services for the next FSS contract.”
The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association last summer called on the FAA to open a competitive bidding process for both the AFSS and Duats programs when the agency is ready for the future system. But the association asked the agency to keep the current system in place until that time.
The FAA conceded that “there have been several significant hurdles to establishing the baseline scope and requirements of the Next FSS competitive contract.” The agency agreed that it requires current services to continue under a single-source extension until services are provided under a “competitive Next FSS contract” and added, “It is the intent of the [FAA’s] Flight Service organization and Program Management Office to renew these services through the competitive procurement process.”
The Lockheed Martin contract for AFSS services was set to expire on March 31 next year but the latest extension would cover an additional 18-month base period, a 12-month option and two six-month options. If all options are exercised, Lockheed Martin’s contract would run until Sept. 30, 2019. The FAA awarded the original AFSS contract to Lockheed Martin in 2005.
Lockheed Martin provides various flight planning and weather briefing services, processes information such as pilot reports and notices to airmen and provides search-and-rescue support. The services, which cover the Continental U.S., Hawaii and Puerto Rico, are provided from three “hub” locations in Ashburn, Va.; Fort Worth, Texas; and Prescott, Ariz., along with Flight Service Station facilities in Raleigh, N.C., and Miami, Fla.
In addition to extending the Lockheed Martin contract, the FAA has been providing a series of short-term contract extensions to the Duats providers, the most recent extension running through May. The FAA has stated it intends to continue renewals until it is ready to award a comprehensive FFSP contract.
Cost Savings Anticipated
While it renews the current contracts, the agency is stepping up its funding request to work on development of the FFSP. It included $3 million in the Fiscal Year 2016 budget request to develop a market survey, proposal/screening request and documentation necessary for a “Final Investment Decision.” The agency previously requested $1 million for the FFSP planning stages. The FAA hopes to award the FFSP contract in Fiscal Year 2017.
The FAA anticipates FFSP will streamline current services to save money, noting they are now supplied through multiple avenues. “The FFSP will expand the web portion of flight services and reduce or eliminate human delivery of flight services as much as possible,” the agency said, adding, “The next system will modernize services and methods of delivery. This will be done by discontinuing obsolete services and activities as well as redundant activities provided by other FAA service organizations.” The agency added it will focus on aligning core safety functions.
The agency, however, is not quite certain on a timeline for the transition, saying it hinges on the availability of a number of new technologies such as automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) and common support services-weather (CSS-Wx).
The FAA is making plans to transition to the future system as use of flight services has increasingly relied on the Internet. According to Washington think-tank the Reason Foundation, radio (voice) contacts for flight services have declined from a daily average of 6,319 in 2002 to 1,323 in 2013. Lockheed Martin also told the Reason Foundation that the contract is running at approximately $100 million per year, substantially down from the “pre-contract status quo of $600 million,” Robert Poole, director of transportation policy for the Reason Foundation reported. The number of staffed facilities has shrunk from dozens to just five.
As evidence that the AFSS program remains successful, the FAA notes that the program is on track to save $2 billion in capital and labor over the 13-year period of the contract.