RFI Instructions.docx

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI)

AF-PLM Capability Integration, Sustainment, & License Management RFI

1. Purpose and Background The United States Air Force (USAF) has implemented an Enterprise Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solution to modernize the management of weapon systems throughout their lifecycle. This initiative aligns with the Air Force's broader strategic goals to integrate capabilities, revolutionize processes, and enable lifecycle digital material management.

The current PLM implementation leverages Siemens Teamcenter, a Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) solution hosted within the Cloud One environment, to empower program offices with centralized, secure, and integrated tools for engineering, manufacturing, sustainment, and asset retirement activities.

The USAF continues to face significant challenges in fully realizing seamless PLM integration across its enterprise. These challenges include fragmented legacy systems, disconnected data silos, and a lack of uniformity in processes, all of which contribute to inefficiencies, reduced data integrity, and delays in decision-making. Addressing these issues requires innovative solutions that ensure robust configuration management, streamline workflows, and foster enterprise-wide collaboration while adhering to stringent security and compliance standards.

The purpose of this Request for Information (RFI) is to gather industry feedback on technical approaches, market capabilities, and innovative solutions to address these challenges as well as management of licenses required for these capabilities. By engaging with vendors, the USAF seeks to achieve a better understanding of the current state of the market, identify potential pathways for enhancing the AF-PLM capability and license management, and refine its requirements for prospective procurements. Vendor responses will play a critical role in shaping acquisition strategies, identifying feasible solutions, and ensuring that the evolving PLM environment aligns with the USAF's operational and strategic needs. This process supports the overarching goal of achieving an authoritative source of truth for product data and enhancing total lifecycle management for USAF weapon systems.

This Request for Information (RFI) is issued solely for Market Research (MR) purposes. It does not constitute a Request for Proposal (RFP) or a promise to issue an RFP in the future. This request does not commit the Government to contract for any supply or service whatsoever. Further, the Air Force (AF) is not seeking proposals, nor will it accept unsolicited proposals at this time. No funds have been authorized, appropriated, or received for this effort. The information provided may be used by the Air Force in developing its understanding of current market conditions.

Interested parties are responsible for marking proprietary or competition-sensitive information contained in their response. Do not submit any classified information in response to this RFI. The Government reserves the right to contact additional customers to obtain information that will be used to evaluate the offeror’s capability. The Government does not plan to respond or conduct formal debriefings to vendors as part of this request. Respondents are advised that the United States Government will not pay for any information or administrative costs incurred in response to this request. All costs associated with responding to this request will be solely at the interested party’s expense. Not responding to this request does not preclude participation in any future RFP, if any is issued.

2. Objectives of the RFI Gather Industry Feedback: The RFI seeks to obtain insights and recommendations from industry partners regarding the integration, sustainment and license management of the AF-PLM Enterprise solution. This includes understanding the technical challenges, best practices, and lessons learned from similar projects within the market.

Understand the State of the Market: By engaging with industry vendors, the Air Force aims to identify current capabilities, innovations, and emerging trends in Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) technologies, tools, and methodologies that align with its operational requirements.

Identify Potential Solutions: The RFI is designed to explore potential solutions for implementing and sustaining a robust, scalable, and secure PLM system. Key focus areas include enterprise collaboration, configuration management, data integration, hosting within the Cloud One platform and management of licenses required for the enterprise solution.

Refine Requirements: Industry responses will help the Air Force refine its high-level requirements by providing clarity on technical feasibility, cost considerations, and system design options. This input will ensure that future solicitations are precise and aligned with proven industry standards.

Inform Procurement Strategy: The RFI supports the Air Force in formulating an effective procurement strategy by shedding light on different contracting approaches, implementation timelines, and support models available in the market. This will aid in identifying the most efficient and cost-effective path forward.

Promote Collaboration and Innovation: The RFI provides a platform for vendors to propose innovative solutions and partnership opportunities, fostering collaboration between government and industry to address the unique challenges of enterprise lifecycle management.

3. Description of the Requirement The AF-PLM initiative encompasses a comprehensive set of high-level requirements aimed at creating a centralized, scalable, and secure Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) environment that supports the entire lifecycle of Air Force assets. The key areas of focus include:

Enterprise Collaboration: Establish a collaborative framework that enables seamless and secure data sharing among internal stakeholders, external suppliers, and defense partners. This capability is essential to breaking down traditional functional silos and driving integrated decision-making across the lifecycle of weapon systems.

Configuration Management: Implement robust processes and tools to maintain configuration control at all stages of the lifecycle, ensuring compliance with Department of Defense (DoD) regulations, aligned with authorized secondary Department of War (DoW) administrative frameworks. The solution should enable active configuration management through automated workflows and tools designed to support rigorous compliance standards.

Cloud-Based Deployment within the AF-PLM Environment: Leverage the Air Force's Cloud One platform to host and operate Siemens Teamcenter, a Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) enterprise PLM solution. The environment is designed to serve as a centralized repository for all engineering and logistics data, offering secure access for a diverse set of authorized users, including program offices, the USAF Engineering Community, and Air Logistics Complexes.

Data Management and Integration: Adopt and manage a standardized data model that ensures consistency, integrity, and usability of all deployed capabilities. This includes integrating the AF-PLM environment with other enterprise systems and maintaining interoperability via DoD and open standards to support contracting, logistics, operational testing, and other mission-critical functions.

Digital Thread and Lifecycle Integration: Enable a comprehensive digital thread that ensures seamless traceability and accessibility of data across all lifecycle phases. This includes migrating legacy data, building automated workflows for change management, and maintaining data quality throughout the design, manufacturing, sustainment, and retirement phases of Air Force assets.

Agile System Development and Deployment: Utilize Scrum-based Agile methods to incrementally develop, test, and deploy system capabilities. This ensures timely delivery of enhancements while maintaining alignment with evolving user needs, operational requirements, and security standards.

Training and Support: Deliver a robust training program tailored to the needs of end-users and administrators. Training must encompass specific, role-based tracks (such as General Users, Authors/Engineers, and System Administrators) and delivery formats including Foundational Training (AF-PLM 101), Onboarding, Release, and Just-in-Time (JiT) Training. Additionally, a comprehensive, multi-tiered Helpdesk (Tier 1 through Tier 3) must be established to resolve issues, adhering to strict service level agreements (SLAs) including 2-hour response times and 4-hour critical incident resolution windows.

Cybersecurity and Compliance: Ensure the AF-PLM environment adheres to stringent DoD cybersecurity standards. This includes protecting application and personnel cybersecurity, acquiring formal Assessment and Authorization (A&A) under the Risk Management Framework (RMF) in accordance with DoDI 8500.01 (Cybersecurity) and DoDI 8510.01, and implementing malicious logic protection measures to safeguard the system from threats.

License Management and Procurement: Manage reactivation, upgrades, procurement, and maintenance of licenses for Siemens Teamcenter commercial software to streamline operations, reduce redundancy, and enable timely and informed decision-making.

These requirements collectively aim to create a unified and efficient PLM environment that directly supports the goals of the Air Force’s strategic plans, including enhanced lifecycle management, reduced operational inefficiencies, and improved data integrity and decision-making.

4. Requested Information The United States Air Force (USAF) seeks information from industry partners to better understand capabilities, potential solutions, and considerations for enhancing, sustaining, and managing license for the enterprise Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) capability within the Air Force PLM Capability Support Office (AF-PLM CSO). The requested information will inform the development of a potential future solicitation and refined requirements. Respondents are requested to provide detailed and relevant information on the following topics:

Technical Capabilities: Provide a description of your proposed technical solution(s) to address enterprise PLM needs, including system architecture, integration capabilities, specific technologies, alignment with the Siemens Teamcenter platform and license management strategies.

Discuss how your solution supports a comprehensive digital thread encompassing end-to-end lifecycle management, including design, development, manufacturing, sustainment, and retirement of Air Force assets.

Address how your solution ensures compliance with Department of Defense (DoD) regulations, aligned with authorized secondary Department of War (DoW) administrative frameworks regarding configuration management, security, and data handling.

Outline capabilities for managing engineering and logistical data, implementing a standardized data model, automating workflows, and providing robust system integrations.

Experience with Similar Projects: Highlight relevant experience in configuring, deploying, and sustaining PLM environments within similarly complex organizations, particularly within federal or defense sectors. Share examples of prior work and client engagements where your solutions demonstrated measurable improvements in operational efficiency and data integrity through PLM implementations.

Implementation Methodology and Approach: Share details regarding your approach to implementing enterprise-scale PLM solutions, including Agile methodologies (Scrum/SAFe) or other phased approaches to development, testing, and deployment. Include your approach to risk management throughout the lifecycle of development and sustainment efforts.

Potential Solutions: Describe any unique or innovative features, functionalities, or methodologies your solution offers that differentiate it within the PLM industry or provide additional value to the USAF. Ensure the discussion includes focus areas mentioned in the draft Performance Work Statement (PWS), such as configuration management, enterprise collaboration, a centralized digital repository and license management.

Timelines and Project Phasing: Propose high-level timelines for major project milestones, including requirements gathering, system design, configuration, deployment, and sustainment phases. Include estimated durations for sprint cycles, program increment planning, and release timelines based on prior project experience.

Cost Estimates: Provide preliminary cost estimates for designing, deploying, and sustaining the proposed PLM solution. Include details on how cost efficiency and affordability will be achieved while ensuring compliance with government standards.

Training and Technical Support: Specify the training approach for USAF personnel, including methods, delivery mechanisms, and the scope of training provided. Discuss how your training model implements role-based tracks and supports foundational (AF-PLM 101), onboarding, release-based, and Just-in-Time (JiT) training in a dedicated, unclassified sandbox environment. Discuss post-deployment multi-tiered (Tier 1 to Tier 3) technical support offerings, including help desk availability, maintenance response times, and performance metrics aligned with a 2-hour response and 4-hour critical incident resolution standard.

Compliance and Security Considerations: Outline how your solution addresses security requirements, including supporting operations environments within the Air Force’s Cloud One infrastructure (IL5/IL6). Provide information on compliance with current DoD and industry cybersecurity standards, such as DoDI 8500.01 (Cybersecurity), DoDI 8510.01 (Risk Management Framework), NIST SP 800-171, and 32 CFR Part 117 (NISPOM Rule).

Data Migration, Interoperability, and Rights: Discuss methodologies and tools used for data migration from legacy systems to the Siemens Teamcenter environment. Highlight approaches for ensuring interoperability with existing DoD enterprise systems and adherence to DoD and open standards for data integration. Provide input on your capability to deliver custom software configurations, database schema adaptations, automated workflows, and scripts under a contract framework where the Government retains Unlimited Rights (DFARS 252.227-7013 & 252.227-7014) and CUI is protected in strict compliance with DFARS 252.204-7012.

Additional Insights: Provide any additional insights, challenges, or recommendations based on your expertise that may assist the USAF in meeting its objectives and improving enterprise PLM implementation and sustainability.

Respondents should organize their submissions clearly and concisely, addressing each information area listed above. Supplemental data or references related to the company's past performance, capabilities, and reputation are encouraged. Responses should focus on solutions that deliver robust, scalable, secure, and innovative PLM capabilities while aligning with the centrally coordinated enterprise vision of the AF-PLM program.

5. Response Instructions and Guidelines The United States Air Force (USAF) seeks comprehensive and well-structured responses to this Request for Information (RFI). Respondents are encouraged to provide detailed and thoughtful feedback to address the information requests outlined while adhering to the following guidelines:

Response Format: Responses should be submitted in Microsoft Word or PDF format. The document must use a professional font (Arial or Times New Roman) at a minimum size of 11-point. Include section headers corresponding to the requested information to ensure clarity and alignment. If supporting charts, tables, or appendices are included, they must be clearly labeled and referenced within the main response.

Organization of Responses: To maintain standardization and efficient evaluation, responses must adhere to this layout:

Cover Page: Include the organization’s name, address, point of contact (POC), email, and phone number. State whether the organization is a small business, large business, or falls into another specified category.

Executive Summary: Provide a succinct overview of your organization’s technical capabilities, history, and relevant experience. Highlight any previous involvement with USAF or Department of Defense (DoD) programs, if applicable.

Technical Capabilities and Approach: Address the specific Requests for Information outlined in this RFI, providing detailed technical insights, methodologies, and innovative solutions.

Past Performance and Experience: Summarize recent projects similar in scope and complexity to the requirements described, emphasizing outcomes and benefits delivered. Ensure examples are relevant to USAF Enterprise PLM objectives.

Estimated Timelines and Costs (if applicable): Provide anticipated implementation timelines, high-level cost estimates, and any cost drivers where feasible.

Special Considerations or Recommendations: Highlight any perceived challenges, constraints, or recommendations to refine the capabilities or RFI requirements further.

Submission Requirements: Responses must not exceed 20 pages, excluding charts, tables, and appendices. Over-length responses risk being discounted. Responses should be submitted electronically via email to the designated Government Points of Contact (POC) provided below:

Name: Mr. Scott A. Ashelman

Email: scott.ashelman@us.af.mil Name (Courtesy Copy): Mr. Eric Lagasse

Email: eric.lagasse@us.af.mil Subject Line: Include "AF-PLM Capability Integration and Sustainment RFI Response" in the subject line of the email.

Submission Deadline: Submissions must be received no later than Friday, September 04, 2026, by COB. Early submissions are encouraged. Late responses may not be considered.

Confidentiality and Markings: Respondents must clearly mark any proprietary or privileged information provided within their response. The Government will safeguard all provided information and will use it solely for the purposes of market research related to this RFI. Do not include classified or sensitive information in your response.

For any questions regarding this RFI, please submit inquiries in writing to the Government POC listed above no later than Friday, September 04, 2026, by COB. All relevant updates or amendments to this RFI will be shared via official communication channels. The USAF appreciates your interest, insights, and participation in the AF-PLM Capability Integration and Sustainment RFI process.

6. Special Considerations and Constraints The AF-PLM Capability Integration and Sustainment effort operates within a set of critical constraints and special considerations that vendors must address in their responses to ensure alignment with mission requirements. These include the following:

Security Requirements: Vendors must adhere to Air Force and Department of Defense (DoD) cybersecurity standards, including the implementation of application-level, system-level, and personnel-level security controls. This includes compliance with Assessment and Authorization (A&A) processes under the Risk Management Framework (RMF) in accordance with DoDI 8500.01 and DoDI 8510.01, protection against malicious logic, and adherence to regulations for security reporting responsibilities. Measures to secure sensitive data and systems, particularly when operating within Secret (SIPRNET / Cloud One IL6) and Top-Secret (JWICS) environments, are paramount.

Integration Expectations: The AF-PLM environment leverages Siemens Teamcenter, a Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) solution hosted within the Cloud One enterprise platform. Vendors are expected to propose solutions that seamlessly integrate with this platform, support interoperability with existing Air Force enterprise systems, and maintain data consistency and integrity across all touchpoints. Leveraging open standards and ensuring compatibility with DoD mission functions—including contracting, financial management, logistics, and maintenance—are essential.

Compliance with Standards: Responses must demonstrate compliance with relevant DoD and Air Force regulations, including those related to configuration management, data management, and operational security. Solutions must align with Air Force Manual (AFI) 63-1201 and encompass disciplined systems engineering practices as delineated in the source PWS, as well as statutory accessibility guidelines (29 U.S.C. 794d) and the National Industrial Security Program Operating Manual (NISPOM) Rule under 32 CFR Part 117.

Data Usage and Rights: The use of data within the AF-PLM environment must comply with specific Air Force protocols, including data rights, access restrictions, and strict handling guidelines. Vendors must ensure that all solutions respect the Air Force's regulatory frameworks regarding data ownership and sharing. Specifically, the Government shall retain Unlimited Rights in all custom software configurations, database schema adaptations, automated workflows, scripts, and systems engineering documentation developed at Government expense under this contract (DFARS 252.227-7013 & 252.227-7014). All CUI and CDI hosted within Cloud One or processed on contractor development systems must be protected in strict compliance with DFARS 252.204-7012 and NIST SP 800-171.

Government-Provided Resources: Vendors should consider the availability and use of government-furnished equipment, materials, software, and office spaces. Proposals must clearly articulate how these resources will be leveraged without creating disruptions or dependencies that hinder operational continuity.

Operational Constraints: Recognizing the global and diverse user base of the AF-PLM environment, proposed solutions must prioritize scalability, ease of accessibility for authorized personnel, and robust mechanisms to minimize downtime. Help desk services must be multi-tiered (Tiers 1–3) and available with specific response and resolution time commitments (e.g., 2-hour acknowledgement SLA and 4-hour critical incident resolution/workaround window).

Transition Planning: Proposals must account for the need to support smooth transitions, both at the initiation and conclusion of contracts (such as transition plans matching the STrP timeline of 180 calendar days prior to contract end). Transition plans must address the integration of incumbent systems, processes, and personnel, and include contingencies to avoid service disruptions.

Training and Support: Vendors should outline tailored, role-based training delivery methods to accommodate the unique needs of diverse Air Force personnel (General Users, Authors, and Administrators) across initial onboarding, major release updates, and Just-in-Time (JiT) formats. Additionally, solutions need to incorporate robust ongoing support mechanisms to ensure sustained operational effectiveness.