The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) awarded Deloitte Consulting a contract with a ceiling of $488.2 million to modernize legacy applications and systems, concluding a challenge-based competition launched in February. Through four phases, the FAA evaluated vendors through demonstrations of their technical capabilities.
The Nov. 6 award supports the Accelerated Transformation of Legacy Applications and Systems (ATLAS) program, which targets a mission support portfolio of approximately 200 applications and 3,000 databases. The contract could run for up to 10 years if all options are exercised.
Through ATLAS, the FAA seeks to reduce technical debt, consolidate redundant functions, improve the user experience, and strengthen security while maintaining operations of mission and safety-critical systems. The work requires a shift from maintaining legacy systems toward cloud-native architectures, artificial intelligence (AI), and automated workflows.
The modernization objectives include using AI and machine learning to analyze applications, refactor code, automate testing, and identify systems suitable for consolidation or retirement. The FAA also called for human-centered design and consistent, accessible user interfaces.
Security requirements include continuous authorization to operate, timely vulnerability remediation, and AI-assisted threat detection and compliance monitoring. The objectives also call for governance of AI use, including transparency, auditability, and model risk management.
The work primarily covers mission support applications, although contracts may extend to applications across the FAA, according to the agency.