Special Notice - FAA Intent to Award a Single Source Procurement for Cybersecurity Exercise Information Technology (IT) Operational Support Services

In accordance with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Acquisition Management System (AMS) Policy Section 3.2.2.4, the purpose of this announcement is to inform industry of the basis for the FAA's decision to contract on a single source basis with Ultimate Knowledge Institute (UKI), based out of Scottsdale, Arizona.

The FAA has a requirement for Information Technology (IT) Operational Support Services for support in planning, coordination, execution, and after-action review of cyber exercises utilizing the Government Off the Shelf (GOTS) Live-Lab Advanced Visual Analytics (LAVA) suite application and tools developed by John’s Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab.

The skills to support installation, operation and maintenance (IOM) of LAVA software are unique in that one must be familiar with the specific program code as well as the unique configuration settings to successfully deploy and utilize the software. The FAA’s LAVA suite application tools are adapted from the DOD tool; when the DOD makes changes to their base tool, the FAA must mirror those changes, as well as incorporate any specific changes the FAA requires. The FAA requires support by recognized subject matter experts (SMEs) in deploying, upgrading and maintaining the specific applications the FAA utilizes within LAVA: MATT, Galaxy and Pointillist.

Ultimate Knowledge Institute (UKI) is the only known firm capable of meeting the FAA’s specific requirement to provide SME support for the IOM of the LAVA suite application, and MATT, Galaxy and Pointillist tools. Accordingly, a competitive solicitation is not available for this procurement.

The FAA is not seeking or accepting unsolicited proposals. The FAA is not liable for any costs associated with the preparing of a response to this announcement. If you have any questions, these may be submitted to Lisen Minetti (lisen.c.minetti@faa.gov), by no later than 5 PM (EDT) on April 23, 2024.