Accelerated Transformation of Legacy Applications and Systems (ATLAS) Challenge Based Acquisition (ChBA)

Questions & Answers / Clarifications

This document provides additional questions and answers related to the Accelerated Transformation of Legacy Applications and Systems (ATLAS) Challenge Based Acquisition (ChBA), Phase 1.

• Affiliate Experience Cap: The FAA will not exclude Parent Companies and wholly owned subsidiaries from the 25% cap applied to affiliate/subcontractor experience. The term "affiliates" includes parent companies and wholly owned subsidiaries.
• Commercial Contract Evidence: Offerors must provide sufficient evidence for commercial contracts to substantiate claimed experience. While Offerors may mark non-applicable fields (e.g., NAICS) as "N/A" on Attachment 3, the core requirement for evidence remains unchanged.
• Narrative Signatures: If an Offeror's evidence relies solely on a narrative in Attachment 3, the FAA requires that the narrative form be signed to certify its veracity. This is to align with commercial practices for confirming corporate experience.

This Q&A document is the third set of questions and answers. It clarifies requirements related to experience, evidence submission, and documentation for commercial contracts, potentially impacting how Offerors prepare their submissions for Attachment 3.

Questions & Answers / Clarifications

This document provides additional questions and answers related to the Accelerated Transformation of Legacy Applications and Systems (ATLAS) Challenge Based Acquisition (ChBA), Phase 1. It is the second set of questions, with the initial Q&A posted on February 27, 2026.

• Question 174: Clarifies that for Element 8, offerors can use production commercial systems as examples, as Table 2 in the Announcement and Attachment 2 have been updated to indicate "production systems".
• Question 175: For a single corporate experience example in Factor 1, an Offeror may submit evidence and a signed narrative for elements that are verifiable and those supported only by narrative.
• Question 176: Offerors are permitted to submit Corporate Experience examples with NAICS codes other than 541512, provided the examples meet the scope relevance and recency requirements.
• Question 177: The addition of two signature blocks (one for the COR and one for the Project Manager) on the past performance write-up is acceptable.

These clarifications address specific aspects of the solicitation, including the types of examples that can be used for corporate experience and past performance, and the format for signature blocks. Offerors should review these answers to ensure their submissions align with the government's expectations.

Solicitation / RFP / RFQ

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is issuing this Challenge Based Acquisition (ChBA) to foster innovative solutions for the modernization of its mission-support application portfolio. The goal is to rationalize, consolidate, and modernize legacy systems, reduce technical debt, improve user experience, enhance security, and achieve long-term cost efficiencies.

This is a multi-phase acquisition focused on assessing Offerors' technical capabilities through a rigorous challenge. The phases include:

• Phase 1: Corporate Experience & Concept Paper: Offerors submit a self-score worksheet, corporate experience forms, and a concept paper demonstrating their approach to modernization and portfolio rationalization.

• Phase 2: Rationalization Approach: Offerors invited from Phase 1 will participate in an Industry Day and submit a detailed approach.

• Phase 3: Challenge - Modernization Factory Execution: Offerors demonstrate their tools and approach.

• Phase 4: Production Vehicle: Based on demonstrated capabilities and pricing, one or more Offerors will be selected for contract award.

• The contract type and estimated value are not specified in this document.

• The period of performance is not detailed, but award is anticipated by September 30, 2026.

• Phase 1 Submission Deadline: March 13, 2026, by 5 PM (ET).

• Evaluation: Phase 1 is a gating criterion, focusing on corporate experience. The top ten (10) Offerors will proceed to Phase 2. Phase 2 will be the sole basis for the Phase 1 down-select decision. Subsequent phases increase in evaluation importance.

• Industry Day: Will be held for Phase 2 participants approximately 1-2 weeks after notification.

• No specific set-aside information is provided.

• Offerors must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM).

• This is a Challenge Based Acquisition (ChBA), not a Request for Offers (RFO).

• Questions are due by February 24, 2026.

• Attachments include Statement of Objectives (SOO), Self-score Model, Corporate Experience Form, and Legacy Application Portfolio Current State.

Form / Attachment / Pricing Sheet

This document is Attachment 2, the Self-Score Model, for the Accelerated Transformation of Legacy Applications and Systems (ATLAS) Challenge Based Acquisition (ChBA). It provides a framework for offerors to self-score their proposals based on specific elements and their claimed points.

• Elements: The worksheet is divided into nine elements, including Size and Scale, Portfolio Volume Management, Data Estate Scale, Human Capital, Rationalization Success, Cloud-Native Transformation, Demonstrated Application Cost Reduction, Production Artificial Intelligence (AI) Implementation, and Safety-Critical Context.
• Point Values: Each element has a defined point value, with sub-examples offering different point allocations based on the scale or success of the offeror's experience.
• Offeror Provided Example (Yes/No): A field for offerors to indicate if they are providing an example for a specific criterion.
• Offeror's Points Claimed: Space for offerors to enter the points they are claiming for each criterion.
• Cited Contract or Task Order Number: Field to cite relevant contract or task order numbers.
• Cited Contract or Task Order Performed By: Field to indicate the entity that performed the cited work.
• Supporting Documentation File Name(s): Field to list the names of supporting files.
• Offeror Endorsement & Certification: A section for the offeror's name, UEI, authorized representative's signature, name, title, and contact information, along with the date.

This worksheet is crucial for bidders as it outlines the specific criteria and their associated point values that will be used to evaluate their proposals. Bidders must use this document to understand how to demonstrate their qualifications and to calculate their self-scored points, ensuring their submission aligns with the government's evaluation methodology.

Solicitation / RFP / RFQ

This document announces the Accelerated Transformation of Legacy Applications and Systems (ATLAS) Challenge Based Acquisition (ChBA) by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The goal is to foster innovative IT solutions for modernizing the FAA's mission-support application portfolio, aiming to rationalize, consolidate, and sustain systems, reduce technical debt, improve user experience, enhance security, and achieve long-term cost efficiencies.

The ChBA is structured in phases:

• Phase 1: Corporate Experience & Concept Paper: Offerors must submit a self-score worksheet and supporting documentation demonstrating corporate experience, and a concept paper detailing their technical solution.

• Phase 2: Rationalization Approach: Offerors will demonstrate their approach to rationalize and consolidate a portfolio.

• Phase 3: Challenge - Modernization Factory Execution: Offerors will demonstrate their ability to execute a modernization effort using their tools and approach.

• Phase 4: Production Vehicle: Based on performance in prior phases and pricing, one or more Offerors will be selected for contract award.

• The document outlines a phased approach, with potential for a production vehicle contract award by September 30, 2026.

• Phase 1 Submission Deadline: March 13, 2026, 5 PM (ET).

• Evaluation: Phase 1 involves a self-score evaluation and validation, down-selecting to the top ten Offerors for Factor 1. These top ten will then be evaluated in Factor 2 (Concept Paper). The final down-select for Phase 1 will be based on Factor 2 performance.

• Industry Day: Will be held for Phase 2 participants approximately 1-2 weeks after notification.

• Phase 2 Submission: Approximately 2-3 weeks after Industry Day.

• Not explicitly stated in the provided pages, but the focus is on technical capability and experience.

• Offerors must be registered in SAM.gov.

• Specific formatting and naming conventions for submissions are detailed.

• The FAA reserves the right to cancel the ChBA or modify subsequent phases.

Form / Attachment / Pricing Sheet

This document is Attachment 2, the Self-Score Model for the Accelerated Transformation of Legacy Applications and Systems (ATLAS) Challenge Based Acquisition (ChBA). It is designed for offerors to self-evaluate their qualifications against specific criteria.

The worksheet outlines nine distinct elements for scoring, each with a point value:

• Element 1: Size and Scale: Based on annual dollar amounts of past projects (e.g., >$25M, >$50M, >$100M).
• Element 2: Portfolio Volume Management: Based on the number of applications and enterprise shared services platforms managed.
• Element 3: Data Estate Scale: Based on the size of the data estate managed (databases or Petabytes).
• Element 4: Human Capital: Based on the number of FTEs on a single program.
• Element 5: Rationalization Success: Based on the percentage of a portfolio successfully rationalized.
• Element 6: Cloud-Native Transformation: Based on the number of applications migrated to a cloud-native architecture.
• Element 7: Demonstrated Application Cost Reduction: Based on achieved annual cost reductions post-modernization.
• Element 8: Production Artificial Intelligence (AI) Implementation: Based on the deployment of Generative AI/ML for code refactoring/testing on production systems.
• Element 9: Safety-Critical Context: Experience modernizing safety-critical or life-safety systems.

For each element, offerors are expected to provide an example, indicate if it's a "Yes/No" for offeror provided example, claim points, cite contract or task order numbers, identify the performing entity, and list supporting documentation file names.

This self-score worksheet is crucial for bidders to understand the evaluation criteria and how their past performance and capabilities will be assessed. Bidders must use this document to prepare their proposals, ensuring they provide evidence and claim points accurately for each element to demonstrate their suitability for the ATLAS ChBA opportunity. It requires detailed information on project scale, technical expertise, and successful outcomes.

Questions & Answers / Clarifications

This document provides responses to questions submitted by potential offerors regarding the Accelerated Transformation of Legacy Applications and Systems (ATLAS) Challenge Based Acquisition (ChBA) Phase 1. It clarifies requirements, evaluation criteria, and submission details.

• Experience Requirements: Offerors can now include experience from proposed subcontractors, teaming partners, or affiliates, but this experience may only constitute a maximum of 25% of the total points claimed in Factor 1. Direct experience from the Offeror is still primary.
• Factor 1 Evaluation: The FAA will not restructure Factor 1 to be a pass/fail threshold. Commercial corporate experience is now permitted alongside federal, state, and local past performance.
• Phase 1 Down-select: The Phase 1 down-select decision will consider Factor 1 and Factor 2 "equally weighted." The FAA will make its down-select decision within approximately 3-5 weeks from receipt of proposals.
• Submission Deadlines: The Phase 1 due date has been extended to March 13, 2026, at 5 PM (ET).
• Page Limits: The page limit for each Corporate Experience Form (Attachment 3) has been increased to three (3) pages.
• Joint Ventures: The FAA will only consider examples performed by the joint venture itself or by its individual members for self-scoring. Offerors must not submit more than one response.
• Pricing: Pricing proposals will be formally requested during Phase 4. Potential pricing arrangements may be discussed during Phase 2 and/or Phase 3.
• Cloud-Native Transformation: Lift-shift or simple rehosting migrations do not qualify as cloud-native transformation; it requires architectural refactoring.
• Generative AI: Qualifying experience must demonstrate AI capabilities that are operationalized beyond isolated pilots or one-time demonstrations, with evidence of secure deployment, governance, and repeatable use.

These clarifications provide important details for offerors preparing their Phase 1 submissions, particularly regarding experience requirements, evaluation criteria, and submission formats. Offerors should carefully review these answers to ensure their proposals are compliant and effectively demonstrate their qualifications.

Form / Attachment / Pricing Sheet

This document, "Attachment 4 - Legacy Application Portfolio - Current State," provides a detailed overview of the existing legacy application portfolio for the Accelerated Transformation of Legacy Applications and Systems (ATLAS) Challenge Based Acquisition (ChBA). It is intended to inform potential bidders about the current state of the applications, platforms, and infrastructure that are part of this portfolio.

• Application Frameworks: Details on .NET, Java, ColdFusion, legacy web applications, and batch processing.
• Data Platforms & Storage: Information on relational databases (Oracle, PostgreSQL, SQL Server), legacy data stores, ETL pipelines, and messaging systems.
• Hosting & Infrastructure: Covers on-prem data centers, public/government cloud environments (AWS, Azure), virtualized infrastructure, and Kubernetes.
• Architecture: Describes predominantly monolithic architectures, limited service decomposition, and mixed stateful/stateless designs.
• Delivery & Operations Tooling: Outlines traditional CI/CD processes (Jenkins, Bitbucket) and broader DevOps tools (Artifactory, Terraform, Ansible, etc.).
• Modernization State: Notes partial containerization, limited microservices adoption, inconsistent documentation, and varying cloud readiness.
• AI Tooling: Mentions ongoing evaluation of AI services and current utilization of AWS, Azure, and Google AI services.
• Enterprise Shared Services Platforms: Lists platforms for Identity and Access Management, Enterprise Search, API management, Collaboration, Business Intelligence, RPA, and Document Management.

This attachment is crucial for bidders to understand the existing technical landscape. It highlights the complexity, heterogeneity, and current state of modernization within the legacy application portfolio. Bidders can use this information to assess the scope of work, identify potential challenges and opportunities for transformation, and tailor their proposals to address the specific characteristics of the current environment.

Statement of Objectives (SOO)

This Statement of Objectives (SOO) outlines the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) need for innovative, secure, and resilient IT solutions to support the Solution Delivery Services (ADE) and enable portfolio-wide rationalization, consolidation, modernization, and sustainment of FAA's application environments. The goal is to reduce technical debt, improve user experience, enhance security and resiliency, and achieve long-term cost efficiencies while ensuring continuity of operations and safety.

The scope primarily includes support and modernization of the FAA's mission support portfolio, encompassing approximately 200 applications and 3,000 databases. The scope may also extend to modernization and sustainment of applications across the entire FAA. The anticipated period of performance is ten (10) years, including options.

The SOO details eight key program objectives:

• Portfolio Modernization and Technical Debt Reduction: Transitioning legacy systems to modular, scalable, cloud-native architectures, eliminating redundant functions, reducing technical debt, and leveraging AI/ML for analysis and consolidation.

• User Experience (UI/UX): Embedding human-centered design, ensuring intuitive and accessible user interfaces, and reusing UX patterns.

• High-Availability Mission Operations: Maintaining 99.9% availability for critical systems, proactive health management, resilient disaster recovery, reduced Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) through AlOps, and automated operational sustainment.

• Accelerated Value Delivery via DevSecOps: Achieving rapid, iterative releases, enhanced software quality, transparent visibility into development, and integrating Generative AI and automation.

• Enterprise Data Excellence and Intelligent Automation: Creating a unified data source, deriving actionable insights, optimizing business processes with automation, and using AI/ML for predictive insights.

• Proactive Cyber Security and Compliance: Implementing continuous authorization to operate (cATO), rapid vulnerability remediation, full alignment with security standards, and using AI-assisted analytics for threat detection.

• Program Governance: Aligning modernization with FAA standards, enabling data-driven executive oversight, and ensuring responsible AI/ML use.

• Seamless Service Transition: Ensuring uninterrupted mission support, effective knowledge transfer, and integrated risk management.

• Data Rights: All work products, including source code and documentation, are the exclusive property of the FAA.

• Standards Compliance: Solutions must adhere to the FAA Acquisition Management System (AMS), NIST 800-53, and FAA Order 1370.121.

• Place of Performance: Work may be performed at contractor facilities, FAA Headquarters, or regional centers.

Form / Attachment / Pricing Sheet

This document, "ATLAS ChBA Phase 1_Attachment 2 - Self-Score Worksheet.xlsx", is a self-scoring worksheet designed to help offerors evaluate their own proposals against specific criteria for the Accelerated Transformation of Legacy Applications and Systems (ATLAS) Challenge Based Acquisition (ChBA) Phase 1. It outlines the elements and point values used for evaluation, allowing bidders to assess their strengths and claim points based on demonstrated experience.

• Evaluation Elements: The worksheet details nine distinct elements for evaluation, including Size and Scale, Portfolio Volume Management, Data Estate Scale, Human Capital, Rationalization Success, Cloud-Native Transformation, Demonstrated Application Cost Reduction, Production Artificial Intelligence (AI) Implementation, and Safety-Critical Context.
• Point Values: Each element has a specific point value associated with different examples of experience, ranging from 1000 to 6000 points.
• Offeror Input Fields: Bidders are expected to provide:
  • An example of their experience (Yes/No).
  • The points they are claiming for each example.
  • The cited contract or task order number supporting their claim.
  • Supporting documentation file names.
• Total Points: The worksheet indicates a maximum total of 51,500 points.
• Certification: A section for offeror endorsement and certification is included, requiring the offeror's name, UEI, and authorized representative's signature and contact information.

This worksheet is crucial for bidders as it directly informs how their technical approach and past performance will be evaluated. By using this self-score model, offerors can:

• Understand the specific criteria and their relative importance (point values).
• Tailor their proposals to highlight relevant experience that aligns with the evaluation elements.
• Prepare supporting documentation to substantiate their claims.
• Estimate their potential score, aiding in proposal strategy and resource allocation.

Solicitation / RFP / RFQ

This document announces the Accelerated Transformation of Legacy Applications and Systems (ATLAS) Challenge Based Acquisition (ChBA) by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The FAA is seeking innovative, secure, and resilient Information Technology (IT) solutions to modernize its mission-support application portfolio, aiming to rationalize, consolidate, and sustain legacy systems, reduce technical debt, improve user experience, enhance security, and achieve long-term cost efficiencies.

The FAA will conduct a multi-phase ChBA. Offerors will demonstrate their technical capabilities through a rigorous challenge. Key phases include:

• Phase 1: Corporate Experience & Concept Paper: Offerors submit corporate experience examples and a concept paper.

• Phase 2: Rationalization Approach: Offerors invited from Phase 1 will participate in an Industry Day and submit a detailed approach.

• Phase 3: Modernization Factory Execution: Offerors demonstrate their tools and approach.

• Phase 4: Production Vehicle: Based on performance in Phases 1-3, the FAA intends to select one or more Offerors for contract award.

• Contract award is anticipated by September 30, 2026.

• Phase 1 Submission Deadline: March 10, 2026.

• Evaluation: Phase 1 responses will be evaluated, leading to a down-select for Phase 2. The top ten (10) Offerors from Phase 1 will be evaluated in Phase 2. Both phases are equally weighted for the down-select decision.

• Phase 2 Timeline: Industry Day approximately 1-2 weeks after notification, with responses due 2-3 weeks after Industry Day.

• Phase 3 Timeline: Responses due approximately 9-12 weeks from FAA notice.

• Phase 4: A formal Request for Proposal (RFP) may be issued to remaining Offerors.

• Offerors must be prime contractors; subcontractor experience will not be considered.

• Minimum requirements for corporate experience include: prime contract, ongoing or within the past 3 years, primarily IT System Development/Operations/Maintenance/Modernization services, U.S. Federal or State Government contract, and an annual dollar amount of at least $10M.

• Attachments include the Statement of Objectives (SOO), Self-score Model, and Corporate Experience Form.

• Questions regarding the announcement are due by February 24, 2026.

Form / Attachment / Pricing Sheet

This document is Attachment 3, the Corporate Experience Information Form, for the Accelerated Transformation of Legacy Applications and Systems (ATLAS) opportunity. Bidders are required to complete this form to provide information about their corporate experience relevant to the solicitation.

• Offeror Information: Requires the Offeror Name and SAM Unique Entity Identifier (UEI).
• Contract Identification: Requires details about past projects, including Project Title, Contract/Task Order Number, Agency/Customer, Agency/Customer POC Info, Contract Type, Period of Performance, Total Contract Ceiling Value, Annual Dollar Amount, and Primary NAICS Code.
• Narrative: Requires a description of the scope of work performed under a relevant effort. If this narrative is used as supporting evidence, it must substantiate claimed experience and include a signature from a Government COR, CO, or PM, as per Phase 1 Instructions.

Completing this form accurately and thoroughly is crucial for demonstrating the Offeror's relevant corporate experience. The narrative section, in particular, must clearly substantiate claimed experience and may require government validation. This information will likely be a key component in the evaluation of the Offeror's qualifications for the ATLAS opportunity.