RFI Strategic Partnership Opportunity for SOCAFRICA Military-to-Military Events.pdf

UNCLASSIFIED

SAM.gov Post: Strategic Partnership Opportunity for SOCAFRICA Military-to-Military Events Request for Information (RFI)

THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI). This RFI is for Market Research purposes only and shall not be considered as an invitation for bid, request for quotation, request for information, or as an obligation on the part of the Government to acquire any products or services. In accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 15.201(e), responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. No contract awards will be made from this notice, and no solicitation is available at this time. No entitlement to payment of direct or indirect costs or charges by the Government will arise because of submission of responses to this announcement or the Government's use of such information.

Overview of Opportunity

The United States Special Operations Command Africa (SOCAFRICA) is seeking a strategic industry partner to serve as a coordinating entity for the seamless inclusion of industry technologies, products, and services into its military-to-military engagements and exercises over a five-year period, beginning in December 2026. This partnership aims to create impactful opportunities for African and international participants to engage directly with cutting-edge solutions tailored to address evolving defense and security challenges on the continent. The selected partner will play a critical role in aligning innovative industry capabilities with the strategic objectives of SOCAFRICA while fostering long-term collaboration among African partner nations, global allies, and industry stakeholders.

The focus of this partnership is on maximizing the value of industry participation by ensuring technologies and solutions are not only showcased but also actively integrated into event programming, including real-world scenarios, academic discussions, and practical applications. This approach will provide a foundation for participating nations to evaluate and implement products and services aligned with their operational needs, budgets, and long-term security objectives. By facilitating collaboration across multiple stakeholders, this partnership will support SOCAFRICA’s mission to strengthen defense capabilities, enhance interoperability, and build sustainable frameworks for regional security and stability.

About Silent Warrior and FLINTLOCK

Silent Warrior serves as Africa’s premier annual military-to-military engagement event, offering a vital platform for senior Special Operations Forces (SOF) commanders, industry leaders, and civilian stakeholders to discuss pressing security challenges and foster enduring partnerships. Industry involvement is a central focus, with opportunities for vendors to present cutting-edge products and services directly to high-ranking officials from attending countries while showcasing technologies through coordinated exhibits with African partner nations. This event enhances collaboration by integrating innovative industry solutions designed to address evolving threats and environmental complexities across the continent.

FLINTLOCK is a large-scale biennial exercise that brings together participants from over 40 countries, including African partner nations and international allies, to enhance SOF capabilities and counter violent extremism across Africa. Spanning a two-year cycle, the exercise begins with high-level planning and culminates in a comprehensive execution phase featuring an academic week followed by two weeks of complex scenario-based field exercises. FLINTLOCK provides a unique opportunity for industry vendors to integrate advanced technologies, products, and services into these training scenarios, allowing participating nations to test and evaluate capabilities in near-real-world conditions. The exercise underscores multinational collaboration, fostering interoperability, transregional security cooperation, and robust partnerships between U.S., African, and international SOF units. Additionally, FLINTLOCK advances efforts in Command, Control, Communications, Computers, and Intelligence/Information sharing, adherence to international humanitarian law, and support to civil authorities, while serving as a vital platform for aligning innovative industry solutions with mission objectives and strengthening global cooperative frameworks.

Key Focus Areas for Partnership

SOCAFRICA seeks industry partners who can develop innovative and impactful concepts to integrate industry solutions effectively into event programming, exercises, and real-world scenarios. These efforts should align with the following priorities:

Defense and Security Solutions: Deliver cost-effective and adaptable frameworks that address evolving security challenges and directly support African partner nations' operational and strategic goals. This includes solutions for theater experimentation focused on addressing complex threats, scalable defenses, and operational readiness.

Innovative Defense Technologies: Introduce advanced, field-ready capabilities that address pressing issues such as counter-UAS systems, multisource ISR enhancement, maritime security frameworks, sensor-to-shooter integration, battlefield intelligence, Ops-Intel fusion, and counter-disinformation tools. African environments often require technologies optimized for austere and bandwidth-constrained conditions, such as edge computing and AI-driven analytics.

Operational Command and Control Innovation: Collaborate on AI-enabled systems, predictive algorithms, and multilingual NLP tools to compress decision timelines, optimize force allocation, and unify operational control across international coalitions spanning African partner nations and global allies.

Solutions should enable faster sensing-to-decision-action cycles that adapt to theater-specific operational realities.

Strategic Integration and Partnering: Work hand-in-hand with local businesses to align defense contributions with host nations' broader economic and transitional objectives, while maintaining compliance with U.S. export regulations such as ITAR. This helps build sustainable supply chains, reduce reliance on external resources, and foster long-term regional stability.

Force Protection and Counter-UAS Enhancements: Provide low-cost, scalable solutions to detect, classify, and neutralize UAS threats in high-clutter, infrastructure-limited African environments. Solutions could include non-kinetic defeat mechanisms, sensor fusion, and systems adapted to extreme conditions such as heat, dust, and humidity.

Austere Sustainment Solutions: Develop autonomous resupply systems, expeditionary power generation, and additive manufacturing capabilities using locally available materials to support operations in infrastructure-poor regions.

Predictive modeling tools for demand management are also critical in maintaining operational tempo.

Professional Collaboration and Networking: Facilitate knowledge sharing platforms that connect SOF military leaders, industry experts, innovation ecosystems such as DEVCOM/DIU, and host nation stakeholders. These platforms should enable actionable solutions and experimentation that drive new technologies from prototype to operational capability.

Early Warning and Threat Prediction Tools: Provide AI-driven data fusion architectures that integrate OSINT, SIGINT, GEOINT, and commercial sensor feeds to enhance wide-area persistent surveillance and pattern-of-life analysis across data-sparse environments in Africa.

Partner Responsibilities

The selected partner will:

Manage relationships with vendors and coordinate all industry-related activities, including exhibits, briefings, and networking opportunities.

Develop and maintain a dedicated website for industry inclusion efforts for both events.

Collaborate with SOCAFRICA and host-nation planners to ensure the seamless integration of industry products and services into event programming, including into scenarios, themes, and topics. This process encompasses activities such as processing visas, customs clearance, and logistics related to bringing vendors and their equipment into the designated African country, ensuring their capabilities are effectively embedded into the exercise.

Support discussions for identifying and planning future event opportunities across Africa to maximize industry engagement and impact.

Submission Guidelines

Interested organizations are required to submit a detailed white paper outlining their approach to supporting industry inclusion efforts, beginning with Silent Warrior 2026 in December 2026 and extending through FLINTLOCK and future iterations of both events. The ideal industry partner will adopt a strategic approach to seamlessly integrating industry into these events while maximizing opportunities for participants to directly engage with, learn about, and test technologies and services. The objective is to showcase solutions that are cost-effective, adaptable to partner nations' budgets, and capable of enhancing the operational effectiveness of SOF and their higher command elements. Submissions should address the following requirements:

A comprehensive plan to act as the coordinating partner for SOCAFRICA events, including a detailed proposal for investments and strategies to effectively fulfill responsibilities within the partnership.

Methodologies for fostering collaboration between host nations, African partners, international stakeholders, and industry participants to deliver impactful outcomes.

Strategies for identifying and recommending industry partners offering technologies and services that address key African challenges, particularly in defense and security contexts.

Detailed cost estimates and resource-sharing models designed to optimize event logistics, programming, and overall attendee experience.

Suggestions for incorporating industry products and services into scenarios, programming themes, and topics to support the objectives of each event.

White papers must adhere to a maximum length of 5 pages and be submitted no later than 1600 CET on March X, 2026. SOCAFRICA will engage in discussions with the selected partner to refine the approach for industry inclusion and finalize event plans.

Contact Information

Contracting Officer: SFC Christen P. Cantu (christen.p.cantu.mil@socom.mil)

Action Officer: LTC Cesar N. Feliciano (cesar.n.feliciano.mil@socom.mil)

SOCAFRICA’s Commitment

SOCAFRICA is dedicated to fostering defense economics activities that empower African nations to meet evolving security demands and build sustainable frameworks for long-term stability. This opportunity allows industry leaders to collaborate actively in addressing critical challenges while advancing shared objectives for regional and global security.