Center of Excellence for General Aviation

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The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) intends to establish an Air TransportationCenter of Excellence (COE) for General Aviation (GA) in fiscal year 2012. The goal ofthis endeavor is to create a cost sharing partnership between academia, industry, andgovernment that will focus on general aviation safety related topics.To enhance its research efforts, in 2010, the FAA proposed the establishment of a newCOE for GA designed to advance general aviation technology to meet the needs of the U.S. general aviation industry in the short- and long-term. Over the next decade, the COE for GA is expected to forge a union between the public and private sectors and to create a world-class consortium that will identify solutions to existing and anticipated issues. The FAA expects the COE to perform various types of general aviation related research, ranging from basic to applied, through a variety of analyses, development, and prototyping activities.To this end, the FAA is soliciting proposals from accredited institutions of highereducation with partners and affiliates positioned to join the FAA in supporting a newCOE for GA. Upon completion of the competitive process, the FAA will enter into cooperative agreements with core university members and award matching grants toestablish, operate and conduct general aviation research.As a result of the COE competitive process, the FAA also plans to award indefinitedelivery indefinite quantity contracts (IDIQ) to the successful COE team. The FAA intends to fund the COE through a combination of matching grants for public purpose and, as appropriate, issue contract delivery orders on a cost reimbursement and/or fixed price basis.The Office of Primary Interest (OPI) for this Center of Excellence is the Aviation Research Division located at the William. J. Hughes Technical Center (WJHTC). This organization intends to invest a minimum of $500,000 per year during the first five years of the COE agreement.

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