Hybrid Acquisition for Proliferated LEO (HALO) Program Solicitation

This is a program solicitation using other transaction authority (OTA) for the Hybrid Acquisition for Proliferated LEO (HALO) effort, the winners of which will be eligible to compete for future prototype orders. HALO is an acquisition approach to solicit and award rapid, affordable mission feasibility demonstrations. This solicitation provides an opportunity for industry to submit proposals for eligibility into an established vendor pool to compete for specific flight demonstration opportunities in the future. Only vendors in the HALO pool will be able to bid against specific demonstration prototype orders geared toward this effort, with the anticipation of multiple prototype orders being initiated and awarded per year.

A key goal of HALO is to put a flexible and fast contracting mechanism in place to compete and award Tranche 2 Demonstration and Experimentation System (T2DES) and other SDA demonstration projects. HALO will also increase the pool of performers capable of bidding on future SDA programs, including participation in layers of future tranches. HALO will provide opportunities for companies to gain valuable experience working with SDA on demonstration projects. HALO pool members will also be able to work directly with SDA to ensure their security capabilities are sufficient to perform on SDA missions.

HALO is structured as a multiple step competition, with initial selection into the HALO pool limited to non-traditional defense contractors. SDA is expecting multiple initial pool members and intends to review the pool periodically. For more information on the HALO pool requirements for mission success and representative prototype orders, view the full solicitation attached to this announcement.

The HALO program solicitation is supplemented by unclassified solicitation documents that make up the Bidder’s Library. These include compliance and reference documents as well as sample DD 254 templates. To receive the solicitation’s Bidder’s Library via DoD SAFE, please send a request to ussf.pentagon.sda.mbx.sda-ps-24-03@mail.mil with the subject line “SDA HALO Solicitation Content Request”.

SDA will be hosting an unclassified Industry Day to provide additional information about the solicitation. Industry Day will be held on June 17, 2024 from 1300 - 1500 in-person (Northern Virginia) and virtually. Attendance is limited to 2 in-person and 2 virtual lines per organization. To receive final Industry Day information, please email ussf.pentagon.sda.mbx.sda-ps-24-03@mail.mil and include if you plan to attend in person and/or virtually. Registration will close on Wednesday, June 12 – no walk-ins will be accepted. Please note, the Industry Day will not be recorded and SDA is not holding vendor one-on-ones.

Amendment 1 does the following:

• Updates proposal submission instructions,
• Increases proposal page count from 20 to 25 pages,
• Adds Demonstrated Performance Summary table to be filled out by proposer,
• Requests a narrative summary of demonstrated performance,
• Clarifies that spacecraft bus must be provided and not procured,
• Clarifies that IMS and WBS submissions shall be in PDF format,
• Includes an option to submit a prior proposal in place of an RPO write up, and,
• Requests additional systems engineering and requirements handling information for each RPO.

Additionally, the Bidder’s Library now includes standard definitions for Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) and Manufacturing Readiness Levels (MRL).