Industry Call FY26 Q1 QAs FINAL.pdf

CO Division Slide posted/updated

Question Response

Which existing programs are anticipated to be recompeted via existing best in class vehicles such as GSA

MAS or OASIS+?

Each requirement will be decided based on its own merits after appropriate market research. Stay tuned to the APFS records for updates for each requirement and their chosen vehicles.

Bishop Bishop 16/15

BPIMSS - Is the expected release impacted by shutdown?

Will a draft be released? Will the competition be a phased approach? Will it include orals?

The shut down is not impacting the release of the sol. At this time a draft release is unknown. The acquisition strategy is still being determined.

Bishop Bishop 16/15

BPIMSS - The Estimated Solicitation Release Date is

11/11/2025 but the Period of Performance doesn’t start until 09/30/2026. What is the reason for such a long time frame between the estimated solicitation release and the

POP start? Does USCIS foresee a delay in the estimated solicitation release date? Could the contract potentially start earlier or is USCIS intend to have a lengthy transition period?

The Government is planning to release the solicitation by 11/11/2025 but does anticipate some possible delays. The Government timeline also includes allowing for the EOD process. If anything does change, an update will be made to APFS.

Bishop Bishop 17/16

ROSS - Will there be an Industry Day scheduled for ROSS?

Do you foresee and significant updates/changes for ROSS compared to the prior solicitation, and if so, what are they?

There is no Industry Day planned at this time.

There should not be any major changes other than some minor adjustments tasks and volume changes.

Hodahkwen Hodahkwen 14/20

FOSS - Can you please provide any updates on the planned contracting vehicle (GSA MAS?), set-aside status (listed as

TBD on the slides) and expected solicitation release date

(listed in red as 11/20/2025)?

The solicitation will be issued as a SDVOSB set aside under GSA MAS. At this time the solicitation is TBD

Disclaimer: The response to the questions provided herein may differ from the solicitation that is released for the requirement. Industry should reference the released solicitation and not hold the government liable for any responses listed herein.

FY26 1st Quarter Industry Call Q&As (October 28, 2025)

OPERATIONS DIVISION

PRE-CALL SUBMITTED QUESTIONS

HOST

General OCON

James Hodahkwen 22

Administrative Support for Asylum Backlog – While an

APFS record number is not yet available and as of today, APFS is down, can you provide a description of the requirement as the estimated solicitation release date will be prior to next scheduled engagement.

Additionally, will a RFI be released through MRAS or sam.gov to assist the CO and Program Office in their market research?

The Q1 slides have been updated with a description of the requirement and the est solicitation date. We do not anticipate posting a RFI, using the MRAS, or a SAM.gov posting.

Hershey Shinney 31 CCT1 - Is this shifting to a small business award? The Gov is still conducting market research and developing the requirement. No acquisition determinations have been solidified.

Hershey Shinney 31

CCT1 - Can you please provide any updates on the planned contracting vehicle (GSA MAS?), set-aside status (unrestricted?) and expected solicitation release date?

The Gov is still conducting market research and developing the requirement. No acquisition determinations have been solidified. The solicitation release date is to be determined at this time.

Brumfiel Brumfiel

SCOSS – Service Center Operations Support Services: Can you please provide information if any of this work will continue to be performed by contractors and if so, what contract vehicle, what set-aside status and what is the expected solicitation date given the cancelation of the DHS

PACS contract?

"At this time, there is no projected recompete for the Service Center

Operations Support Services (SCOSS) contract." and "Services are being performed in house by Government employees and the excess is being transferred to a different program."

Brumfiel Brumfiel 37

Administrative & Clerical Support Services - Has the

Government chosen a company to sole source this work to? If not, is there an opportunity to discuss this with USCIS POCs?

Yes, an award has been made for this requirement.

gadwah Gadwah 50/52 QSTAG - Has the Government determined if this will be a phase approach? Will a draft be released?

This is yet to be determined. Yes, we hope to release a draft solicitation.

Gadwah Gadwah 50/52

QSTAG: does USCIS anticipate any OCI restrictions for the prime awardee (e.g., prevented from bidding on software development or related work)? Also, does USCIS intend to issue an updated PWS or draft RFP before the final solicitation?

We do not anticipate any OCI restrictions at this time. Yes, we hope to release a draft solicitation.

Gadwah Gadwah 50/52

Technical Emphasis: Can USCIS share what minimum

CI/CD quality-gating controls it anticipates requiring per release? Will USCIS define a standard set of evidence artifacts to be delivered per release?

1. Most of the CI/CD quality gating is with automated testing/code coverage. 2. Yes, this will be defined.

TECHNOLOGY DIVISION

Gadwah Gadwah 50/52

Acquisition Strategy: The current APFS entry for QSTAG lists “Small Business Program: SB” and Set-Aside “N/A” and the contract vehicle as GSA Schedule. Can confirmation be provided as to whether the acquisition strategy has been finalized? Industry Engagement: For vendors who responded to the July Sources Sought, will

USCIS hold an additional industry one-on-one before the formal solicitation release? Technical Emphasis:

Given the QSTAG scope cuts across Quality, Security, Testing, Automation, and Governance, will the government be emphasizing full DevSecOps integration and continuous testing pipelines, or treating these as distinct task areas?

1. We anticipate this will be a total small business set-aside. 2. We are not planning any future one-on-one sessions. 3. USCIS will be focusing on seamless integration of DevSecOps principles across the entire lifecycle.

Gadwah Gadwah 52/54

CSAI III - USCIS previously direct awarded the CSAI II work in

2022 to a Tribal 8(a) company. USCIS released an RFI for the

CSAI III requirement in September under STARS III. Does

USCIS plan to continue to sole-source this work or is CSAI III going to be competed and if so, when does USCIS plan to make a contract vehicle determination.

An RFI has not been released for this acquisition. We anticipate this acquisition will be competed. We are currently in the market research phase and will update APFS when more information is known.

Salkic Hemingway 56/59

GCACS - Is the expected release impacted by shutdown?

Will a draft be released? Will the competition be a phased approach? Will it include orals?

GCACS is not currently impacted by the shutdown. A draft solicitation is not anticiapted to be released at this time. The acquisition strategy is still being determined.

Salkic Hemingway 57/60

Continuous Monitoring & Agile Security Services

(CMASS) IV – Can you confirm if the RFQ has been released on GSA Ebuy for 8(a) STARS III contract holders and if so, what date and what was the RFQ number? The slide currently references 09/2025 as the estimated solicitation date.

CMASS IV has not been released as of yet the estimated solicitation date was updated to be Nov 2025.

Hemingway Hemingway 60/65

ODOS - will the ODOS IV requirement be canceled and its work rolled into other existing contracts, or will USCIS move ahead to solicit for the work competitively?

USCIS is currently in the acquisition planning stage for the ODOS IV requirement and it is still planned for FY26 solicitation. Any updates will be provided in the APFS record.

Gross Putnam 70/73

Enterprise Automation and Unified Task

Orchestration (eAuto). The current estimated solicitation release date references October 15, 2025.

Can you confirm if this date is now December 1, 2025, or if it will be pushed past that date? The RFI that was utilized for market research was released in June 2025, if the date will be later than December 1, 2025, will the government be releasing an additional RFI or do you anticipate releasing a draft PWS or draft solicitation?

USCIS is currently working to review what task areas will be included in the scope of this requirement. Once our review is completed, updated details will be posted to APFS. Additional market research will be completed as determined necessary.

Gross Putnam 70/73 eAUTO - The draft slide has the exact same information as the final slides from the USCIS FY25 4th Quarter

Engagement with Industry event, i.e. there were no changes. However, USCIS issued an update on APFS on

10/21 and indicated the Contract Vehicle as “IDIQ

TO/DO (Non Strategic Sourcing Vehicle Multiple Award

Contract).” Can the Government please clarify which contract vehicle they plan to use?

The FY26 Q1 Industry slide for the eAUTO requirement have been updated since and reflect what is currently in APFS as of 10/21/2025.

Gross Putnam 70/73

Can the Government outline the general phases and scope for eAUTO? E.g., will it be 2-phases or 3 phases that involves down-select? Will there be tech challenge expected in phase 2 or phase 3? If so, what kind of task area or technical area will it be?

The acquisition strategy is still being determined at this time and is not finalized yet. Once the strategy is solidified, more information can be provided to industry.

Gross Putnam 70/73

In the FY26 Q1 Industry day, it mentions that the eAUTO support services will include infrastructure, cloud, unified communications, and platform operations and sustainment. We know that AES2 also has Cloud Engineering and platform O&M in platform.

Can you clarify the scope for each so that we can understand how these 2 will integrate and collaborate?

The eAuto requirement as a whole is still being defined. Once the government has finalized the scope, more information will be available.

Gross Putnam 70/73

For AES application and Network performance monitoring, does it also monitor or report SaaS or application performance hosted on AWS, Azure or

Google Cloud? Can the government confirm that eAUTO will handle cloud-native monitoring and operations?

The eAuto requirement as a whole is still being defined. Once the government has finalized the scope, more information will be available.

Gross Putnam 70/73 What’s the plan (function and timeline) for Salesforce cloud in the foreseeable future?

It is unclear how this question is related to the eAUTO requirement, requesting clarification.

Gross Putnam 70/73

Can the government confirm the location of work for eAUTO? Will eAUTO require on-site contractor support in Washington, DC metropolitan area, as well as in

South Burlington, The eAuto requirement as a whole is still being defined. Once the government has finalized the scope, more information will be available.

Gross Putnam 70/73

What are the small business requirements for eAUTO?

Such as small business type (SDB, SDVOSB, WOSB, HUBZone) and anticipated workshare?

The acquisition strategy is still being determined at this time and is not finalized yet. Once the strategy is solidified, more information can be provided to industry.

Gross Putnam 70/73

There are many initiatives that seem to have infrastructure scope currently going on at USCIS such as but not limited to- CCT1, CMASS, etc. With respect to

USCIS infrastructure O&M responsibilities, please provide places where infrastructure may be operated and maintained

It is unclear how this question is directly related to the eAUTO requirement, requesting clarification. The eQuaot requirement as a whole is still being defined. Once the government has finalized the scope, more specific information will be available.

Gross Putnam 71/74

Enterprise Call Center and Circuit Logistics Support –

APFS 2025070643 – eflects a RFI that was issued utilizing the same RFI for eAuto. Was there a separate

RFI for this requirement and if so, what was the RFI number? Is the estimated solicitation release date

October 15, 2025 for a performance period starting on

11/1/2025? Can you confirm the acquisition vehicle and set aside for this requirement?

This RFI number was erroneously on the slide and has been removed. No RFI was issued for this requirement. The anticipated solicitation release date has been updated to 12/1/2025 and the anticipated period of performance start date has been updated to 2/2/2026. Market research is ongoing, and any changes made to the APFS record will be made once finalized.

What do you mean by definitive contract?

Gadwah Any opportunities for IT moderniazation, or any ERP tasks in

2026 with reference to EG Peoplesoft, Oracle?

Alot of our requirements in the IT division focus on some form of IT modernization. Please monitor APFS for specific records that may interest you.

Any industry days for tech division planned? Unknown at this time

Gadwah Any opportunities centered around Drupal?

To be determined. Please monitor APFS for specific records that may interest you.

Tech What accounts for long evaluation times?

Provides time for adequate evaluation, also allows for EOD and transition in time ahead of the incumbent contract expiration.

General What is the reason for no hubzone requirements?

HubZone is still being considered where appropriate depending on market research

Many are small business set asides. We are recent graduates to mid-size. Are there any insights as to how

USCIS envisions to the role of mid-size companies in the contracting ecosystem?

There are no specific USCIS strategies regarding the role of mid-size companies. Set-asides are limited to specific socio-economic categories as determined via market research and applicable regulations.

During and Post Call Questions and Answers

USCIS Small Business Specialist

General

If a company doesn't response to an RFI will it still be considered when the final RFP is released?

Carefully consider whether they will respond to an RFI because these responses will inform that pool. It is not an award decision but an RFI is part of the markte research that informs the decision on which direction we will go.

Bishop BPIMSS - Do you have a domain decided for Oasis +?

Market research is still continued. As soon as that's solidified we will update the APFS record.

Bishop ROSS - Is the government taking into account the recent FAR

19 changes allowing programs to be removed from the 8A program if the follow-on is set-aside for WOSB/Hub Zone?

Yes, because the solicitation has not yet been released, any changes to the

FAR will be incorporated prior to its release.

Bishop BPIMSS - Is there a conflict of interest for the BPIMS effort should an organization also want to go after ROSS or other requirements Please send in an email and we will consider that.

Hodahkwen Is USCIS still confuctiong market research on FOSS Yes, we are

Hodahkwen FOSS - how confident are we on SDVOSB on MAS We are high confident.

Martin SIP - what is meant by definitive contract on the APFS record

Most likely we will be issuing another IDIQ for this effort, but we are stil in the early stages of market research. If that does update, we will make sure we change the APFS record.

Martin SIP - will there be a draft RFP? And if so, is there a projected date?

There is no projected date right for a draft RFP. If we do determine through market research to issue a draft RFP, we will certainly update the APFS record.

Shinney CCT1 - can you confirm the SIN or SINs?

We are still developing the acquisition strategy and will update APFS when known.

Shinney CCT1 - how does the decision to utilized the FAR 52.217-8 option affect the solicitation date?

We expect there a slippage in the solicitation date (and subsequent award) necessitating the use of the -8 option.

Shinney CCT1 - will there be a set-aside?

Still in market research, we will update the APFS record once that is decided.

Shinney CCT1 - will include only an updated service provider or will scope include potential update to the contact center platform

Program office currently looking at the scope of the contract. There could be changes to the stategy on how the serice center is run. Therey're look at further automation as opposed to call center. As the scope is deelope we will post a new draft PWS so industry take a look

Shinney CCT1 - will the industry day be reschedule?

We are planning on still holding an industry day. As soon as we have a better idea of scope we will reschedule the industry day.

Shinney

Financial Support Services RFI - has a data repository tool been identified?

We require clarification as to what requirement or slide you are referring to.

We have a requirement for Financial Management Support Services (APFS

Number: 2025071041), but no RFI has, or currently is intended, on being released. If you are referring to the Financial Management Support Services acquisition, DHS uses the Treasury Information Executive Repository (TIER).

Shinney Financial Manageement Support Services - is there a requirement for software and service in one contract?

There is no software requirement for this service contract. The contractor will be utilizing the technology stack and tools at use currently within the agency.

OPERATIONS DIVISION

TECHNOLOGY DIVISION

Gadwah

FIRE - with the solicitation now cancelled, do you anticipate that the work will be folderd in an existing contract or moved to a future opportunity?

Additional information will not be provided at this time.

Gadwah PLANX II - how will PLANX II evaluate data lake innovations? Evalaution details will not be shared at this time.

Gadwah PLANX II - with there be a draft RFP? Yes, we plan on releasing a draft RFP Gadwah ITAM - are you taking meetings with industry?

None scheduled at this time but please reach out if you would like to discuss the requirement.

Gadwah QSTAG - will the December realease date hold or is there a possibility of delay?

Always a possibility of delay but we are looking strong that we will meet the date.

Gadwah QSTAG - do you anticipate oral presentations? TBD

Gadwah

CSAI - the slide shows STARS 3 and a release date of June 15, 2026. Is that accurate?

Unclear which slide this question is referring to. The slide for CSAI currently says "TBD" for contract vehicle, with an expected solicitation release in

March 2026. The information as shared is accurate based on what is known today.

Gadwah

QSTAG - has CIS considerd CIO SP3 small business? how did

CIS land on GSA MAS?

CIO SP3 is currently expected to expire in April 2026 which factored into the decision in case there is a delay in the procurement. We had to look beyond

CIO-SP3 due to that potential risk.

Hemmingway CMASS - are you requiring the prime offeror to have all 5 sub cats only to propose or must the prime also havethe ne

We will be prviding a written respponse once we develop a more solid strategy Hemmingway CMASS - are there ay bridge or extensions anticipated? No decision has been made, we are still working that issue

Hemmingway CMASS - will the contract vehicle remain 8(a) STARS III? Yes.

Hemmingway CMASS - do you anticipate consolidating with any other requiement?

Not at this time.

Hemmingway CMASS/GCACS - do you anticipate phased approach procurement?

Yes to both

Hemmingway CMASS - will there be a draft PWS? Unkown at this time

Hemmingway CMASS - will there be a RFI? Unknown at this time

Hemmingway CMASS - are you open to one-on-one meetings to discuss procurement recommendations Please reach out to the CO/CS

Hemmingway CMASS - are there delays expected? Unknown at this time

Hemmingway GCACS - will there be a draft PWS Unknown at this time

Hemmingway GCACS - will there be a RFI? Exploring this

Hemmingway GCACS - is STARS III still the current strategy? We are considering GSA HACS 8(a)

Hemmingway GCACS - are you open to one-on-one meetings to discuss procurement recommendations?

Please reach out to the CO/CS

Hemmingway GCACS - are there delays expected? Unknown at this time

Hemmingway ODOS - is the date on track? If so, is there plans for an updated RFP?

11/18 release is the estimated release date, but APFS will be updated if that changes.

Hemmingway NEON - is it awarded and to who? NEON has not been awarded as of 11/10/2025.

Hemmingway ODOS - one procurement or separate RFPs for the 2 task areas Currently one RFP is anticipated with 2 task areas.

Hemmingway IS3 - is 8(a) GSA MAS still the acquisition strategy? We are currently working on this requirement. Unknown at this time.

Hemmingway IS3 - will there be an RFI or RFQ released?

For ICAM-ES III an RFI was issued and the RFQ 70SBUR25Q00000114 was released on 11/04/2025

Hemmingway IS3 - are you open to one-on-one meetings? Please reach out to the CO/CS

Hemmingway ODOS - will there be a tech challenge? Will be identified in the RFQ

Putnam eAUTO - can you clarify if it will be a multiple IDIQ or as a task order under an existing IDIQ We are reviewing GSA MAS task order

Putnam Enterprise Call Center - do you plan to release a draft PWS?

We would like to release one if time allows, depending on the results of the pending market research Putnam eAUTO - how many awards are anticipated? One

Putnam eAUTO - what contract vehicle are you planning to use? Looking at GSA MAS however depends on results of market research

Putnam eAUTO - will personnel be available to answer questions? Please reach out to the CO/CS

Putnam Enterprise Call Center - will it definitely not be small business?

Nothing definite at this time as we are in market research. We will update

APFS records as we firm up the strategy.

Putnam eAUTO - best value? TBD. Solicitation will state evaluation factors and weighting.