At press time, bidders for the FAA’s Cat I local-area augmentation system (LAAS) ground station contract were awaiting a statement from the agency as to whether the program would proceed with a contract award, valued at around $800 million. After several delays during the summer, FAA officials advised the two bidders–one team being Raytheon and the French navaid company Thales (which earlier had acquired U.S. ILS maker Wilcox Electric) and the other Honeywell, Lockheed-Martin and Pelorus of Canada–that the winner would definitely be announced on September 30.
But that date came and went. Since then, according to one company official, the only word bidders have received from the FAA has been in its informal, but cryptic, request to both teams to “maintain their distance until a decision is announced.” The same company official said this has served only to compound their anxiety as the clock slowly advances to December 31, when both teams’ bids expire.
