OKLAHOMA CITY — The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced today that Metron Aviation, Inc., of Dulles, Va., and Booz Allen Hamilton, Inc., of McLean, Va., received contracts as the final part of a set of landmark awards to perform engineering work that will help transform and modernize the nation’s airspace into the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen).
The $1.15 billion contract awarded to Metron Aviation for 10 years is one of the largest ever awarded by the FAA to a small business. The announcement was made at the FAA’s Small Business Conference at the Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center.
“Small businesses generate some of our country’s best ideas,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. “The rollout of NextGen will give small businesses the opportunity to serve on the leading edge of this major transportation initiative.”
The two contracts are the last of six awarded under an umbrella portfolio called System Engineering 2020 (SE-2020). SE-2020 was designed to encourage small business participation. It has a ceiling of $6.5 billion, making it the largest set of awards in the agency’s history.
“Partnership is absolutely critical to our success in NextGen,” said FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt. “With these awards, we’re partnering with some of the most qualified companies in the aviation community.”
The work performed by Metron Aviation will complement work done by Boeing, General Dynamics and ITT under SE2020 contracts awarded last month. The firms will conduct large-scale demonstrations to see how NextGen concepts, procedures and technologies can be integrated into the current system.
The $711 million contract awarded to Booz Allen Hamilton for 10 years follows the first SE2020 contract awarded to CSSI, Inc., in April. Both companies will evaluate emerging procedures and technologies and perform systems engineering to determine the best way to deploy the NextGen initiatives on a wide scale.
SE2020 represents an innovative contracting vehicle that streamlines NextGen funding across the FAA, allowing work to be completed in an efficient and cost effective manner.
