ARES Lightning Networking Session Invite.pdf

Kessel Run Flight Operations (Flight Ops) Aerospace Readiness Enterprise System (ARES)

Invitation to Lightning Networking Session and

Draft Strategy Review

OVERVIEW

In support of the Flight Ops ARES acquisition, the Kessel Run WingC2 Program Management Office (PMO) will host a Lightning Networking Session (LNS) on 4 September 2025. Additional information regarding the Flight Ops ARES program can be found in the recently published Request for Information (RFI) on SAM.gov:

https://sam.gov/opp/e958704dfd504bc3a095c2e3502e3390/view

PURPOSE

The Government expects that strong offeror teams, with the ability to apply a broad range of knowledge, skills, and tools across the entire ARES enterprise requirement, will form the basis of successful offers. To encourage such partnership and teaming, the Government intends to allow interested companies the opportunity to participate in an LNS on 4 September 2025 at 09:00 Eastern Time via a Microsoft Teams meeting.

LIGHTNING NETWORKING SESSION EVENT

The primary purpose of this LNS is to gather potential offerors together and provide an opportunity for them to brief the Government and one another on their respective capabilities and gaps while fostering an environment of dialogue that leads to teaming.

Based on recent market research, the Government believes that no single vendor provides all of the attributes necessary to most efficiently and effectively meet the Government’s requirements in a timely manner. Therefore, teaming between various offerors is the only strategy that will close the capability gaps and provide for a successful outcome in support of Warfighter needs

– DON’T GO IT ALONE, BE READY TO TEAM!

The Government does not anticipate the effort necessary to participate in the LNS to be burdensome. Potential offerors are there to brief each other, in a Government facilitated forum, in order to develop successful teaming strategies. All costs associated with participation in the LNS will be borne by the participants. The Government will not reimburse offerors for any expense associated with participating in the LNS. Participants are instructed to not include any classified materials in their LNS submissions.

LNS RULES OF ENGAGEMENT

Companies will be given the opportunity to provide a presentation (of no more than 3 slides) on their capabilities, for the purpose of partnering with other companies in this acquisition. This session will be entirely virtual. Each participating company will be given up to five (5) minutes to present the following:

1. A brief overview of the company’s interest in ARES – this can include a summary of strength areas that the company can offer against ARES needs

2. A brief summary of what the company is looking for in a teaming partner, and

3. Points of Contact for interested partners to reach out to

Participants will be limited to five (5) minutes for their presentation. The discussion will be moderated by the Government. Should a vendor reach this time limit without completing their presentation, the Government moderator will terminate the presentation at the 5-minute mark and advance to the next company. The order of the presentations will be randomly assigned and communicated prior to the event.

https://sam.gov/opp/e958704dfd504bc3a095c2e3502e3390/view

Every participant in the LNS must provide a presentation. Participants will not be permitted to “listen only.” Only companies who are interested in forming a partnership to meet the Flight Ops ARES need should attend the session.

RESPONSE INSTRUCTIONS

Any company that is interested in participating in the LNS shall RSVP (with company information and Point of Contact) to the Agreements Officer, Ms. Lauren Cheslofska, lauren.cheslofska@us.af.mil, the Contract Specialist, Capt Leonardo Dominguez leonardo.dominguez.1@us.af.mil, the ARES Program Manager, 1st Lt Evan Pomfret, evan.pomfret.1@us.af.mil and the Deputy Integrated Product Team Lead, Mr. William Fondriest, william.fondriest@us.af.mil no later than 1600 Eastern Time on 15 August 2025. No later than 48 hours prior to the beginning of the LNS, RSVP’d companies will provide a copy of their slides to the Government Points of Contact.

In addition to the Lightning Networking Session information provided above, the Kessel Run Program Management Office is requesting industry feedback on ARES DRAFT Statement of Need and DRAFT Acquisition Strategy below.

DRAFT ARES STATEMENT OF NEED (SON):

The following outlines the Government’s SoN and should provide potential offerors adequate information on what the desired end state enterprise solution should encompass. Offerors are encouraged to provide high-level feedback to the Government on what their proposed Minimum Viable Product (MVP) would include, specifically, for the prototyping phase and in support of the replacement of the Graduate/Training Integration Management System (G/TIMS). Figure 1 provides a visual overview of the ARES requirement as a whole.

1. Develop a cloud-based, mobile-accessible enterprise solution designed to modernize and streamline Air Force and Guardian aircrew readiness management. By replicating the capabilities of existing systems like Puckboard and Patriot Excalibur (PEX), along with others like G/TIMS, ARES aims to create a single, future-proof aerospace combat readiness system. This system will automate scheduling, enhance situational awareness, optimize resource allocation, and maximize sortie generation and value.

Leveraging Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning (AI/M) and real-time data, ARES aims to reduce labor hours and errors while improving decision-making through a user-friendly interface. Under DAF PEO C3BM, ARES will integrate with the broader DAF BATTLE NETWORK, aligning with investments in Mission Planning Systems, Air Operations Centers, and Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS) to contribute to the Theater Air Planning System of Systems (TAP-SoS) architecture and support global operations. The transfer of Operational Energy and Installation Resilience efforts to Kessel Run Flight Operations further consolidates this integration within the DAF BATTLE

NETWORK.

2. Provide predictive scheduling, modeling & simulation capability to synchronize unit and command planning, improving scheduling and forecasting accuracy. Optimize crew and flying hour utilization to balance Rapid Global Mobility (RGM) mission taskings with aircrew seasoning. Enhance the ability to visualize and iteratively adjust crew schedules using transparent recommendation algorithms.

mailto:lauren.cheslofska@us.af.mil mailto:leonardo.dominguez.1@us.af.mil mailto:evan.pomfret.1@us.af.mil mailto:william.fondriest@us.af.mil

Decrease scheduling cycle time and increase accuracy through mobile device connectivity allowing real-time, global, crew and scheduler collaboration at Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) IL-4 level. Interface with and enhance existing programs of record to streamline workflows, save time and resources. Accelerate information delivered to support data-informed decision-making based on a shared situational awareness at all levels and across complementary functional areas, with data accessible for problem solving by digitally adept airmen. Access is available where the airmen are (e.g., Electronic Flight Bags (EFB), smartphones).

3. Generates mission paperwork and securely delivers it to the required offices and systems of record (i.e., ARMS/ARTEMIS) post-mission once connected to the internet. Pre-mission, flight planning is conducted on one system, which provides aircraft availability, maintenance status, and aircrew training status. This application would provide one central location for crews to receive/input the required Pre/Post mission paperwork, at the time the crew needs/performs the action and disseminate that information to the required offices post mission via the Internet.

4. Scheduling in a collaborative crew management tool that utilizes intelligent recommendations to increase accuracy/decrease scheduling cycle time.

5. Logging pre/post- mission paperwork function that effectively generates mission paperwork and securely delivers it to the required offices and systems of record post mission.

6. Training management capabilities that involve management and evaluation of syllabus-driven and currency-driven training requirements. Syllabus-driven training will require the ability to build a syllabus, test to the syllabus, and ingest syllabus requirements from HHQs.

7. Develop and deploy a secure, modular, and scalable software platform that:

a. Is hosted and developed on the Operations Enterprise Architecture (OpsEA) platform

b. Ingests multi-source security telemetry (e.g., endpoint detection, threat intel)

c. Automatically correlates alerts and triggers pre-approved response playbooks

d. Integrates into Zero Trust environments and supports both classified (IL-6) and unclassified (IL-4) enclaves.

e. Offers Auditability, reporting, and authority-to-operate (ATO) compliance as part of a Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery/Development (CI/CD), DevSecOps hardened pipeline.

Figure 1. ARES Requirements Overview

*ATO in this context indicates Air Tasking Order

GOVERNMENT’S DRAFT PROPOSED ARES ACQUISITION STRATEGY

The Government’s acquisition strategy is to award an Other Transaction Prototype (OTP) pursuant to 10 U.S.C. § 4022. Each offeror team will be required to meet one of the following criteria prior to being considered for an OTP award.

1. There is at least one non-traditional defense contractor or non-profit research institution participating to a significant extent in the prototype project. The Government Agreements Officer will determine the definition of “significant extent” as it relates to this requirement and whether the offeror meets this standard.

2. Pursuant to 10 U.S.C. § 3014, the term “non-traditional defense contractor,” with respect to a procurement or with respect to a transaction authorized under 10 U.S.C. § 4021 or 4022 means, any entity that is not currently performing and has not performed, for at least the one-year period preceding the solicitation of sources by the Department of Defense for the procurement or transaction, any contract or subcontract for the Department of Defense that is subject to full coverage under the cost accounting standards (CAS) prescribed pursuant to §1502 of title 41 and the regulations implementing such section.

3. All significant participants in the transaction, other than the Federal Government, are small businesses (including small businesses participating in a program described under section 9 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. § 638)) or non-traditional defense contractors, or

4. At least one third (1/3) of the total cost of the prototype project is to be paid out of funds provided by sources other than the Federal Government.

Following the LNS, the Government will release to industry its request for solution solicitation requesting white papers from potential offerors for evaluation and selection into the OTP phase of the acquisition process. Potential offerors will be required to identify in their response their teaming structure, prototype solution, and how they meet one, or more, of the requirements outlined in 10 U.S.C. § 4022.

White paper responses shall be limited to ten (10) pages and provide the offeror’s technical solution to meet the MVP requirements which will be provided within the solution solicitation.

Completion of the MVP will constitute the end state for the OTP.

Upon receipt and evaluation of solution proposals from offerors the Government will select between two (2) and four (4) offeror teams for the OTP. The prototyping phase will last approximately three (3) months and will include minimal funding from the Government (~$500K for each prototype) and multiple check-in points to determine progress.

Upon completion of the prototyping phase, the Government will evaluate each prototype submitted and make a determination on which solution best meets the Government’s MVP requirements. The prototype and/or prototypes that best meet the stated criteria will be considered for an OT production agreement. The Government reserves the right to award more than one production OT or none at all.

Teams may anticipate a successful MVP to demonstrate the following capabilities.

• Demonstrated ability to develop and deploy the application within an IL-4 environment

• Demonstrated ability to schedule pilots and crews for a minimum of two different airframe types within the application

• Demonstrated ability to track and monitor training syllabi and curriculum

• Demonstrated ability to track pilot and crew availability and readiness

• Demonstrated ability to develop and deploy the application within the OpsEA platform

DRAFT ARES ACQUISITION SCHEDULE

The following outlines the DRAFT acquisition schedule proposed by the Government.

Acquisition Milestone Date

Intent to Participate from offerors 15 August 2025

Lightning Network Session 4 September 2025

Release Solution Solicitation 27 October 2025

Receive Solutions from offerors 31 October 2025

Evaluation of Solutions from offerors 6 November 2025

Prototype OT Award 7 January 2026

Prototype Delivered-Minimum Viable Product (MVP) 6 April 2026

Production OT Award 29 June 2026

Minimum Viability Capability Requirement (MVCR) 14 May 2027

The Flight Ops ARES acquisition schedule is driven by the sunsetting of G/TIMS in May 2027;

Flight Ops ARES will be the replacement and modernization solution for G/TIMS as well as the PEX and Puckboard products. As a result, the milestones, contract schedule, and development timeline are all directly related to transitioning G/TIMS, PEX, and Puckboard users to the ARES solution prior to the sunset date.

DRAFT SOLICITATION INDUSTRY FEEDBACK

Based on the draft solicitation approach defined in this document, the Government would like to receive a short unstructured white paper response to the below five (5) questions. Answering these questions will provide the Government with a better understanding of industry’s concerns and allow for a better interaction with industry.

1. What are your recommended evaluation criteria for selection to enter the prototype phase?

2. If you were the Government, what would you do differently?

3. What risks & opportunities do you identify regarding the use of the Salesforce platform/OpsEA Framework?

4. Are there any elements of the Government’s strategy you are having difficulty with, do not understand, or would like more information on?

5. What additional information (e.g., Bidders’ Library information) is required from the

Government in order for you to effectively propose?

These white papers should be provided to the Government prior to the LNS but are not mandatory for participation in the LNS. Submissions following the LNS will be accepted by the Government.

This announcement is not a solicitation; it is for information purposes only. This announcement does not constitute an Invitation for Bid or Request for Proposal and is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government. The Government will not reimburse offerors for any expense associated with responding to these questions. Participants are instructed to not include any classified materials in their response to these questions.