Powered Flight Program (PFP) United States Naval Academy

The Powered Flight Program (PFP) at the United States Naval Academy is a sole-source contract awarded to Pray Aviation, Inc. under 10 U.S.C. § 3204(a)(1), citing the absence of other responsible sources capable of meeting the uniquely restrictive requirements of the program. The contract supports the annual flight training of 130 midshipmen across three four-week blocks each summer, beginning the Tuesday after Memorial Day in Fiscal Year 2026, over a five-year period comprising one base year and four optional years, with an estimated total value of $3.76 million. Training must occur within a 40-statute-mile radius of the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, to enable seamless integration between ground school academics and daily flight operations. The contractor is mandated to use exclusively the PA-28 Piper Warrior II aircraft to ensure consistency in cockpit layout, checklists, emergency procedures, and flight performance data, aligning training directly with Naval Primary Flight Training standards. Key personnel, including a Flight Operations Manager, Chief Flight Instructor, and Maintenance Officer, must be maintained throughout the performance period to guarantee continuity and operational reliability. The solicitation was issued on June 17, 2026, under number N6134026Q1005, with proposals due on March 4, 2026, and no competitive evaluation process was conducted due to the singular capability of the contractor to satisfy the mandatory geographic, aircraft, and curriculum alignment requirements. Performance is entirely based at the contractor’s airfield near Annapolis, with oversight provided by the Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division in Orlando, Florida. The contract contains no line-item pricing details, no formal inspection criteria, no packaging or marking specifications, no payment or accounting data, and no certified representations from the offeror beyond the sole-source justification, which is supported by the need for standardized training and logistical feasibility. No socioeconomic set-asides were used, and no formal FAR clauses or evaluation factors were applied, as the acquisition is non-competitive by statutory necessity.