AOI 27-A002 .pdf

Naval Information Warfare Center (NIWC) Atlantic

Rapid Capabilities Office (RCO)

Commercial Solutions Opening (CSO)

N65236-26-S-0001

Prototype Title: Commercial Technology Accelerator

Area of Interest (AOI) Number: 27-A002

Command Focus Area: Decision Advantage

Problem Statement:

The Department of War (DoW) Enterprise Software Initiatives (ESI) requires a faster, more objective, and more reliable method to identify commercially successful emerging technologies, validate actual DoW demand for those technologies, assess whether they can be used securely within the DoW environment, and enable commercial vendors to successfully understand and adapt to DoW acquisition, licensing, pricing, and business practice requirements.

Many commercially successful software publishers, OEMs, and technology providers are currently unwilling or unable to effectively do business with the DoW due to barriers related to security compliance, cybersecurity authorization processes, unfamiliarity with defense acquisition and fiscal requirements, and misalignment between commercial licensing models and

DoW enterprise needs.

Current ad-hoc approaches result in slow adoption timelines, significant administrative burden on Government personnel, missed opportunities for innovative capabilities, and reduced buying power.

NIWC Atlantic seeks a prototype that will demonstrate a more effective, repeatable, measurable, and scalable method to accelerate the path from market identification of emerging commercial technologies to DoW-ready adoption decisions.

Desired Solution:

NIWC Atlantic, on behalf of DoW ESI, seeks innovative commercial solutions, methodologies, processes, and supporting toolkits to prototype a comprehensive business process that achieves the following outcomes:

A successful solution must demonstrate the ability to:

• Identify promising commercial emerging technologies using objective market signals and indicators of commercial success.

• Identify, validate, and prioritize meaningful demand signals from across the DoW.

• Effectively match commercially viable technologies to validated DoW needs.

• Assess security, compliance, and technical feasibility for use within the DoW environment.

• Educate and prepare commercial vendors on the acquisition, licensing, pricing, fiscal, and business practice requirements necessary to successfully transact with the DoW.

• Reduce recurring administrative burden on Government personnel while preserving all

Government decision authorities.

• Demonstrate the end-to-end process through a practical pilot using real or realistic DoW demand signals and candidate technologies.

The Government is particularly interested in practical, measurable, repeatable, and scalable approaches that can be piloted quickly and transitioned for broader use if successful.

Additional attributes are detailed below that would add more value to a proposed solution.

Primary Attributes (Highly desired):

• Objective, auditable, and repeatable process design

• Plain-language artifacts usable by both Government and industry participants

• Ability to support activities at multiple classification levels as required

• Design that minimizes long-term dependency on contractor support

• Clear preservation of Government authority over requirements, priorities, source selection, security authorization, and final decision-making

Secondary Attributes (strongly desired)

• Evidence of prior experience designing or executing technology scouting, demand-validation, security-readiness facilitation, or commercial-to-Government adoption processes at enterprise scale.

• Preference for solutions that can demonstrate rapid pilot utility within the first 6 months.

Prior Demonstration and Fielding:

Preference may be given to companies that can provide evidence of relevant experience in technology scouting, market intelligence, or commercial-to-Government adoption processes at

Technical Readiness Level (TRL) 6 or higher and can demonstrate the prototype process in an unclassified environment during Phase 2.

DOD Contract Security Classification Specification (DD254):

This requirement is unclassified.

Solutions Briefs:

Interested companies shall submit a solution brief within the Vulcan platform (vulcan-sof.com) no later than 2359 Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) 21 Oct 2026. Solutions briefs shall not contain

CUI and shall meet the requirements specified in CSO N65236-26-S-0001 paragraph 7.2. In addition, the solution brief shall detail how the nontraditional business participation as defined in

CSO N65236-26-S-0001 paragraph 6.2 will be met. If proposing a teaming partner to meet nontraditional requirements, that teaming partner must be identified by name in the solution brief and their cage code provided for verification. If an offeror is proposing to meet the requirement by providing a cost share this must be explicitly stated in the solution brief.

Late submissions will not be considered.

The Government reserves the right to limit the number of entities invited to pitch based on the evaluation conducted in accordance with CSO N65236-26-S-0001 paragraph 7.2.2. Solution

Briefs that are chosen for the Phase 2 Pitch will be notified in writing as soon as practicable.

Pitch: The Government anticipates hosting virtual Pitch hosted by NIWC Atlantic for this AOI.

Tentative dates for the pitches will be 2 through 6 November 2026. Solution Briefs that are chosen for the Phase 2 Pitch will be notified in writing as soon as practicable. The pitch session will be centered on a demonstration of the solution. The pitch must begin with a brief Solution

Overview providing a Bottom Line Up Front (BLUF) of the company's capabilities, their direct relevance to the AOI, and a top-level cost summary. Following the overview, the vendor is expected to describe a proposed product with a known requirement that would be used to successfully demonstrate the proposed process and deliver a prototype with the artifacts to support the transition to a production agreement. During this pitch, the vendor is expected to showcase its past successes and how the effort would be applied to procurement and delivery of the prototype to the known end user. The pitch should prove the core capabilities outlined in the

AOI. The pitch must present a complete solution and outline a credible pathway to address the full problem set.

Questions related to this AOI can be sent to:

Questions related to this AOI can be submitted to Jessie Rehwoldt at jessie.m.rehwoldt.civ@us.navy.mil. Solutions Briefs emailed directly to Jessie Rehwoldt will not be accepted for this AOI. Solutions briefs must be submitted via the Vulcan platform to be evaluated.

Potential for Follow-On Production Contract:

Companies are advised that any prototype agreement awarded in response to this AOI may result in the direct award of a follow-on production agreement without the use of further competitive procedures.

Public Announcements:

mailto:jessie.m.rehwoldt.civ@us.navy.mil

No press releases or public announcements regarding AOI 27-A001 can be made ahead of notification from the Government regarding down select to Phase II pitches. Non-compliance with this policy may result in potential exclusion from further consideration in the AOI evaluation.