RFI_Digital Engineering and Inclusion of Small Defense Contractors_Updated.pdf

Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research & Engineering, Systems Engineering and Architecture, Digital Engineering Modeling and Simulation Digital Engineering and Inclusion of Small Defense Contractors Request for Information

Request for Information. This is a request for information (RFI) only. In accordance with the Federal Acquisition Regulation responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be acceptance by the Government to form a binding contract. This Digital Engineering and Inclusion of Small Defense Contractors RFI is issued solely for information purposes, and it does not constitute a solicitation or a promise to issue a solicitation. Furthermore, those who respond to this RFI should not anticipate feedback or responses to any submission. All information regarding this RFI will be done within the System for Award Management (SAM) at https://www.sam.gov/SAM/. It is the responsibility of all interested parties to monitor the website for any information that may pertain to this RFI. All submissions become the property of the Federal Government and will not be returned. Responding parties are advised that the Federal Government will not pay any cost incurred in responding to this RFI. All costs associated with responding to it will be solely at the responding party’s expense.

Organization. Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research & Engineering (OUSD(R&E)) Systems Engineering and Architecture (SE&A), Digital Engineering Modeling and Simulation (DEM&S)

Purpose of this RFI. In response to the House Report 118-529 for the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2025, the House Armed Service Committee (HASC) directed the Under Secretary of Defense for Research & Engineering (USD(R&E)) to submit a briefing to the Congressional Defense Committees regarding the implementation of digital engineering by small defense contractors. DEM&S intends to use the data gathered from the submissions received in response to this RFI to facilitate the response to the Congressional Defense Committees.

Questions. Questions regarding this RFI shall be submitted in SAM by email to the points of contact identified in Notice ID: HQ003425RFIDEMS, no later than December 4, 2024. Points of contact identified herein or within SAM will not entertain phones calls regarding this RFI. Responding parties shall be aware that there is no guarantee that questions received will be acknowledged or answered.

Submission Due Date. Submissions are due no later than December 17, 2024 at 12:00pm ET.

Submission Instructions. Submissions shall be in the form of a Microsoft (MS) Word or Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) document no longer than 12 pages, with font no smaller than 11 point with one-inch margins. The document shall be titled with the company’s name, underscore, the RFI title (i.e. CompanyNameXYZ_Digital Engineering and Inclusion of Small Defense Contractors). Submissions shall be with open text and limited to five written paragraphs and two graphics to add context to each question or a total of 12 pages. You may include a title page with your response to section: Request Information, number 1 (below) that will not count against your page count, or you may provide the information within the header or footer of your document with a font no smaller than 8 point. Submissions shall be submitted within SAM by email to the points of contact identified in Notice ID:

HQ003425RFIDEMS. Note, submissions received through any other platform or method will not be accepted.

Responses shall be unclassified, reviewed to ensure consideration of operational sensitivities, and shall not include any proprietary information.

Background. The HASC commended the Department for the December 2023 release of Department of Defense (DoD) Instruction (DoDI) 5000.97, which outlined the strategic implementation of digital engineering across defense acquisition programs. The HASC noted that digital engineering can offer significant improvements in efficiency, costs, and capabilities in procurement and lifecycle management, and that the DoDI provides needed direction for the Department and contractors supporting the Department. However, the HASC also documented its concern that while large defense contractors maintain the resources and knowledge to seamlessly adopt digital engineering practices, small defense contractors may face challenges in adapting to these new requirements. The transition to digital engineering methodologies, while beneficial, poses significant financial and technical challenges for small defense contractors, potentially leading to a disparity in capability and heightened barriers to participation in DoD programs.

Scope. The data provided in response to this RFI will be analyzed and assessed to formulate a briefing that will address the capabilities and challenges small defense contractors face in implementing digital engineering. The briefing will include an analysis of the current capabilities of small defense contractors in terms of digital engineering, including an assessment of the challenges and barriers they face in adopting DoDI 5000.97, and an overview of any initiatives to facilitate digital engineering collaboration between large defense contractors and small defense contractors to ensure knowledge transfer, best practices, and inclusive participation in defense projects is implemented and addressed throughout the Department.

Requested Information. Responses to this RFI shall include the following information:

1. Company name; company’s Unique Entity Identifier (UEI); point of contact with title, email and phone number; and socio-economic status for the North American Industry Classification Standard codes the company operates under and is registered with in the SAM.

2. Summary of how the company’s implementation of DoDI 5000.97 Digital Engineering has provided you opportunities to create and/or deploy innovative capabilities.

3. Summary of any Digital Engineering capabilities the company currently has deployed.

4. Description of any challenges or barriers the company has faced in adopting DoDI 5000.97 Digital

Engineering.

5. Information regarding any initiatives that facilitated collaboration between the company [small defense contractor] and large companies (i.e., Mentor-Protégé Program, Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Program(s), AFWERX, SOFWERX, etc.).

6. Highlight or identify any necessary standards that the company believes are needed to promote data exchange of models, simulations, and simulation results in the execution of Digital Engineering.