Electromagnetic Spectrum Services (EMS)

The Defense Information Systems Agency established this Master IDIQ for Electromagnetic Spectrum (EMS) Services — covering operations, electromagnetic environmental effects (E3) engineering, and strategic planning support — on June 1, 2016, but ordering closed on May 31, 2021, making this vehicle inactive for new work for over five years. With combined potential value of $65.2 million, 98% already obligated across 25 task orders, and no orders placed since September 2019, pursuit is not viable.

The vehicle funded work ranging from on-the-ground operational spectrum support to long-range planning and policy analysis. Task orders spanning 2016–2019 covered modeling and simulation, E3 engineering support for joint ordnance programs, AWS-3 spectrum coordination and portal operations, shared spectrum testing and demonstration, JCIDS EMS survivability assessment, warfighter support (JSIR), and spectrum-sharing analysis. Most work operated under cost-plus fixed fee or firm fixed price terms, with duration typically two to four years.

Peraton Inc. dominated the prime contractor base, holding 8 orders worth $39.8 million combined potential value (61% of the portfolio), followed by Amentum Services, Inc. with $11.2 million (3 orders) and Calvert Systems Engineering, Inc. with $5 million (2 orders). The remaining seven primes shared the residual $8.2 million. All 25 orders funded the Defense Information Systems Agency exclusively.

About three-quarters of the orders (19 of 25) carried no set-aside, with the remainder split between total small business (2 orders) and partial small business (4 orders) designations. Task orders ranged from nominal size (several five-hundred-dollar orders for cost-no-fee operational support at vehicle launch) to $9.1 million for JSIR warfighter support and $6.4 million for regulatory and enterprise architecture work. Order flow declined sharply from 13 awards in 2016 to 9 in 2017, then to just 1 in 2018 and 2 in 2019, with no new activity thereafter.

Electromagnetic Spectrum (EMS) Services for Operations/Electromagnetic Environmental Effects (E3) Engineering, and Strategic Planning Support. The Defense Spectrum Organization's (DSO) mission is to enable effective and efficient use of the EMS in support of national security and military objectives. The DSO is responsible for a broad range of EMS services and capabilities, ranging from short notice on-the-ground operational support at the forward edge, to long range spectrum planning and policy support in pursuit of national strategic objectives.