{"id":19836,"date":"2021-10-29T19:44:50","date_gmt":"2021-10-29T19:44:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/saj.pachecostudios.com?p=19836"},"modified":"2021-10-29T19:44:52","modified_gmt":"2021-10-29T19:44:52","slug":"faa-launches-nationwide-solicitation-to-design-air-traffic-control-towers-of-the-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/national-news\/faa-launches-nationwide-solicitation-to-design-air-traffic-control-towers-of-the-future\/%20","title":{"rendered":"FAA Launches Nationwide Solicitation to Design Air Traffic Control Towers of the Future"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The U.S. Department of Transportation\u2019s Federal Aviation\nAdministration (FAA) is launching a nationwide solicitation to find a new\ndesign for control towers that can be built and operated sustainably at\nregional and municipal airports. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cFor communities large and small, the air traffic control\ntower is an icon. We want architects and engineers from every corner of the\ncountry to help build the safe and sustainable towers of the future,\u201d U.S.\nTransportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The FAA has more than 100 aging control towers at regional and municipal airports across the United States that will eventually need to be replaced. The goal of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.faa.gov\/tower-design\">nationwide solicitation<\/a> is to develop a standardized design for towers that will:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Meet operational and cost requirements <\/li><li>Maximize energy efficiency<\/li><li>Be easy to modify according to height needs<\/li><li>Be rapidly constructed<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>On Nov. 9, the FAA will host a webinar to answer questions\nfrom interested businesses before the official solicitation starts. Between now\nand then, the FAA will raise awareness of the opportunity to minority-owned and\ndisadvantaged businesses. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The registration opening for U.S.-based architectural and engineering design firms is scheduled for Nov. 16. Details about the webinar and other aspects of the solicitation are available at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.faa.gov\/go\/towerdesign\">https:\/\/www.faa.gov\/go\/towerdesign<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A three-phase, best value and fixed-price selection process\nwill be used in accordance with the Acquisition Management System (AMS).&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Phase 1 &#8211; Request for Information (RFI): Architectural and\nengineering firms may submit a general project idea and approach statement.\nBased on these submissions, the FAA will narrow the field of choices to 15\nfirms that will be eligible to compete in Phase 2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Phase 2 &#8211; Request for Qualifications (RFQ): In Phase 2, the\nup to 15 selected firms will be asked to provide resumes, relevant experience\nand financial capabilities. Based on these submissions, up to six firms will be\nselected to provide a conceptual design package and cost estimate for the\ncomplete tower design in Phase 3. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Phase 3 \u2013 Request for Offer (RFO): In Phase 3, the FAA will\nevaluate the design package and cost estimate from each of the six firms\nselected from Phase 2.&nbsp; From those six\nsubmissions, the FAA plans to award a contract to a top-rated applicant to\nfully design the new air traffic control tower concept. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The FAA used a similar approach when it invited architectural firms to develop a modular design concept for new control towers. The agency ultimately selected a proposal from the company headed by rising architect <a href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\/faa\/i-m-peis-imprint-on-the-faa-d4c77b656399\">I.M. Pei<\/a>. Several of the 16 Pei-designed towers\u2014including at Chicago O\u2019Hare, Sacramento, Madison, and Jacksonville international airports\u2014are still operating today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The tower at Tucson International Airport provides an\nexample of sustainable building already in operation. The tower is the first\nair traffic facility with net-zero energy consumption. It uses a 1,600-panel\nsolar farm to generate power for all of its electrical needs, and supplies\nunused power back to the grid. The solar farm also produces ice, which is\nstored in large containers and used to cool the building when solar panels are\nnot generating electricity. Additional \u2018green\u2019 features at Tucson include reflective\nroofing materials, insulated windows, motion detectors for the low-energy,\nindoor lights, and no-water landscaping.&nbsp;\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The U.S. Department of Transportation\u2019s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is launching a nationwide solicitation to find a new design for control towers that can be built and operated sustainably at regional and municipal airports. \u201cFor communities large and small, the air traffic control tower is an icon. We want architects and engineers from every corner [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[115],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19836","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19836","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19836"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19836\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19837,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19836\/revisions\/19837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}