Sources Sought
FAA Safety Culture Assessment
Department of Transportation · Federal Aviation Administration
AI summaryThe FAA is doing market research (a Sources Sought / RFI, not a bid request) to find companies that could run a one-time, FAA-wide safety culture assessment: a workforce climate survey in 2027, a review of existing FAA data, and site visits at 3 to 5 pilot locations, ending in reports and an improvement roadmap. The work is expected to last 12-18 months as a firm-fixed-price contract, with an optional follow-on for change management support. Responses are due 2 November 2026 by email. More in the summary
Market research, not a bid. Replying is free and tells Federal Aviation Administration who could do this work. Send a short reply to the contracting contact; no price is needed. See the contact
AI summary Beta
Summary of the version posted Sep 30, 2026. The notice was amended Oct 26, 2026. Check what else changed on SAM.gov.
The FAA is doing market research (a Sources Sought / RFI, not a bid request) to find companies that could run a one-time, FAA-wide safety culture assessment: a workforce climate survey in 2027, a review of existing FAA data, and site visits at 3 to 5 pilot locations, ending in reports and an improvement roadmap. The work is expected to last 12-18 months as a firm-fixed-price contract, with an optional follow-on for change management support. Responses are due 2 November 2026 by email.
Who can bid (6)
- Open to large businesses, small businesses, service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses and 8(a) firms at this stage
- The later contract may be unrestricted or set aside, depending on the responses to this RFI
- At least 3-5 years of experience running organizational culture or safety assessments of similar size and complexity, including improvement plans
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- Key personnel with a Ph.D. or Master's in industrial-organizational psychology, organizational behavior, sociology or a related behavioral science
- A secure, field-tested survey platform able to host thousands of users at the same time
- Ability to act as an objective third party so the baseline is credible to internal and outside overseers
How to submit: Email in PDF format to the designated FAA Contracting Officer; the listed contact is the AAQ-460 Contracting Team, 9-AFN-AWA-AAQ460-Contracting-Team@faa.gov. What to include is under Full summary below. Check the solicitation's instructions on SAM.gov.
Things to watch (7)
- Worth checking: High bar on team and experience. The FAA wants advanced-degree behavioral scientists, 3-5 years of comparable federal or high-hazard work, and a survey platform for thousands of users, which may be a stretch for a very small firm unless it teams up.
- Worth checking: Must run survey, scan and site visits at once. The team must staff multiple assessment methods in parallel to produce a quick-turn report, with an FAA-wide survey in 2027 and most deliverables due within 12 months of award.
- Worth checking: Complex stakeholder and privacy demands. You must show experience coordinating with labor unions, shielding employee data from FOIA, guaranteeing anonymity, and getting responses from non-desk operational staff.
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- Minor: Price estimate requested up front. Even though this is only an RFI, you are asked for a ballpark price breakdown, which takes effort and shows your pricing to the FAA.
- Minor: RFI only, unpaid, and no promise of work. Responding is at your own cost and does not guarantee a future contract, although skipping the RFI does not bar you from a later RFP.
- Minor: Optional follow-on is uncertain. The change-management task is not guaranteed, its period of performance is TBD, and the FAA can choose to exercise it only within 60 days after accepting the roadmap.
- Minor: FAA uses its own acquisition rules. The FAA follows its Acquisition Management System rather than the FAR, so FAR references in SAM.gov may not apply to a later solicitation.
Read from the notice and 1 attachment. Show which files.
- FAA Safety Culture Assessment Market Research PKG_ FINAL.pdf (read)
Full summary
What they want
- Set up governance and manage detailed requirements with the FAA sponsor (kickoff within 1 week of award, governance framework within 1 month)
- Build a Safety Culture Assessment Toolkit (survey, interview and observation guides, SOPs) within 3 months
- Scan existing FAA data and reports to set an enterprise culture baseline (within 6 months)
- Run an FAA-wide climate survey in 2027 and keep confidential employee data safe (within 7 months)
- Do assessments at 3-5 pilot sites using listening sessions and interviews (within 9 months)
- Deliver a Baseline Results Technical Report, an Approach to Recurring Culture Assessment report, and an Improvement Plan Roadmap (final reports by months 10-12)
- Send monthly status and financial reports to the FAA by the 15th of each month
- Optional later task: change management, communications, and KPI support after the roadmap is accepted
- Contract type
- Firm fixed price (planned future award; this notice is only an RFI / Sources Sought)
- Period of performance
- Anticipated 12-18 months, plus an optional post-assessment support task whose period is still to be determined
- Place of performance
- Vendor facilities and various FAA locations (SAM.gov lists Washington, DC); travel to 3-5 pilot sites, approved in advance by the FAA COR
- Estimated value
- Not stated
- How they'll choose
- No award is being made. Responses are market research only; the FAA will review capability statements to decide whether to compete the work openly or set it aside for small businesses, SDVOSBs or 8(a) firms.
- Offers due
- Nov 2, 2026, 2:00 PM Eastern (from the version posted Sep 30, 2026; amended since)
- How to submit
- Email in PDF format to the designated FAA Contracting Officer; the listed contact is the AAQ-460 Contracting Team, 9-AFN-AWA-AAQ460-Contracting-Team@faa.gov
- Page limits
- Capability questions: 10 pages; corporate capabilities and qualifications: 5 pages; industry feedback: 3 pages; Rough Order of Magnitude (ROM) price estimate: 2 pages
What to include when you submit
- Include company name, address, UEI, CAGE code, socio-economic status (e.g., 8(a), SDVOSB, WOSB, small business) and a point of contact
- Answer the capability questions: survey methodology, qualitative facilitation, federal experience (labor unions, FOIA protection, reaching non-desk workers), reporting, data security and privacy, and improvement planning; FAA safety management knowledge is optional
- Give industry feedback on the draft requirement and on the proposed PSC and NAICS codes, with reasons for any alternatives
- Give a high-level ballpark (ROM) estimate by major cost drivers, with key assumptions; it is not binding
- Mark any proprietary information clearly and conspicuously
- Send questions in writing no later than 10 business days after posting; the notice gives 14 October 2026
Current contractor
No incumbent is named for this requirement. The background report in the attachments describes earlier FAA safety culture work, including a 2023 survey whose data was handled by Cherokee Federal and a 2020 assessment by MITRE; the notice does not say any of them holds this work.
Not in the notice text
- Estimated contract value and budget are not stated; the FAA asks vendors for a ROM instead
- Size of the workforce to be surveyed in the FAA-wide survey is not stated
- How a future solicitation would be evaluated, and whether it will be a set-aside, is undecided
- Period of performance for the optional change-management task is TBD
- PSC code is blank in SAM.gov while the attachment lists R431, and the FAA is asking for feedback on PSC and NAICS codes
- The notice says four key activities, while the attachment lists seven tasks and 14 deliverables
- The exact Contracting Officer name and direct submission email are not given; only the AAQ-460 contracting team mailbox is listed
Eligibility and how to respond
- No set-aside. Any business can reply: this is market research, and no bid is being taken yet.
- To respond, send a short reply to the contracting contact near the top of this page. No price is needed.
Notice details
- Posted
- Oct 26, 2026
- Notice type
- Sources Sought
- Office
- 693KA9 Contracting for Services, Washington, DC
- Business type
- Consulting & professional services (FedReady's grouping, from NAICS 541612)
- Versions
2 versions have been posted, newest first.
- Oct 26, 2026 · Amendment 0001 (this version)Due Nov 2, 2026
- Sep 30, 2026 · Sources SoughtDue Nov 2, 2026
- Attachments
Past awards and competition
Who has won work like this before, the likely incumbent, and what similar contracts paid, from USAspending.gov.
Before you respond
Terms on this notice: Sources sought notice
Full notice text from SAM.gov
**Answers to industry questions have been attached to this notice** The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is conducting market research to identify capable businesses (Large, Small, Service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses and 8(a) certified firms) to perform a multi-phase Safety Culture Assessment. The contractor will evaluate organizational culture factors affecting FAA’s safety management and oversight capabilities through four key activities: administering an agency-wide climate survey with secure data handling, conducting an environmental scan of existing data and best practices, performing qualitative site visits at 3 to 5 pilot locations, and coordinating project requirements with leadership. The responses to this RFI will help determine the acquisition strategy and whether adequate competition exists to set-aside the competition among small businesses, service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses or Socially & Economically Disadvantage Business (SEDB/8(a)) certified firms. The acquisition strategy for the procurement has not been determined at this time; however, either an unrestricted competition or a set-aside will be chosen depending on the responses to this Market Survey. This is not a Screening Information Request or Request for Proposals of any kind. The FAA is not seeking or accepting unsolicited proposals. The FAA will not pay for any information received or costs incurred in preparing the response to the market survey. Any costs associated with the market survey submittal is solely at the interested vendor's expense. The FAA may request that one, some, all, or none of the respondents to this Market Survey provide additional information. No evaluation of vendors will occur based on this additional information and vendor participation in any informational session is not a promise for future business with the FAA. Any information provided under this market survey is for informational purposes only. Any proprietary information submitted must be explicitly and conspicuously marked by the respondent as, proprietary. If appropriately marked, such information will not be released to the public by the FAA, except as required under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) or any other applicable law, regulation and/or policy. The Government may transfer documents provided by a respondent to any department or agency within the Executive Branch if the information relates to matters within the organization's jurisdiction. Questions & Clarifications may be sent no later than 10 business days after the posting of this announcement: No lather than 14 October 2026. Detailed submission requirements can be found in the attached Sources Sought/Request for Information document.
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