The Hatch Report: Weekly DoD RFI/RFP Rollup (Issue #37)
Weekly Deep Dive: Army’s New Open Solicitation (AOS) Approach
Overview: Leaders from PEO Enterprise and ACC APG discussed the new Army Open Solicitation (AOS) during AFCEA’s Belvoir Industry Days back on May 20. My rough summary below:
What It Is
The AOS uses the Commercial Solutions Opening (CSO) process to acquire innovative commercial products and services through streamlined competitive procedures. Launched in May 2025, it serves as a standing, flexible solicitation framework.
How It Works
The AOS umbrella solicitation is live on SAM.gov and managed by Army Contracting Command (ACC). It provides two distinct paths for Army entities to post calls that industry can respond to:
Calls for Solutions
Specific problem statements with defined schedules, typically with identified funding
Evaluated based on technical merit and innovation—each solution assessed on its own merits rather than comparative evaluation
Active Capability Gaps (ACGs)
Broad topic areas aligned to Army mission needs
Accepts rolling submissions for innovative solutions
Not tied to immediate funding, but solutions may be added to the shared repository for future award
Key Advantages of AOS
Streamlined Access Point for Industry: Centralized on SAM.gov and paired with a dedicated AOS portal/website consolidating all active Calls. Eliminates the need to search across disparate CSO postings.
Faster Development and Posting of Calls: Uses standardized templates and evaluation formats. One Army team went from concept to release in under five days—compared to the typical 15–18 months.
Flexible Funding Pathways: Unlike BAAs—which are limited to basic and applied research funding (Budget Activities 6.1–6.4)—AOS supports a broader range of appropriations, including O&M, Procurement, and RDT&E above Budget Activity 6.4. The framework can be used to acquire both commercial products and services.
Solution Repository ("Marketplace"): All evaluated proposals—whether submitted via Calls or ACGs—feed into a shared repository. If a proposal is deemed awardable but unfunded, it remains available for rapid award when money becomes available. This is important when jockeying for expiring funds at the end of each FY.
Emerging Challenges
Organizational Conflict of Interest (OCI): Technical support contractors who help develop AOS calls and requirements may also want to compete for the resulting awards, creating potential conflicts of interest. The Army acknowledged this as a legitimate concern that each team must evaluate carefully. The hope is that the lower administrative burden of posting calls allows teams to rely more on government-only personnel for call development, reducing potential conflicts.
Evaluation Bandwidth: A top industry complaint has been the lack of timely feedback after submitting proposals. AOS leaders are committed to ensuring feedback within 90 days for ACG submissions and are working to ensure the right personnel are in place to provide quick response across all submission types.
Funding Constraints and Timing: While there are no internal Army caps on AOS award size or performance period beyond those stipulated in CSO statute, appropriation law creates real constraints. For example, O&M funds cannot support contract performance beyond 12 months, regardless of program requirements. This forces awards into base and option year structures aligned to fiscal boundaries—an appropriation constraint, not an AOS limitation. The challenge intensifies when funding arrives late in the fiscal year, requiring rapid obligation before expiration.
THR's Take
While currently focused on Army PEOs following the software acquisition pathway, nothing precludes other DoD components from leveraging the AOS. The central repository of awardable solutions could unlock exponential value if expanded across the entire DoD (I’m reminded of CDAO's Tradewinds marketplace).
For industry, the opportunity is clear: learn the AOS process and track active calls closely. Most importantly, get your capabilities into the shared repository—whether through ACG submissions or responses to specific calls. When last-minute funding becomes available—especially the September scramble for expiring fiscal year dollars—having a pre-evaluated, ready-to-award solution gives you a significant competitive advantage over starting from scratch.
A broader challenge the balancing act of not stifling Service-level process innovation, like AOS, while simultaneously scaling and institutionalizing best practices across the DoD enterprise. A public-facing annual report documenting the most successful contracting practices and specific case studies—if one doesn't already exist—could help accelerate this knowledge sharing.
DoD Opportunities
1. PEO Aviation Market Research for Low-Cost sUAS - Link
Surveying industry’s ability to deliver an initial tranche of sUASs by this September, then scale to 10,000 air vehicles within 12 months.
Targeting a sub-$2,000 unit price, with requirements for Soldier-swappable payloads and field-level repairability without vendor support. Intended for both operational use and cUAS training.
Response Deadline: July 18
THR’s Take
Encouraging signal—10,000 units would be a notable bump as far as DoD sUAS tranche buys go, but is negligible when put into context, both for industry trying to scale and operational demands.
Some FY26 posture testimony highlights from Army leadership:
“We, as a nation, have got to set a Moon shot.” Russia’s production is estimated at 4–6 million this year, China’s is approaching 50 million… “We are currently not ready.”
“We are sometimes approximately 50X–100X more expensive… It just makes the cost-curve absolutely impossible for us.”
Meanwhile, multiple venture-backed sUAS companies have emerged in recent years despite DJI’s overwhelming dominance in commercial markets. This pretty much leaves more restrictive national security-facing markets as their primary opportunity.
When viewed in aggregate, it’s still a sizable opportunity; however, it raises an important question: how many companies can that market segment realistically support based on annual revenue targets and investor return expectations?
Importantly, current and projected market size is really hard to pin down. It’s less a product of sustained strategy / operational requirements and more a function of which senior leaders happen to be in key seats at any given moment in the Department/on the Hill.
The scattershot PEO-by-PEO approach to buying UASs isn't helping either. What’s needed IMO:
A joint sUAS PEO that synchronizes and prioritizes task orders across the joint force
Deliberate coordination with allies on procurement
A dedicated IDIQ / flexible contract vehicle of some kind
A Congressional commitment to indefinitely appropriate billions for sUAS “procurement” every year
You do these things, and capital markets will have an easier time underwriting risk and justifying needed investments to strengthen industrial capacity.
More broadly, while many lauded the FY26 PBR's bump in RDT&E, I was less enthusiastic, and I think it sends the wrong signal to industry. That delta should have gone to the Procurement accounts. I would go so far as to argue that DoD should not be spending any R&D on sUAS and instead commit to buying them. Not a new idea here, but worth reiterating in an increasingly zero-sum budget environment, despite the optimistic headlines.
2. USSOUTHCOM J2 Sources Sought Notice for Enhanced Domain Awareness (EDA) Platform Development - Link
EDA is a scalable, unclassified data ecosystem designed to enable federated intelligence sharing across Combatant Commands, interagency, and international partners
USSOUTHCOM is a user and contributor to EDA’s evolution, leveraging it as an unclassified Common Intelligence Picture (CIP) to support integration with non-traditional and coalition partners
Contract includes 16 modular task orders—ranging from web services to predictive analytics—with placeholders for future needs, signaling long-term flexibility and growth potential
Response Deadline: July 15
3. AFRL BAA Topic for Targeting Operations and Analytics Development - Link
Five core technical focus areas:
Dynamic Targeting Engagement at Scale: Technologies to autonomously find, fix, track, target, and engage hundreds of dynamic targets at tactically relevant speeds; emphasis on human-on-the-loop (HOTL) and human-in-the-loop (HITL) decision tools that operate across domains, and that can run in networked, low-SWaP-C configurations
Mission Communications: Resilient comms tech to maintain C2 in low-bandwidth, low-permissivity environments and in the face of adversarial spectrum interference; must avoid, mitigate, or counter EW threats and ensure continuity of targeting operations
Combat Assessment: AI/ML-based tools to generate immediate post-strike assessments by fusing noisy, low-quality multi-source data; supports re-strike and dynamic re-tasking, overcoming delays of traditional battle damage assessment methods
Indications & Warning Analytics: Automated analytics to generate strategic and tactical warning signals from multi-domain data; interest in pattern recognition, anomaly detection, and graph-based methods to model adversary readiness and intent over time
Test and Evaluation: Design and implementation of phased T&E plans—lab to field—to validate that systems perform under operationally relevant conditions; supports survivability, suitability, and effectiveness of new targeting technologies
Total BAA funding is approximately $499M through FY29; individual awards typically range from $1M–$25M, with potential for up to $99.9M per award; contract types include FAR-based contracts, grants, cooperative agreements, and OTs with follow-on production authority
Response Deadline: Rolling through September 2029
4. SSC RFI for Space-Based Missile Defense Interceptors - Link
Space Force’s PEO for Space Combat Power seeks industry input on a proliferated constellation of space-based interceptors (SBIs) capable of engaging ballistic and hypersonic missile threats in the boost, mid-course, and glide phases.
Soliciting end-to-end solutions across four defined areas: exoatmospheric SBI, endoatmospheric SBI, Common Ground Element (CGE), and Fire Control Element (FCE); partial or component-level responses will not be evaluated.
Emphasis on modular open systems architecture (MOSA), rapid fielding, vendor-agnostic interoperability, and use of mature technologies to minimize cost-per-kill and accelerate time to orbit.
Response Deadline: July 11
5. RCCTO Sources Sought for Man-Portable Interceptor Aircraft Solutions and Integration - Link
Seeks industry input on a backpack-portable interceptor drone to track and destroy enemy Groups 1–3 UASs during dismounted operations; must assemble in under 30 seconds and launch from varied terrain
Performer will integrate a government-provided warhead, autonomy stack, sensors, and UI into a modular airframe, delivering TRL 7+ prototypes across four releases over 27 months, culminating in live-fire demos
System must plug into Nett Warrior, SBMC, and FAAD C2 networks; includes TAK-based UI development, Soldier training, and support for autonomous, on-the-loop, or manual engagement
Emphasizes affordability (≤$11K EO / ≤$16K IR), field assembly via additive manufacturing, U.S.-based sourcing, and delivery of a full Technical Data Package (TDP) with unlimited rights for future production
Response Deadline: July 22
6. AFRL Presolitation for Coordinating Austere Nodes through Virtualization and Analysis of Streams (CANVAS) - Link
Aims to develop a modular virtual C2 environment that enables real-time coordination of distributed operations in contested, degraded settings—supporting ABMS integration and advancing Air Force C2 doctrine: Centralized Command, Distributed Control, Decentralized Execution
CANVAS will address a key challenge of Agile Combat Employment by giving commanders the ability to simulate intent-driven tasking decisions, assess the impacts of delegated authorities, and orchestrate mission workflows across dispersed nodes—all while accounting for shifting operational constraints, limited connectivity, and shared resource demands
7. RCCTO RFI for Common Autonomous Multidomain Launcher (CAML) - Link
Only open to U.S. companies able to process/store SECRET info and hardware
Aim is to prototype two autonomous launcher systems—CAML-H (Heavy) and CAML-M (Medium)—designed to deliver highly mobile, cross-domain fires with minimal human involvement and rapid resupply capabilities. Both variants are intended to augment or replace existing Army launchers.
CAML-H will be built on ~15-ton chassis such as the M1075 Palletized Load System and armed with either Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles (TLAM) for deep strike or Patriot Advanced Capability-3 Missile Segment Enhancement (PAC-3 MSE) interceptors for air and missile defense.
CAML-M will use Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles (FMTV) platforms and support either the Multiple Launch Rocket System Family of Munitions (MFOM) or AIM-9X interceptors under the Indirect Fire Protection Capability (IFPC) program for shorter-range fires and base defense.
RCCTO anticipates awarding up to seven prototypes—five CAML-H (4 TLAM, 1 PAC-3 MSE), two CAML-M (1 MFOM, 1 AIM-9X), and one Autonomous Resupply Vehicle (ARV)—with operational assessments at 18, 24, and 36 months post-award. The effort will follow a phased OTA process
Response Deadline: July 30
8. USARCENT & DEVCOM AC Sources Sought for C-sUAS Experimentation Events - Link
Seeking TRL 5+ sensor, effector, and C2 systems capable of delivering hard-kill effects against Group 1–3 UASs; systems must function as part of an interoperable, networked C-sUAS architecture
Assessments will be conducted at Fort Walker, Virginia, during Operation Hard Kill, and at Red Sands 25.2, a joint U.S.–partner-nation live-fire event in Saudi Arabia designed to test C-sUAS technologies under realistic desert and contested electromagnetic conditions
Emphasis on “networked lethality”—systems must integrate with agnostic C2 nodes to enable layered, multi-node coordination across sensors, effectors, and decision tools in dynamic threat environments
Participants may also showcase non-assessed capabilities across the broader kill chain, including counter-operator targeting, persistent ISR, electronic warfare (EW) integration, and air-ground coordination
Army will provide equipment, transport, and munitions, but vendors are responsible for labor, travel, and per diem
Response Deadline: July 15
9. 23d Wing (Moody AFB) Sources Sought for Small Unmanned Aircraft System - Link
Seeking lightweight, compact, and rapidly deployable sUAS with advanced autonomous capabilities and multi-modal sensor payloads
Required features include RF-silent stealth mode, radiometric thermal imaging, telephoto zoom, 50MP mapping optics, and full functionality in zero-light conditions
Must support launch and recovery from moving vehicles and vessels, with dynamic obstacle/collision avoidance
Quantity not specified, but requirements suggest interest in a small fleet of high-performance systems for operational use—not just evaluation
Part of the 23rd Wing’s mission is forward air control and combat support for CCDR requirements worldwide
Response Deadline: July 10
10. ONR Classified Industry Day, Registration Closes Today - Link
Industry input sought to shape transition pathways to the Fleet and program offices, with emphasis on identifying capability gaps and accelerating innovation insertion
Features presentations from ONR’s S&T Departments—including C5ISRT, Ocean Battlespace Sensing, Sea Warfare and Weapons, Warfighter Performance, and Naval Air Warfare and Weapons—as well as NavalX, ONR Global, and the Small Business Office
Response Deadline: July 7, with event slated for August 28 at ONR’s Arlington, VA HQ. Attendance capped at 120.
11. SDA Solicitation for Rapid Proliferated LEO Tech Demo - Link
SDA is establishing the Europa program as part of its Tranche 2 Demonstration and Experimentation System (T2DES) effort, using the Hybrid Acquisition of Low-Earth Orbit (HALO) contract vehicle—an OT-based mechanism for rapidly fielding space prototypes with pre-screened industry partners
The Europa program consists of two tracks with multiple awards expected:
Track 1 funds a two-satellite demo of advanced tactical waveforms in a COCO model to inform future communications architectures; performance period includes 12–18 months of development and integration, followed by at least one year of on-orbit operations, with options for two additional years
Track 2 seeks commercially owned solutions that can deliver SDA-prioritized data as a service using existing or near-term space assets; performance period includes 6 months of on-orbit demonstration within 3–6 months of award
Response Deadline: Executive Summaries due July 28; Full Proposals due August 29, with award decisions expected by October 14.
12. PEO STRI Special Notice for Data Centric Ecosystem Tabletop Exchange - Link
Soliciting industry input on AI-enabled tools to automate training feedback, scenario generation, and Level of Repair Analysis (LORA)
Prioritizing three focus areas:
Automated generation of instructor and analyst reports from multimodal data
AI-assisted scenario design to reduce CTC/Warfighter prep time
Predictive, real-time sustainment modeling for optimized repair planning
Emphasizing integration with Army Enterprise platforms and STE systems, as well as lightweight soldier- and weapon-mounted sensors for training data capture
Tabletop Exchange to be held July 18 with Central Florida Tech Grove; participation requires registration and submission of capability statement or brochure
Response Deadline: July 16
13. DEVCOM BAA for Aviation and Missile R&D - Link
Highlights 18+ priority technical topic areas including launched effects, intelligent teaming & autonomy, missile propulsion, advanced seekers, and survivability systems
Subsequent funding opportunities (via Calls or Amendments) will outline specific topics, funding levels, and submission timelines; both One-Step (full proposal) and Two-Step (concept paper then proposal) paths supported
Response Deadline: Rolling; BAA valid for 5 years from July 3, 2025.
14. DHA Solicitation for Optimized Blood Tracking and Distribution Support Services - Link
Replaces the legacy Theater Blood-Mobile (TBLD-M) module with a DDIL-resilient system that tracks blood from donor to transfusion and improves joint force supply chain visibility.
Delivers Agile-driven software upgrades, interface development, cloud migration, and training tools to sustain this operational medicine capability.
Intended to integrate with Operational Medicine Data Service (OMDS), Joint Operational Medicine Information Systems (JOMIS), and Medical Communications for Combat Casualty Care (MC4) to ensure continuity across deployed medical IT environments.
Response Deadline: July 28
15. DARPA Proposers Day for Network of Optimal Dynamic Energy Signatures (NODES) - Link
Seeks AI tools that can predict protein function by analyzing movement—not just structure—to accelerate detection of unknown or engineered biological threats.
Despite data on hundreds of millions of protein sequences, functions are known for less than 1%. NODES will close this gap by modeling how proteins fold, bind, and communicate internally.
Response Deadlines: July 25
Proposers Day: August 1 (in-person & virtual)
16. NavalX Event Notice for Submarine Hull Inspection - Link
NavalX, ONR, and NAVSEA Team Subs hosting a classified industry day on July 30 to explore innovative approaches for in-water submarine hull inspection
Two-hour sessions will present operational problems and strategic context; follow-on one-on-one engagements with select vendors anticipated but not yet scheduled
Event aims to shape future acquisition—attendance not required for later participation, but offers early insight into problem framing and key stakeholders
SECRET clearance required; registration capped at two attendees per company
Response Deadline: July 18
17. PM Mounted Armored Vehicle Systems Sources Sought for Logistics Fielding and Technical Support Services - Link
Seeking post-production logistic fielding and System Technical Support (STS) for the Bradley Fighting Vehicle (BFV), Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle (AMPV), and M88 Combat Recovery Vehicle Families of Vehicles (FoVs) from July 2026 through July 2031
Support includes New and Displaced Equipment Training (NET/DET), deprocessing, Field Service Representative (FSR) support (CONUS and OCONUS), repair activities, vehicle maintenance, and Field Modification Work Order (MWO) execution—all without a government-furnished Technical Data Package (TDP)
Contractors must be capable of supporting simultaneous operations at multiple fielding sites, managing and shipping parts, using Army logistics systems (e.g., MMIS, SPOT), and operating in OCONUS environments under export control and security requirements
Response Deadline: July 11
18. Army RFI for Best Squad Competition Event Support on National Mall - Link
Seeks event management firm to deliver full-spectrum support—planning, equipment, logistics, setup/teardown—for the HQDA Best Squad Competition public event, Oct 10–12, 2025, on the National Mall or alternate site.
Work includes layout development, vendor coordination, and event-day execution; planning begins August 1, emphasizing coordination with National Park Service and other federal/local stakeholders.
Draft PWS outlines detailed functional and logistical requirements, with a focus on high-visibility Army branding and community engagement objectives.
Response Deadline: July 9
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