NOVASTAR

The Department of the Air Force National Air and Space Intelligence Center (NASIC) established NOVASTAR, a Master IDIQ for research, development, sustainment, and production of technical intelligence capabilities, with ordering authority extending to August 18, 2027. The vehicle carries a shared ceiling of $4.797 billion and has produced 110 task orders since its August 19, 2022 award, with combined task-order potential value of $1.04 billion and $417.5 million obligated to date.

NASIC replaced predecessor vehicles including ATEP II, AVIPSS7, CASP II, FAST IV, FME III, HAVESTAR VII, IMD, SESS III, and MEGASTAR. Ordering momentum accelerated from five task orders in 2022 to peaks of 40 in 2024 and 34 in 2025, with three orders to date in 2026 as of early May. Task orders fund air, space, missile, cyber, and technical intelligence production spanning geospatial intelligence (GEOINT), signals intelligence (SIGINT), radio frequency (RF) signatures, electro-optical and infrared (EO/IR) analysis, non-cooperative target identification (NCTI), persistent infrared (PIR) operations, modeling and simulation, bistatic radar collection, directed energy weapons analysis, and ancillary platform sustainment and data engineering. Recent orders cover specialized work such as GEOINT scene prediction, space-based ISR analysis, high-frequency automation, mission planning tools (MPAT), and counterspace support. Pricing across awarded orders is exclusively Cost Plus Fixed Fee.

Altamira Technologies Corp and Radiance Technologies Inc. dominate the competitive landscape, holding $318.5 million and $302.4 million in combined potential value respectively across 27 and 34 task orders. Modern Technology Solutions, Inc. ranks third with $264.1 million across 20 orders. Xandar LLC and Epsilon C5I Inc. hold smaller shares at $79.4 million and $71 million respectively. The top three primes collectively represent approximately 89% of awarded potential value.

NASIC funds approximately 91% of orders ($909.7 million of $1.039 billion potential value). The remaining 9% distributes across the broader Department of the Air Force ($120.3 million), Air Force Space Command Space and Missile Systems Center ($1.9 million), and DOD Missile Defense Agency ($3.6 million).

Set-aside activity reflects a mixed portfolio: 62 orders (56%) are unrestricted, while 48 orders (44%) carry total small business set-asides. Recent awards show concentration in small business set-asides for sustainment and operational support work, with unrestricted awards dominating research and development efforts. Task-order ceilings range from under $1 million to $91.6 million, with most recent awards in the $2 million to $30 million band. Duration extends from roughly two to five years post-award.

National Air and Space Intelligence Center (NASIC) requires contract support for research, development, and sustainment of new and existing hardware, systems, and software capabilities enabling scientific and technical intelligence production for the United States Air Force (USAF), the Department of Defense (DoD) and National Level intelligence efforts. NASIC also requires contract support for the production of technical intelligence through collection, analysis, planning, processing, dissemination, archiving and associated activities for NASIC, the USAF, the DoD and National Level intelligence efforts. The work provides agile and innovative resource capability supporting technical analysis in the Intelligence Community, turning innovation into intelligence products, and constantly improving productivity in technical analysis product generation. NASIC's mission is to discover and characterize air, space, missile, forces, and cyber threats to enable full-spectrum multi-domain operations, drive weapon system acquisition, and inform national defense policy.