AIR FORCE TECHNICAL APPLICATIONS CENTER (AFTAC)

BROAD AGENCY ANNOUNCEMENT (BAA)

NEW INITIATIVES FOR AFTAC SYSTEMS DEVELOPMENT

DIRECTORATE

October 2026 Repost (FY27/FY28)

Solicitation No: FA702224S0001

Table of Contents

1. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

2. PURPOSE

3. BAA APPROACH AND OVERVIEW

4. GENERAL INFORMATION

5. SUBMISSION INFORMATION

ATTACHMENT 1: QUAD CHART FORMAT

ATTACHMENT 2: PHASE I WHITE PAPER FORMAT

ATTACHMENT 3: PHASE II TECHNICAL PROPOSAL FORMAT

ATTACHMENT 4: PHASE II COST PROPOSAL FORMAT

ATTACHMENT 5: PHASE II STATEMENT OF WORK (SOW) FORMAT

ATTACHMENT 6: SOLICITATION TOPICS

ATTACHMENT 7: EVALUATION CRITERIA AND SELECTION PROCESS

1. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

1.1 The Air Force Technical Applications Center (AFTAC) provides the U.S. Department of Defense’s (DoD) time dominant scientific and technical information to the right person for decision advantage supporting international nuclear treaty compliance and strategic, operational, and tactical warfighters. Its mission is to detect nuclear explosions anywhere on earth, the atmosphere, or in space. AFTAC monitors for, collects, analyzes, characterizes, and exploits space, missile, atmospheric, subsurface, and hydrological events to identify violations to several nuclear and non-nuclear treaties worldwide. AFTAC provides 24/7 monitoring to support integrated tactical warning and attack assessment (ITW/AA) and Nuclear Force Management (NFM) for the United States command authorities, providing rapid reporting through USSTRATCOM. AFTAC operates the US National Data Center (US NDC), which is the US arm of the International Monitoring System (IMS) supporting the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO). The US NDC and the IMS support international efforts to limit nuclear testing and proliferation worldwide. AFTAC supports the International Atomic Energy Agency with material sample analysis capabilities, providing accurate measurements to support nonproliferation efforts. Finally, AFTAC supports consequence management and incident response for suspected or confirmed nuclear related incidents, supporting the National Technical Nuclear Forensics (NTNF) mission, and provides program management for Ballistic Missile Technical Collection (BMTC) radar platforms. AFTAC provides national authorities quality technical measurements to monitor nuclear treaty compliance and develops advanced proliferation monitoring technologies to preserve our nation’s security. AFTAC also performs research and development of new proliferation detection technologies to enhance or assist treaty verification to limit the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

1.2 AFTAC manages research, development, test and evaluation (RDT&E) efforts to advance state-of-the-art technical capabilities in nuclear treaty monitoring, advanced detection technologies to support the counter-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and other applied technologies.

2. PURPOSE

2.1 This Broad Agency Announcement (BAA), as contemplated in Revolutionary Federal Acquisition Regulation Overhaul (RFO) 6.102-3 / FAR 6.102(d)(2) and RFO 35.016 / FAR 35.016, is a competitive solicitation of proposals focused on research and development of technologies to meet AFTAC’s mission. AFTAC seeks the best approaches to meet the technology objectives within the capability areas listed below. Detailed topics associated with each capability area appear in Attachment 6.

3. BAA APPROACH AND OVERVIEW

3.1 This BAA seeks the best RDT&E approaches to meet various technology objectives of AFTAC. The Government encourages proposals that span a wide spectrum of possible technical and business solutions in response to the specific technology topics stated in Attachment 6. The Government reserves the right to award funding to any combination of proposals which offer the best overall value to the Government, and to oversee all processes and approaches once initiated.

Awards of efforts because of this announcement will be in the form of procurement contracts or Other Transactions (OT) as codified in 10 U.S.C. § 4022 (Authority to carry out certain prototype projects) and 10 U.S.C. § 4021 (Research projects: transactions other than contracts and grants). It is anticipated that the awards under this BAA will generally be Cost or Cost-Plus Fixed Fee (CPFF). Cost reimbursement contracts require successful offerors to have an accounting system considered adequate for tracking costs applicable to the contract.

3.2 Funding for participation in this program is highly competitive, and the cost of proposed technologies should be considered. Awards resulting from this BAA will be made based on the evaluation results of a phased proposal process described in Section 5. The Government reserves the right to fund all, some, one, or none of the proposals submitted; may elect to fund only part of a submitted proposal; and may incrementally fund any or all awards under this BAA. All awards are subject to the availability of funds.

3.3 The acquisition team intends to manage communications in a manner best designed to facilitate the submittal of optimal proposals while not providing any unfair competitive advantages. Technical questions may be addressed up to the white paper submittal. Questions determined to provide a competitive advantage will be answered at www.sam.gov. Dialogue between prospective offerors and Government representatives is encouraged until submission of proposals. Discussions with any of the points of contact shall not constitute a commitment by the Government to subsequently fund or award any proposed effort. Only Contracting Officers are legally authorized to commit the Government. The points of contact associated with this BAA are specified in Section 4.1.

4. GENERAL INFORMATION

4.1 POINT OF CONTACTS. Questions regarding the administrative or technical content of this BAA must be addressed to both lionel.garcia.3@us.af.mil and aftac.baa.mailbox@us.af.mil.

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4.2 WITHIN SCOPE MODIFICATIONS. Potential offerors are advised that due to the inherent uncertainty of research and development efforts, awards resulting from this announcement may be modified during performance to make within scope changes, to include but not limited to, modifications which increase overall contract ceiling amount. The Government reserves the right to extend performance to all, some, or none of the selected solutions and decisions will be made based on the availability of government funds. Only a Contracting Officer can legally bind a contract/agreement modification on behalf of the United States Government.

mailto:lionel.garcia.3@us.af.mil mailto:aftac.baa.mailbox@us.af.mil

4.3 NON-GOVERNMENT ADVISORS, CONTROLLED UNCLASSIFIED

INFORMATION (CUI), AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) POLICY. Non-government Advisory and Assistance Services (A&AS) contractors may participate in the evaluation of white paper submissions, when necessary. This will be handled on a case-by-case basis and non-government A&AS contractors shall have a signed non-disclosure agreement (NDA) with the Government. The Government understands that information provided in response to this BAA is presented in confidence and may contain trade secrets or commercial or financial information, and agrees to protect such information from unauthorized disclosure to the maximum extent permitted or required by law.

All submissions will be treated as Source Selection Information (41 U.S.C. § 2102 and RFO/FAR 2.101/3.104) and Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI // SP-SSEL / CUI // PROPIN) in accordance with DoDI 5200.48. In accordance with Department of the Air Force and DoD Artificial Intelligence policies, Government evaluators and authorized advisors may utilize approved, secure DoD AI systems (e.g., GenAI.mil / Impact Level 5/6 platforms) to assist with administrative synthesis, text formatting, or preliminary review. However, human-in-the-loop evaluation is mandatory: qualified Government personnel retain sole responsibility and decision authority as evaluators of record for all qualitative findings, ratings, and award decisions. Under no circumstances will offeror proprietary information, trade secrets, or CUI be entered into public, unauthorized, or non-accredited commercial AI systems. Offerors must disclose in their Phase I/II submissions if generative AI tools were utilized in the drafting of technical proposals.

4.4 SUPPLIER PERFORMANCE RISK SYSTEM (SPRS) AND CYBERSECURITY /

CMMC REQUIREMENTS. To receive a DoD contract, every contractor is required to maintain compliance with NIST SP 800-171 DoD Assessment requirements and applicable Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) requirements. Offerors should be aware of DFARS 252.204-7019 (Notice of NIST SP 800-171 DoD Assessment Requirements), DFARS 252.204-7020 (NIST SP 800-171 DoD Assessment Requirements), and DFARS 252.204-7021 (Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification Requirements). The offeror shall have a current assessment (i.e., not more than 3 years old) for each covered contractor information system relevant to the offer, contract, task order, or delivery order entered into SPRS via PIEE at https://www.sprs.csd.disa.mil/. Where contract performance requires handling Covered Defense Information (CDI) or Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI), successful offerors must achieve and maintain the requisite CMMC certification level prior to award.

4.5 DATA RIGHTS IN TECHNICAL DATA, COMPUTER SOFTWARE AND

COMPUTER SOFTWARE DOCUMENTATION.

Technical Data: Unlimited Rights

Noncommercial Computer Software (NCS): Unlimited Rights

NCS Documentation: Unlimited Rights

Commercial Computer Software Rights: Customary Commercial License consistent with Federal statutes and regulations.

AFTAC is engaged in the discovery, development, and integration of war-fighting technologies for our air, space, and cyberspace forces. As such, rights in non-commercial technical data and NCS developed or delivered under this contract are of significant concern to the Government.

The Government will therefore evaluate any restrictions on the use of non-commercial technical data, NCS, and NCS documentation which could result in transition difficulty or less-than full and open competition for subsequent development of this technology.

In accordance with DFARS / R-DFARS 252.227-7013(b)(1) and 252.227-7014(b)(1), the Government shall receive unlimited rights in all non-commercial technical data and computer software developed exclusively with Government funds.

In accordance with DFARS / R-DFARS 252.227-7013(b)(2) and 252.227-7014(b)(2), the Government shall receive Government Purpose Rights in all non-commercial technical data and computer software developed with mixed funding. Offerors proposing delivery subject to Government Purpose Rights, Limited Rights, or Restricted Rights must provide detailed assertions with specificity in accordance with DFARS 252.227-7017.

5. SUBMISSION INFORMATION

5.1 SUBMISSION OVERVIEW. Phase I submissions shall include both the Quad Charts and White Papers prepared in accordance with the formats at Attachments 1 and 2 respectively.

Phase I submissions can be submitted within 1 year of the date this notice was posted on www.sam.gov and offerors are encouraged to monitor www.sam.gov for any specific calls or amendments to the BAA that may have updated information. AFTAC will invite select Offerors to submit full proposals based on favorable evaluation results of Phase I submissions. Phase II submissions will be requested ONLY by the Contracting Officer and will contain separate submission instructions and timelines within the Request for Proposal (RFP) letter.

5.2 TWO-PHASED SUBMISSION. This BAA will be conducted in two phases as follows:

5.2.1 Phase I. Interested offerors must submit Quad Charts and White Papers in accordance with instructions provided in this BAA. Phase I submissions will be evaluated against criteria as described in Attachment 7 of this BAA.

5.2.1.1 All Quad Charts should include the information indicated on the sample template in Attachment 1.

5.2.1.2 The White Paper narrative expands on the Quad Chart presentation. Instructions for format and content are in Attachment 2. Each offeror shall include in the white paper a preliminary Technology Readiness Level (TRL) assessment of the proposed technology that conforms to the technology objectives and an expected TRL at the conclusion of the effort.

5.2.1.3 White paper and quad chart submissions shall be sent to both lionel.garcia.3@us.af.mil and aftac.baa.mailbox@us.af.mil for review.

5.2.2 Notification of Selection. All offerors providing Phase I submissions will be contacted by the Government, either with an email letter informing them that the effort proposed is not of interest to the Government at this time or with a request for a formal cost and technical proposal by a specific date.

5.2.3 Phase II. Phase II proposals will only be accepted from Offerors who upon review of Phase I submissions are invited by the Contracting Officer to submit a full proposal. In order to be considered for award under Phase II, offerors must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) at www.sam.gov with an active Unique Entity Identifier (UEI), be considered responsible within the meaning of RFO Part 9.1 / FAR Part 9.1 (Responsible Prospective Contractors) and R-DFARS 209.104, have a satisfactory performance record, and otherwise be eligible for award based on federal law and regulation.

5.2.3.1 Proposal Submission. Upon notification of a proposal request by the Contracting Officer, offerors have 30 calendar days to prepare and submit a proposal in accordance with the format and instructions at Attachments 3-5. Each proposal shall include a Statement of Work (SOW) and detailed cost/price breakdown.

5.2.3.2 Proposal Review, Evaluation and Selection Process. Each proposal will be evaluated by the Government and must stand on its own technical merit. Proposals will be evaluated in accordance with the evaluation criteria and process specified in Attachment 7. Pursuant to RFO 35.016(e) / FAR 35.016(e), the primary basis for selecting proposals for acceptance shall be technical, importance to agency programs, and funds availability. Qualified Government personnel will conduct scientific/peer reviews and convene expert panels with mandatory human-in-the-loop integrity.

ATTACHMENT 1: QUAD CHART FORMAT

The following information must be included in the Phase I Quad Chart. Quad Charts shall not exceed 1-page in landscape view. Quad Charts must include Project Title, BAA Number (FA702224S0001), Objective (1-2 sentence description), Description of Effort, Net Benefits, Challenges, Maturity of Technology (TRL start/finish), Major Milestones by FY, Proposed Funding ($K), Period of Performance, and Point of Contact Information.

ATTACHMENT 2: PHASE I WHITE PAPER FORMAT

The White Paper narrative expands on the Quad Chart presentation and must be 8.5 x 11 inches with one-inch margins, no longer than five (5) pages, single-spaced, with text in Times New Roman, no smaller than 12-point font. All white papers must specify a project title, the Offeror’s organization, and the specific topic number associated with the proposal (see Attachment 6).

Pages in excess of the page limitation will not be read or evaluated. White Papers must not mailto:lionel.garcia.3@us.af.mil exceed a file size of 25 MB. Submissions shall be sent to lionel.garca.3@us.af.mil and aftac.baa.mailbox@us.af.mil.

ATTACHMENT 3: PHASE II TECHNICAL PROPOSAL FORMAT

The Technical Proposal portion of the Phase II submission shall not exceed 25 pages, excluding cover page and table of contents. The technical proposal shall include Abstract, Scope, Objective, Background, Programmatics, Relevance, Credentials & Facilities, Work to be Performed (Base Period and Option Periods not exceeding 5 years total), Performance Schedule (Gantt chart), and References.

ATTACHMENT 4: PHASE II COST PROPOSAL FORMAT

The cost proposal must include cost estimates sufficiently detailed for meaningful evaluation of cost reasonableness and realism. The Offeror must include a Cost Breakdown detailing all cost elements and a Cost Narrative to support each cost element. Separate cost proposals at the prime level of detail must be provided for each subcontractor or consultant.

Truthful Cost or Pricing Data / TCPDA Compliance: Proposals are subject to the Truthful Cost or Pricing Data Act (TCPDA, 10 U.S.C. § 3702, formerly TINA). In accordance with the FY26 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) § 1804(c) amending 10 U.S.C. § 3702, the certified cost or pricing data threshold for DoD contracts is $10,000,000 (effective 30 June 2026). Because individual awards under this BAA are not anticipated to exceed $5,000,000, certified cost or pricing data and the Certificate of Current Cost or Pricing Data (FAR/RFO 15.406-2) are generally NOT required unless specifically directed by the Contracting Officer.

Offerors must provide data other than certified cost or pricing data to substantiate the reasonableness of all proposed labor, direct material, subcontracts, travel, and indirect rates.

Where applicable, acquisitions may utilize streamlined data procedures under 10 U.S.C. § 3709 (Standing TINA Lite Program / DFARS Class Deviation 2026-O0048 Rev 1).

Cost proposals shall be submitted in Microsoft Excel format (with all formulas intact) alongside a compiled Adobe PDF file. Include full company name, UEI, CAGE code, contract type proposed, and cognizant DCMA/DCAA office details on your cover sheet.

ATTACHMENT 5: PHASE II STATEMENT OF WORK (SOW) FORMAT

A SOW must be included with the full proposal as part of the Phase II submission (3–5 pages suggested). It must be a separate, distinct document suitable for incorporation into the procurement instrument. Do not include proprietary data or markings in the SOW. The SOW must include: Objective, Scope, Background, and Tasks & Technical Requirements (distinguishing Base Period from Option Periods). Binding provisions must use 'the contractor shall' and active voice.

ATTACHMENT 6: SOLICITATION TOPICS

mailto:lionel.garca.3@us.af.mil

The AFTAC Systems Development Directorate (AFTAC/SD) is interested in innovative technologies and services related to the areas of mission or technical interest listed below.

Submissions should identify innovative solutions that fill capability needs related to nuclear treaty monitoring, advanced technology development to support detection and counterproliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), and other applied technologies for event detection.

AFTAC intends to fund successful efforts in Fiscal Years 2027 and 2028 (FY27/FY28) with periods of performance in the range of 1-5 years.

TOPICS SUMMARY:

• TOPIC: AFTAC-001, GEOPHYSICS AND SEISMOLOGY (Analytical techniques in seismology, hydroacoustics, infrasound, full waveform modeling, data ingestion across guards).

• TOPIC: AFTAC-002, ATMOSPHERE AND SPACE (Observables collection, NUDET signal analysis, HPC, physics-based algorithms, and operational AI tools).

• TOPIC: AFTAC-003, DIRECTED ENERGY WEAPONS (DEW) (Imaging, sensing, RF/laser modeling, multi-phenomena analysis).

• TOPIC: AFTAC-004, NUCLEAR AND NUCLEAR-RELATED MATERIALS

ANALYSIS (Trace-level to high-activity radionuclide environmental analysis, zero-yield monitoring).

• TOPIC: AFTAC-005, MATERIALS MODELING AND ANALYSIS (Meteorological and environmental dispersion modeling, computational chemistry).

• TOPIC: AFTAC-006, ENTERPRISE-WIDE INTEGRATION AND ARCHITECTURE

MODERNIZATION (Data access discoverability across phenomenologies, modernizing SW/HW architectures).

• TOPIC: AFTAC-007, ENTERPRISE ASSET AND LIFECYCLE MANAGEMENT

IMPROVEMENTS (Supply chain demand exploitation, automated reliability reporting).

• TOPIC: AFTAC-008, HIGH PERFORMANCE AND SECURE CLOUD COMPUTING

AND DEVSECOPS SOLUTIONS (HPC computation/network/storage, IaaS/PaaS/SaaS, Agile CI/CD, ML and AI solutions).

ATTACHMENT 7: EVALUATION CRITERIA AND SELECTION

PROCESS

The Government will evaluate each Quad Chart/White Paper (Phase I) and full proposal (Phase II) using scientific and peer review procedures conducted by qualified Government personnel.

Evaluation Factors:

1. Technical Merit and Applicability

2. Importance to Agency Programs

3. Funds Availability

Relative Importance: All factors are of equal importance.

Method of Evaluation: Scientific / Peer Review IAW RFO 35.016(e) / FAR 35.016(e).