The U.S. is replacing the radars, radios, phone lines and towers its air traffic controllers depend on, many of them decades old. In the first year of that rebuild, FAA contract spending rose by more than half. This report covers where the money went, why it concentrated, and where small firms can still get in, including the $30 billion second phase Congress is now debating.
Built from every contract obligation where the Federal Aviation Administration was the awarding agency, 8,350 FAA award records that started in FY2025 or FY2026, 238 FAA notices posted on SAM.gov from May to September 2026, and the FAA's open notices on 18 October. Six limits matter enough to state before the numbers.
Congress gave the Department of Transportation a $12.5 billion down payment to replace the air traffic control system in July 2025. Since then, the FAA has picked an integrator and signed the equipment contracts that phase one runs on.
The FAA picked Peraton over a Parsons–IBM team as prime integrator. Phase one covers new surface radars at 44 airports, surface surveillance at 200, flight-data tools at 89, and the first new en-route center since the 1960s. The whole program is estimated at $31.5B.
RTX ($438M) and Indra ($342M) won radar replacement for up to 612 sites by June 2028. Rohde & Schwarz won a $4.9B voice-switch contract in April. L3Harris won the surveillance modernization for 700+ ground stations in July, and Air Space Intelligence an $875M traffic-flow software award in June.
Sen. Eric Schmitt's bill would add $10B for air traffic control technology, $10B for airport infrastructure such as towers, and $10B for a new-terminal and capacity program. It is a bill, not yet law.
Budget context: FY2027 began on 1 October under a continuing resolution that runs to 11 December 2026 (CRS). FY2026 itself began with a 43-day shutdown (1 October – 12 November 2025), which is why October 2025 is nearly empty in the chart below.
FAA obligations rose from $6.03B in FY2025 to $9.86B in FY2026. They had grown about 6% a year from FY2022 to FY2024, then 17% in FY2025. The shutdown cost almost all of October, then every month from November except February ran above the prior year, and September 2026 alone was $1.83B.
| Segment (product / service codes) | FY25 $M | FY26 $M | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Radar, navigation aids & surveillance 5840, 5825/26, E1BC, Y1BC, … | 328.0 | 1,270.6 | 3.9× |
| Network, telecom & voice 7G, DG, S11x, 58xx | 1,427.2 | 2,723.9 | 1.9× |
| Towers & facilities (build, design, upkeep) Y, Z, C, E | 494.1 | 1,039.1 | 2.1× |
| Engineering, IT & research services R, D, A, B | 1,960.1 | 2,685.9 | 1.4× |
| Contract tower operations M1BA | 223.8 | 270.0 | 1.2× |
| Everything else (IT products, training, aircraft, supplies) | 1,600.9 | 1,870.8 | 1.2× |
| Rank | Product or service (PSC) | FY25 $M | FY26 $M | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | IT & telecom: digital network products 7G21 | 88.4 | 1,231.7 | 13.9× |
| 2 | Satellite communications & telecom access DG11 | 700.7 | 978.9 | 1.4× |
| 3 | Radar equipment, except airborne 5840 | 30.9 | 971.1 | 31.4× |
| 4 | Engineering & technical support R425 | 724.6 | 934.8 | 1.3× |
| 5 | Other professional support R499 | 494.2 | 761.8 | 1.5× |
| 6 | Construction of air traffic control towers Y1BA | 144.5 | 492.1 | 3.4× |
| 7 | Modification of airfield & landing equipment K017 | 323.5 | 412.4 | 1.3× |
| 8 | Architect & engineering, airfield structures C1BZ | 140.9 | 350.4 | 2.5× |
| 9 | Operation of air traffic control towers M1BA | 208.9 | 256.3 | 1.2× |
| 10 | Telephone & communications services S113 | 227.5 | 251.5 | 1.1× |
| 11 | Program management support R408 | 144.0 | 197.8 | 1.4× |
| 12 | Business application software 7A21 | 142.9 | 164.0 | 1.1× |
| 13 | Data center products 7C20 | 90.2 | 160.4 | 1.8× |
| 14 | Purchase of radar & navigation facilities E1BC | 67.8 | 131.4 | 1.9× |
| 15 | Construction of radar & navigation facilities Y1BC | 142.6 | 117.4 | 0.8× |
The top ten recipients took 48.6% of FAA obligations in FY2026, against 38.0% a year earlier. Six of the ten hold modernization equipment or integration contracts. Raytheon went from $151.3M to $676.7M, Rohde & Schwarz from $73.1M to $650.7M, and Frequentis from $156.0M to $631.0M.
| Rank | Recipient (legal entity) | FY26 $M | Share | FY25 $M |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Harris Corporation (L3Harris) | 1,172.0 | 11.9% | 918.0 |
| 2 | Raytheon Company (RTX) | 676.7 | 6.9% | 151.3 |
| 3 | Rohde & Schwarz USA | 650.7 | 6.6% | 73.1 |
| 4 | Frequentis USA | 631.0 | 6.4% | 156.0 |
| 5 | Indra Air Traffic | 393.5 | 4.0% | 144.4 |
| 6 | PTSI Managed Services | 350.4 | 3.6% | 140.9 |
| 7 | Peraton | 275.3 | 2.8% | under 31.9 |
| 8 | CDW Government | 229.9 | 2.3% | 175.9 |
| 9 | Walsh Federal | 228.2 | 2.3% | 139.0 |
| 10 | The MITRE Corporation | 180.4 | 1.8% | 154.7 |
Every FAA award that started in FY2026 has a combined lifetime value of $4.30B, so new awards account for at most 44% of the year's $9.86B. At least 56% was added to contracts signed before FY2026, such as the telecommunications network contract and the existing radar and voice-switch vehicles.
| Extent of competition, new FAA awards | FY25 share of $ | FY26 share of $ | FY26 $M |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full and open competition | 48.1% | 51.1% | 2,198.3 |
| Not competed (sole source) | 24.2% | 29.7% | 1,276.4 |
| Full and open after exclusion of sources (incl. set-asides) | 13.3% | 12.7% | 544.7 |
| Competed under simplified acquisition | 9.8% | 3.8% | 163.9 |
| Not competed under simplified acquisition | 2.7% | 1.4% | 58.2 |
| Not available for competition | 1.9% | 0.9% | 38.0 |
| Not recorded | 0.0% | 0.5% | 20.1 |
Small businesses won $1,345.8M of new FAA awards in FY2025 and $966.3M in FY2026, a 28% drop in a year when the FAA's spending rose 63%. They still won most of the awards (59.7% of them), but the large equipment and integration awards went to large firms.
| Segment, new awards | FY26 awards | FY26 $M | Small share of $, FY25 | Small share of $, FY26 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Radar, navigation aids & surveillance | 259 | 1,036.4 | 28.5% | 9.7% |
| Network, telecom & voice | 98 | 788.3 | 9.2% | 3.3% |
| Towers & facilities | 237 | 533.3 | 45.3% | 25.3% |
| Engineering, IT & research services | 585 | 898.5 | 66.0% | 27.1% |
| Contract tower operations | 5 | 11.1 | 11.6% | 100.0% |
| Everything else | 2,854 | 1,031.9 | 43.6% | 43.7% |
Of the 992 firms that won a new FAA award in FY2026, 311 had no FAA award that started in the previous five years. They took $343.4M, 8.0% of new-award dollars, and 223 of them were small businesses.
| Rank | Small-business winner (as reported on award) | FY25–FY26 $M | Awards |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cherokee Strategic Solutions | 88.5 | 20 |
| 2 | Iron Bow Technologies | 85.5 | 519 |
| 3 | Technical Communities | 81.3 | 20 |
| 4 | MicroTechnologies | 66.3 | 293 |
| 5 | Crown Innovations | 64.6 | 18 |
| 6 | ASRC Federal System Solutions | 60.4 | 18 |
| 7 | ASRC Federal Advanced Research | 57.7 | 31 |
| 8 | Evans Incorporated | 56.0 | 9 |
| 9 | Sunhillo Corp | 49.6 | 4 |
| 10 | Russ Bassett Corp | 46.6 | 7 |
We compared the 197 FAA notices that carry a product code, posted May–September 2026, with the 114,672 other federal notices that do, over the same window. FAA notices are Sources Sought far more often, and far more of them invite bidders to a site visit or industry day.
| What the notice is or says | FAA | All federal | Ratio | Read |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| "Market survey" in the text | 22.6% | 1.2% | 19× | FAA's word for Sources Sought |
| Sources Sought notice | 26.4% | 7.2% | 3.7× | market research |
| Special notice (intent to award, industry day, RFI) | 17.3% | 5.5% | 3.1× | watch these |
| Site visit, pre-proposal conference or industry day | 24.5% | 5.1% | 4.8× | facility work |
| Radar, navigation aid, landing system or surveillance mentioned | 35.2% | 16.7% | 2.1× | the rebuild |
| Sole-source language | 17.6% | 11.8% | 1.5× | elevated |
| Small-business set-aside of any kind | 32.5% | 33.4% | 1.0× | at the norm |
The FAA posted only 238 distinct notices in those five months, for an agency that obligated $9.86B in the year. Most FAA money moves through contracts and ordering vehicles that already exist: the integrator, the equipment contracts, and the FAA's small-business vehicle eFAST. Watching SAM.gov alone shows a small slice of this market.
All of these were open on 18 October 2026.
| Notice | Buyer | Type · status |
|---|---|---|
| Acquisition Support Services Contract (ASSC) for all FAA acquisition and contracting organizations | FAA, Franchise Acquisition Services | Special Notice · open to 1 Nov |
| Research and Commercial Solutions Opening (RCSO), areas of interest | FAA, System Operations Contracts | Solicitation · open to 2 Nov |
| FAA safety culture assessment | FAA, Contracting for Services | Sources Sought · open to 2 Nov |
| Armed security guard services at the William J. Hughes Technical Center | FAA, Acquisition & Grants | Sources Sought · 8(a) · open to 29 Oct |
| Full-service elevator maintenance, Oklahoma City tower | FAA, Regional Acquisitions | Solicitation · small business · open to 26 Oct |
| Replace roof and hatches, Hilo tower, Hawaii | FAA, Regional Acquisitions | Solicitation · open to 26 Oct |
| Miniature UPS kits | FAA, Franchise Acquisition Services | SIR · open to 4 Nov |
| Unmanned aircraft systems Broad Agency Announcement, call 001-2026 | FAA, Regional Acquisitions | BAA · open to Sep 2028 |
| Notice of intent to single-source: Frontgrade Technologies | FAA | Special Notice · intent to single-source |
Between April 2027 and March 2028, 1,791 FAA contracts held by 542 firms reach their current end date, carrying $4.76B. That window is 6–18 months out, when the next buy is still being shaped. Unlike munitions, this is a market of many small contracts: 1,703 of them are under $10M (together $1.58B), and small firms hold 888 contracts worth $2.16B, 45% of the total.
| Rank | Incumbent (legal entity) | $M ending | Contracts |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rohde & Schwarz USA | 637.5 | 1 |
| 2 | Karsun Solutions | 521.6 | 9 |
| 3 | Advanced Management Technology | 322.8 | 17 |
| 4 | Frequentis USA | 293.1 | 4 |
| 5 | Oasis Systems | 205.3 | 31 |
| 6 | CDW Government | 111.0 | 165 |
| 7 | Concept Solutions | 108.3 | 4 |
| 8 | Regulus Group | 108.3 | 12 |
| 9 | Alliant Insurance Services | 101.5 | 1 |
| 10 | Science Applications International Corp. | 92.1 | 38 |
612 radar sites by June 2028, up to 462 voice switches and 700+ surveillance ground stations each need site surveys, power, shelters, fiber and installation. That work is regional and local. Register with RTX, Indra, Rohde & Schwarz, L3Harris and Peraton's supplier programs and name the sites you can reach.
Tower construction rose 3.4× and airfield design work 2.5×. FAA regional acquisition offices post roofs, elevators, HVAC, janitorial and security work at towers and facilities, often set aside for small business. These are the most open part of the FAA market.
The FAA calls eFAST its preferred vehicle for small-business services. Work ordered under it is competed among eFAST holders, not posted as an open notice, so a firm that is not on it never sees those buys.
A quarter of FAA notices are Sources Sought or market surveys, 3.7× the federal rate. The FAA uses them to decide whether to set work aside. Search for "SIR" and "market survey", not just "RFP".
If it passes, $10B goes to the next phase of technology (General Aviation News): telecommunications, a common automation platform, controller workstations and traffic-flow tools. Those buys are not yet written, which is when teaming positions are set.
After a shutdown-emptied October, FAA obligations ran above the prior year in nearly every month and ended with a $1.83B September.
Ground radar grew 31×, network hardware 14× and tower construction 3.4×. Those lines are the rebuild. The rest of FAA buying grew about 1.2–1.4×.
Up from 38.0%. Equipment makers and the integrator took the new money, and at least 56% of it went into contracts that already existed.
Small-business dollars on new awards fell 28% while the market grew 63%. Their share of engineering-services dollars fell from 66% to 27%.
311 firms won their first FAA award in FY2026, 223 of them small. Site work for the primes, regional facility contracts and eFAST orders are where newcomers get in.
This report comes from FedSift's award and solicitation index, the same data capture teams use for recompete radar, incumbent analysis and Sources Sought tracking. It counts obligations only, never IDIQ ceilings, and FedSift flags single-source notices like the Frontgrade notice above before they reach a bid list.
Run the same analysis for your market: which FAA notices are open now, which are set aside for you, who holds the contracts ending in your window, and which buyers are running market surveys.
FedSift Market Reports break down one federal market every other week. No. 01: Where the Drone Money Goes. No. 02: The Parts Gap. No. 03: The Magazine Refill. See all reports.