Basic Enabling Support for Collaboration, Analysis, and Research (BESCAR)

The Air University Innovation Accelerator (AUiX), through the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), is conducting a sources sought notice for the Basic Enabling Support for Collaboration, Analysis, and Research (BESCAR) program to identify qualified small and large businesses capable of providing research, analysis, development, prototyping, testing, education, and training services. The procurement seeks contractors to collaborate with Air University students, faculty, staff, and DoD partners to transform scholarly ideas into future force capabilities across domains including computing, artificial intelligence and machine learning, knowledge management, wargaming and simulation, human performance, and Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance systems. Key requirements include possession of interim or final Top Secret Facility Clearance and demonstrated capabilities in five areas: technology and market research analysis, rapid prototype development for C5ISR systems, fielding prototypes in operational environments, providing DoD education and training, and integrated IT engineering across multiple security classifications. Contractors must also provide an educational facility within 10 miles of Maxwell AFB, Alabama, with specialized classrooms including a 50-person capacity room and spaces for wargaming and laboratory work. Responses to this sources sought notice are due by 4:00 PM CST on August 21, 2025, with companies required to demonstrate their technical capabilities and business size status.

This opportunity is structured as a full and open competition with no set-aside designation, though the government is specifically seeking to identify qualified small businesses to potentially justify a small business set-aside requiring at least two qualified small business sources. The current incumbent contractor is HII Mission Technologies Corporation, a large business operating under contract FA807518D0002. The anticipated contract structure is a Blanket Purchase Agreement spanning five years with one base year plus four one-year option periods. Performance locations include government and contractor facilities across multiple sites including Washington D.C., the National Capital Region, Nellis AFB Nevada, Hurlburt Field Florida, Wright-Patterson AFB Ohio, and Joint Base Lewis-McChord Washington, with occasional outside continental United States travel required. The procurement falls under NAICS code 541330 (Engineering Services) with a small business size standard of $25.5 million, and the contract will include both firm-fixed-price contract line items for labor and cost-reimbursable contract line items for materials and travel expenses.