Tower Simulation Systems E2 - Challenge Based Acquisition

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has a requirement for air traffic controller training simulator operation and related services under the Tower Simulation System (TSS) program.

The FAA intends to deploy additional TSSs to training sites around the National Airspace Systems (NAS) to improve controllers’ access to high-fidelity simulators and facilitate faster, more efficient controller training and certification. The FAA is also seeking to improve the capabilities of the TSS and the delivery of TSS services through technological innovation. The FAA has designated this effort “TSS E2.”

For TSS E2, the FAA is issuing a Challenge Based Acquisition (ChBA). An overview describing the ChBA process is provided in the “TSS E2 Request for Concept Papers Feb 2026” document.

As part of Phase I of the ChBA, the FAA is issuing a Request for Concept Papers (RCP). The details of the RCP requirements, including the instructions and evaluation approach of the RCP is provided in the “TSS E2 Request for Concept Papers Feb 2026” document. The Statement of Objectives (SOO) referenced in this document are the finalized objectives resulting from the “FAA Tower Simulation E2 – Statement of Objectives” Special Notice that was issued on 1/29/2026. The SOO is posted with this announcement. In addition, responses to questions received on the SOO are provided in the document titled “Responses to SOO Questions”.

Additional supporting documents are also provided as Government Furnished Information (GFI) at the following link:

https://faa-aoc.box.com/s/zlev2xhzssgdigj0okp5ny95d89n1dm0

If clicking the link does not take you to the site, please copy/paste the link into your browser.

Responses to the RCP are due by 2:00PM Eastern on March 24, 2026. Responses must be emailed to the Contracting Officer, Manish Patel, by this due date. Offerors assume full responsibility of ensuring that their submission is received by the date and time specified above.

Any questions related to the RCP and/or the ChBA process must be sent via email to the Contracting Officer, Manish Patel, by 2:00PM Eastern on March 3, 2026.

All responses to this RCP must follow all submission instructions found in the attached documents. The FAA will not pay any costs incurred in the preparation or submission of any response to this ChBA.

All information, except that which qualifies under an exemption, provided in response to this announcement, may be subject to release under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Information considered proprietary or confidential must be clearly marked as such. Any information not identified as proprietary or confidential will be used at the FAA’s discretion and may be publicly released without further FOIA disclosure review by the FAA or respondent(s).

Any amendment(s) issued to this announcement will be published on SAM.gov. It is the interested parties’ responsibility to visit this website frequently to be informed of any changes to this announcement. The FAA reserves the right to cancel this notice at any time.

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3/6/2026 - The FAA is issuing this amendment to provide responses to questions received. Please refer to the document labeled "TSS E2 ChBA Questions and Answers". Also, an updated Statement of Objectives (SOO) document is provided. Refer to "TSS E2 SOO Amendment 1 March 2026". In response to question 3 in the Q&A, SOO objective 14 is changed from "the development of a VDB and training scenarios for every E2 ATCT" to "the development of a VDB and training scenarios for every ATCT". All other content in the SOO remains the same. In addition, an updated Request for Concept Paper document is provided. Please refer to "TSS E2 Request for Concept Paper March 2026" where section 1.3 Attachments is updated to include the "TSS E2 Vehicle and Aircraft List". This vehicle and aircraft list is added to the Box.com site.

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In section 5 Disclosure of Information of the "TSS E2 Request for Concept Paper March 2026", it states non-government personnel will be used in the evaluation of the concept papers. For clarification, the non-government personnel are from the following organizations: 1) Guidehouse Inc., 2) LS Tech, 3) MITRE, and 4) Peraton Inc.