GeoSES_SourcesSoughtNotice_Rev_2025.06.17.docx

DISCLAIMER:

THIS IS A SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE AND IS FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY TO INFORM INDUSTRY. THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL. IT IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED AS A COMMITMENT BY THE GOVERNMENT. RESPONSES IN ANY FORM ARE NOT OFFERS AND THE GOVERNMENT IS UNDER NO OBLIGATION TO AWARD A CONTRACT AS A RESULT OF THIS ANNOUNCEMENT. NO FUNDS ARE AVAILABLE TO PAY FOR PREPARATION OF RESPONSES TO THIS ANNOUNCEMENT. ANY INFORMATION SUBMITTED BY RESPONDENTS TO THIS TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION IS STRICTLY VOLUNTARY.

ATTENTION INDUSTRY PARTNERS: SAM.gov is the official source for all Government procurement and contract information. Do not rely on third-party websites or vendor subscriptions for accurate details on RFIs, Sources Sought notices, solicitations, and contract awards. The government is not responsible for inaccurate or incomplete information from these sources.

We encourage industry to continuously monitor this notice for potential updates or other communication. Updates will be provided through this Notice via SAM.gov only.

I. INTRODUCTION:

The Acquisition Management and Integration Center (AMIC) Det 2 OL/PKA, Contracting Office, in support of the Air Force Technical Applications Center (AFTAC) at Patrick Space Force Base (SFB), seeks through this sources sought announcement to notify industry that the Government found the previously held Industry Days (May 6th and June 10th) were beneficial and continues its plan to use the current AFTAC Commercial Solutions Opening (CSO) 2024, Topic 6- ENTERPRISE WIDE INTEGRATION AND ARCHITECTURE MODERNIZATION, specifically tailored for the GeoSES effort, and invite industry to submit a white paper with an innovative cost-effective solution for GeoSES. The CSO can be found at SAM.gov Contract Opportunities with Notice ID FA702224SC001 (or at this link: AFTAC Commercial Solutions Opening (CSO) 2024). Then, in its attachment, AFTAC CSO 2024 Final.pdf, see page 20. See potential draft SOO and other documents attached to this notice.

All business sizes are encouraged to participate.

SECDEF Memorandum: It is noted that the Secretary of Defense has directed "all DoD Components to adopt the Software Acquisition Pathway (SWP) as the preferred pathway for all software development components of business and weapon system programs in the Department"; and to accomplish this, "the use of CSO as the default solicitation and award approach for acquiring capabilities under the SWP" is advocated. See applicable memorandum, dated 06 March 2025, attached to this notice.

White Paper Submission (in accordance with (IAW) CSO AFTAC seeks through this sources sought announcement to also invite industry to submit a white paper through the current AFTAC Commercial Solutions Opening (CSO) 2024, Topic 6 - ENTERPRISE WIDE INTEGRATION AND ARCHITECTURE MODERNIZATION, providing innovative cost-effective solutions that specifically address the GeoSES problem/need.

White Papers with a solution for GeoSES are requested to be submitted by close of business on 22-Aug-25 EDT. Industry does not have to wait until this date but can submit as early as feasible.

Potential Contract Details:

· Estimated Award: Approximately between April and June 2026.

· Contract Type: Firm Fixed Price (FFP) Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) with pre-priced labor for future Task Orders.

· Anticipated Ordering Period: Base Ordering Period of 5 Years. Options only on Task Orders.

· Anticipated Funds: Research & Development (R&D)

· CLIN Structure: 0001, GeoSES (RDT&E) (FFP); 0002, Travel (FFP); 0003 Technical Data & Information Deliverables (CDRLs) (NSP).

PLACE OF PERFORMANCE Percentage of Effort Government (On-Site) Contractor (Off-Site) AFTAC, Patrick SFB 100% TBD% TBD%

II. BACKGROUND:

1. CURRENT/INCUMBENT CONTRACT INFORMATION: None. This is a new acquisition and there is no incumbent.

· Although no single prime contractor exists, Sandia National Laboratories (Federally Funded Research and Development Center/ Interagency Purchase Request), L3Harris (Data Fabric Contract FA7022-21-C-0010, Broad Agency Announcement/ Cost Plus Fixed Fee), and Leidos (USNDC OSSII Contract FA7022-19-D-A002, Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity / Cost Plus Fixed Fee) have all contributed to modernized components.

2. PROGRAM BACKGROUND: The Air Force Technical Applications Center (AFTAC) provides the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) time dominant scientific and technical information 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 operates the United States 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 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.

The US NDC software baseline dates to the 1990s. It comprises over 3,000,000 lines of code (logical SLOC), written in over a dozen programming languages (including: C, C++, csh, Fortran, Java, Python, Perl, Scheme, SQL). The current architecture, characterized by its monolithic nature and tightly coupled components, presents significant challenges to maintainability. This legacy software, developed prior to the adoption of modern architectural and security practices, is incompatible with cloud-ready environments in its current form.

3. EFFORT (see attached draft SOO):

The scope of the draft SOO, and resulting statement of work (SOW), will drive AFTAC's objectives for the replacement of US NDC mission system - modernizing and transforming its core capabilities to deliver the Geophysical Signal Exploitation System (GeoSES). The program aims to preserve mission-proven science and algorithms for signal detection, feature extraction, event building, and discrimination while maximizing the use of prior code investments. To achieve these goals, AFTAC seeks to transform the existing monolithic software architecture into a more modular, service-oriented framework, enabling agile and cost-effective interoperability with new technologies and software platforms. This transformation effort includes migrating code to modern, supportable programming languages, frameworks, and tools that offer enhanced performance, security, and developer productivity. Where practical, AFTAC may leverage cloud services to further enhance scalability, reliability, and cost-efficiency.

This subject SOO is merely a draft to provide industry with preliminary information. However, we request industry prepare to submit white papers, via the AFTAC CSO, with innovative solutions despite what is provided in the draft SOO. The Government will review all white papers submissions and select potential solution(s) to then provide a SOO. The company(ies) providing the best solution(s) will be selected and provided with an updated SOO, for which the company(ies) will be requested to provide a proposal to the Government via Request for Proposal (RFP) per CSO established procedures.

III. RELEVANT DOCUMENTATION

See attachments included with this notice.

IV. OFFEROR/CONTRACTOR REQUIRED CAPABILITIES

Overarching security requirements and contractor access to classified information will be as specified in the DD Form 254, Department of Defense Security Classification attached to the potential contract. The potential offeror/contractor shall have a final U.S. Government issued TOP SECRET security clearance and be DCID 6/4 eligible with a current SSBI. A Facility Clearance Level (FCL) of Top Secret is required at time of contract award.

IV. INDUSTRY DAYS REGISTRATION INSTRUCTIONS

· Removed.

V. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

1. AFTAC is mandated to use its own DAF CloudWorks. Please do not inquire about offering other cloud solutions. DAF CloudWorks has been approved for use and addresses the appropriate cyber and security requirements.

2. Software Acquisition | Adaptive Acquisition Framework at https://aaf.dau.edu/aaf/software/

3. Interested parties are invited to submit a white paper following the instructions therein on the CSO for Topic # 6 (which can be found in the CSO attachment, “AFTAC CSO 2024 Final.pdf”, page 20). Please do not submit white papers directly to the POCs on this notice but follow the instructions on the CSO.

4. The Government is not providing or receiving briefings on this requirement beyond what is provided through this Industry Day. Please do not inquire about it. There will be an opportunity for industry to ask questions during the industry days and answers will be publicized via SAM.gov.

5. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs):

Q1: Are there any set-aside considerations for this opportunity?

Response: This opportunity, announced as a Commercial Solutions Opening (CSO) under DFARS Subpart 212.70, is not a set-aside. As stated in the announcement, all business sizes are encouraged to submit white papers. This approach, using a CSO rather than a traditional solicitation, is in line with recent SECDEF guidance promoting the use of existing CSOs for software procurement/updates. This allows for a more streamlined and flexible process.

Q2: Could you share the anticipated contract value associated with this opportunity?

Response: While we understand the need for budgetary planning, we are unable to disclose the anticipated contract value. Providing this information prematurely could influence submissions and compromise the fairness and integrity of the process.

Q3: Could you share the estimated RFP release date associated with this opportunity?

Response: A formal RFP will not be publicly released via SAM.gov for this CSO solution supporting the GeoSES. Instead, selected vendor(s) whose white paper(s) demonstrate the best solution(s) to the government's needs will receive the individual RFP(s). While we cannot provide a specific date for this(ese) individual RFP(s) at this time, we aim to notify the selected vendor(s) and issue RFP(s) as quickly as possible after the white paper submission deadline or by end of October 2025.

Q4: When can I submit my company’s white paper?

Response: The CSO is an open posting and due to its nature, a white paper can be submitted at any time. However, we are requesting the focused white paper response for the GeoSES be submitted by 22 August 2025.

Q5: Can my company provide capabilities brief?

Response: No. The Government is not requesting industry briefings on its capabilities (or statements), but to only submit white papers following the CSO instructions. As such, the white paper response is a limited document (5 pages max) to detail the capabilities, technologies, and offerings of the respondent to meet the governments need.

Q6: Is the AFTAC CSO for GeoSES fall under an IDIQ vehicle or via an open CSO?

Response: The draft SOO attached herein for this effort falls within the bounds of AFTAC CSO Topic #6. We are just trying to focus to a specific area within topic #6. There are many systems at AFTAC that need modernization, and this is one where we are trying to get more directed responses.

Q7: Reference AFTAC CSO, Attachment 6, page 18, where it indicates that, “AFTAC intends to fund successful efforts in Fiscal Year 2024 and 2025 (FY24/FY25) with periods of performance in the range of 1-5 years. Exceptions may be considered for individual projects based on technological maturity or operational need. Individual contracts are expected to be funded in the range of $150,000-$5,000,000 over the full period of performance, yet these numbers should not be considered strict limits.” Question: Is the $5M limit per project submittal per CSO? Does this apply to Topic 6?

Response: The expected range value for a single contract issued under the CSO is a guideline and can be exceeded. However, there are other procuring limitations imposed on the procuring office that necessitate higher approvals for requirements exceeding the $50M threshold. Other limitations are applicable IAW DFARS 212.7003.

Q8: Should the response address what is in the SOO or the CSO Topic #6? The SOO appears to be a much larger effort than what is in the CSO. Please clarify what the focus of the white paper should be.

Response: The focus of a CSO Phase I white paper response is requested to be tailored to the GeoSES draft SOO for R&D development on a Firm Fixed Price (FFP) type. The response should be formatted in accordance with the posted CSO instructions but address the GeoSES problem specifically. The white paper response is a limited document to detail the capabilities, technologies, and offerings of the respondent to provide an innovative solution to a Government’s problem or need. The white paper will be reviewed upon submission for merit and the Government, if interested, will initiate an acquisition with a vendor(s) that has an innovative concept/solution that may or may not end with a contract. The resulting contract may be a standalone contract or an IDIQ. The contract vehicle will be selected during the acquisition phase of the CSO.

6. To submit additional questions to the Government, please submit by close of business on 17 June 2025, to the noted POCs on this notice below in bullet point 7, and include the below information. Please do not include proprietary information. The Government will share answers with all interested parties and will be publicized via SAM.gov.

a) Question, including all necessary details for the Government to provide a complete answer.

b) Pertinent document, page, and paragraph, if applicable.

c) Include any request for Government Furnished Information (GFI) that may be needed to response to the request for white papers.

7. Separately from the white paper submission, if any potential offeror has recommendations or suggested changes to the attached document (except SECDEF Memo) or this notice please contact both the contracting officer (David Dike) and contract specialist (Lileana Moran) noted as POCs in this posting via e-mail.

8. Upcoming Milestones:

· Industry Submission of Questions Due: Close of Business (COB) 17 June 2025

· Industry Provide Responses to Government Questions Due: COB 25 June 2025

· Government Provide Answers to Industry Questions (via SAM.gov): COB 11 July 2025

· Tentative Date for Government to Provide Additional Technical Documents Due: COB 11 July 2025

· Industry Submit Additional Questions based on the above Technical Documents: 18 July 2025

· Government Provide Answers to Industry Questions (via SAM.gov): 01 August 2025

· Industry White Papers Due: 22 August 2025

· Government Scientific Review of White Papers Complete: by 12 September 2025

· Notify Industry of Scientific Review results to further consider or not for RFP: 06 October 2025

· Contract Award: Approximately between April and June 2026.