ASE Systems Engineer RFI - 28 Jan 26.pdf

DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE

PORTFOLIO ACQUISTION EXECUTIVE FOR COMMAND, CONTROL,

COMMUNICATIONS, AND BATTLE MANAGEMENT (PAE C3BM)

ARCHITECTURE AND SYSTEM ENGINEERING (ASE)

HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE M A S S A C H U S E T T S

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION/SOURCE SOUGHT SYNOPSIS

RESPONSE INSTRUCTIONS

THIS IS A NOTICE OF A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION. IT IS NOT A SOLICITATION NOR

DOES IT GUARANTEE A SOLICITATION WILL BE ISSUED.

1.0 DISCLAIMER

This announcement constitutes a Request for Information (RFI) for the purpose of determining market capability of sources or obtaining information for the Department of the Air Force (DAF). It does not constitute a Request for Proposal (RFP), a Request for Quote (RFQ) or an indication that the Government will contract for any of the items and/or services discussed in this notice.

Any information submitted by respondents to this notice is strictly voluntary. Any formal solicitation that may subsequently be issued will be announced separately through SAM.gov. It is the responsibility of any potential respondent to monitor SAM.gov for additional information pertaining to this topic.

The Government intends to review responses to this RFI for acquisition planning, market research, and requirement development purposes.

2.0 BACKGROUND

The Portfolio Acquisition Executive (PAE) for Command, Control, Communications, and Battle Management (PAE C3BM) AFLCMC/C3, is a Department of the Air Force organization located at Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts. However, they have multiple supporting locations across the continental United States (CONUS).

PAE C3BM is responsible for the acquisition and delivery of the DAF BATTLE NETWORK (DBN), an integrated system-of-systems that connects sensors, effectors, and logistics systems to provide better situational awareness and faster decision-making for the joint force.

The DBN is the Air Force's contribution to the broader Department of War (DoW) initiative of Combined Joint All-Domain Command and Control (CJADC2). The Architecture and Systems Engineering (ASE) group within PAE C3BM is responsible for the architecture design and systems engineering of the DBN. The ASE group drives mission integration to enable warfighter capabilities, supports decision-making with operational analysis and leads stakeholder communities for integrated capability delivery. The ASE group leverages Government expertise from multiple areas; Air Force Research Laboratory's Integrated Capabilities Directorate, Air Force Life Cycle Management's PAE C3BM, and Secretary of the Air Force Space Acquisition and Integration Space Systems Integration Office.

The group is comprised of specialized teams dedicated to a specific operational domain such as: Maritime, Air, Space, Homeland Defense, Electronic Warfare and other key domains. A key aspect of ASE's work is to identify critical mission needs and determine how different weapon systems can collaborate to achieve objectives, ensuring the DBN directly supports closing kill chains for relevant mission engineering threads.

The ASE Group is issuing this RFI to gather insights and identify potential partners for a critical initiative to modernize our communication infrastructure and enhance our operational capabilities. We are seeking to engage with innovative organizations that can provide cutting-edge solutions and expertise in the areas of technology exploration, architecture development, systems engineering, systems integration, operational analysis, and managing systems of systems engineering tasks using Agile/SCRUM practices.

3.0. SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS

Respondents shall submit individual responses that address all the questions identified in paragraph 4.0, Questions for Industry. Each submittal shall include company mailing address, a point of contact (name, title, phone number, e-mail), and CAGE code. If not registered with a CAGE code, respondents shall provide a Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) number. If the contractor does not have a SAM registration, the company should detail its intent to obtain this information.

Submittals shall include company nation of incorporation, large business, small business, small-disadvantaged business, SBA 8(a) small disadvantage business, woman-owned small business, economically disadvantaged woman-owned small business, service-disabled veteran-owned small business, or Hub Zone small business as defined by Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 19. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Code for this acquisition is 541330 and the small business size standard is $25.5 million.

All questions in response to this RFI shall be delivered NLT 06 February 2026, 4:00PM EST. Submittals shall be delivered NLT 13 February 2026, 4:00 PM EST.

Responses received after the requested date may not be considered nor assessed.

If proprietary information is submitted, it shall be portion marked, by paragraph, to clearly identify proprietary information. All information received in response to this RFI that is marked proprietary will be handled accordingly. Respondent’s submittals that include data that they do not want disclosed to the public, nor used by the Government for other than RFI evaluation purposes, shall be marked with a legend conforming to 48 C.F.R. § 52.215-1(e).

a. Submittals shall not exceed 20 total pages in length: single-sided, single-spaced, and no smaller than Arial or Times New Roman size 10 font. This page limitation does not include supplemental tables, figures, illustrations, diagrams, charts, or simulation data. Supplemental data shall not exceed an additional 10 total pages (single-sided, single-spaced, Arial size 10 font) in length. Links are highly encouraged for digital information used in supplements.

b. All responses shall be delivered in PDF format and emailed to the following individuals:

Mr. Cahi Hardy, Contracting Officer, AFLCMC/C3AK, cahi.hardy@us.af.mil

Ms. Katharine Deconzo, Contracting Officer, AFLCMC/C3AK, katharine.deconzo@us.af.mil

Kaitlyn Adamson, Program Manager, AFRL/RSAE;

AFLCMC/C3A, kaitlyn.adamson@us.af.mil

Sylvia Laravie, Business Manager, AFRL/RSAE, AFLCMC/C3A, sylvia.laravie@us.af.mil

The subject line of the email shall read: “C3BM ASE Systems Engineering Response by (Company Name)”

Introductory and/or summary information may be included in respondents’ submittals in accordance with the page limitations identified in Section 3.0.

4.0. QUESTIONS & REQUESTS TO INDUSTRY

Respondents shall provide specific, verifiable answers to the following questions. Responses should be direct and concise.

Corporate Experience and Capabilities

Overall Experience: Describe your company's overall experience in providing systems engineering, architecture, and technical support to Department of Defense (DoD) or other federal agencies on programs of similar scope and complexity.

Past Performance: Provide specific examples of up to three relevant contracts from the last five years. For each, describe the customer, the scope of work, the contract value, and how the effort relates to the capabilities described in this RFI.

Personnel: Describe the qualifications, certifications, and clearance levels of the key personnel who would be assigned to this effort.

Facilities: Describe your facility capabilities, including any cleared labs, simulation environments, or integration facilities that would be utilized to support this work.

Technology Exploration

Describe your established processes for conducting assessments of emerging technologies to identify candidates that can address capability gaps.

How do you propose to identify and evaluate technologies to accelerate development and acquisition?

What is your approach to collaborating with the government and operators to understand and identify capability gaps?

Architecture, Integration, and Analysis

What is your experience in developing, integrating, and analyzing command and control infrastructures for large enterprises or government entities?

What is your experience in systems engineering and systems integration of DoD command, control, and communication architectures?

Describe your relevant experience in areas of mission engineering and related mission thread analysis for complex kill chains in highly contested environments.

Describe your capabilities in refining and implementing zero-trust architectures, particularly within military networks and at the tactical edge.

Describe your methodology for decomposing complex infrastructure and data transmission needs into key functional areas for comparison against dual-use technologies.

What is your experience in assessing and implementing Zero Trust security models in cloud and software-defined network environments?

What solutions can you provide to ensure networks operate through contested environments with minimal downtime, potentially leveraging commercial partnerships?

Applications and User Experience:

Describe your experience with distributed, resilient data architecture and the use of edge devices.

What is your approach to migrating applications to the cloud using a strict DevSecOps methodology?

What is your experience in Systems of Systems Architecture Development, including designing and implementing C2 systems architecture and analyzing Risks, Issues, Gaps, and Opportunities (RIGOS)?

Describe your approach to Technical Management, including designing and implementing Mission Integration Teams (MITs) and managing systems of systems engineering tasks using Agile/SCRUM practices.

What is your experience in establishing a systems engineering governance structure to manage complexity, streamline communications, and codify decisions for a system of systems network?

Capability Acceleration

Describe your capabilities in providing prototypes for laboratory and field assessments.

What is your process for procuring commercial or non-developmental items for assessment and evaluation?

How do you provide training and support for prototypes to DoD components and other government agencies?

Security

Can your company support work at multiple classification levels to include Secret/NOFORN (S/NF), Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS/SCI), and SAP Networks?

What workspaces do you have available to work at these classification levels?

Do you have access to government systems (i.e. NIPR, SIPR, JWICS, CORE, SIC)?

Do you have appropriately cleared staff to work at these various classification level?

Is there an expertise with DevSecOps at those classification levels?

Miscellaneous

What work have you done implementing JIRA and Confluence workflows to help drive efficiencies in business practices?

Do you have experience creating OKR workflows through JIRA or similar platform?

Can you describe that work?

5.0 SUBMISSION REVIEW

The information provided will be used by the Department of the Air Force (DAF), PAE C3BM, Architecture and System Engineering (ASE) team and administrative support contractors to ascertain Industry interest and capabilities to participate in the PAE C3BM and AFRL ASE system engineering and architecture management and development.

a. The Government will archive all submitted material for future reviews as needed.

Interested parties should continue to monitor SAM.gov for any follow-on RFI or other announcements which will be published for any future actions relating to this RFI.

If you have any questions regarding this request for information, please direct them in writing to Mr. Cahi Hardy, AFLCMC/C3AK, cahi.hardy@us.af.mil.