Ask Sage, Inc.

Ask Sage, Inc., a small business specializing in generative AI enterprise software platforms, operates as a prime contractor (98% of recent awards) selling annual platform subscriptions with customized token allocations, training, cloud storage, and custom services to Department of Defense agencies under the Total Small Business set-aside. Ask Sage is a child entity of Bigbear.ai, LLC, headquartered in McLean, Virginia (with principal place of business in Bentonville, Virginia), and competes exclusively under small-business set-asides — all 52 prime awards carry Total Small Business designations, with work split between SBIR Phase II/III awards and delivery orders against the firm's $200 million IDIQ.

Ask Sage's customer concentration is extreme and vehicle-dependent. By award count, the top five funding components — Army Research Development and Engineering Command, Air Combat Command, Office of the Chief of Staff (Army), Air Force Research Laboratory, and Office of Naval Research — account for 43% of recent awards but carry only $4.7 million in combined value. By potential value, however, the Army USASC System of Systems Integration Directorate dominates with $201 million (89% of the portfolio) across three awards — the $200 million Single Award IDIQ established February 3, 2025, and two related task orders. The Office of the Secretary (Defense) anchors $11.2 million across three awards, followed by Air Force Research Laboratory ($3.2 million, four awards) and Defense Health Agency ($3 million, two awards). The extreme spread between award-count and dollar-value rankings reflects Ask Sage's business model: a single large IDIQ vehicle with dozens of small task orders issued by individual DoD components, each in the $20 thousand to $1.6 million range.

The $200 million Total Small Business set-aside SBIR Phase III Indefinite Delivery Contract with the Army USASC System of Systems Integration Directorate (W9128Z25DA001), awarded February 3, 2025, and expiring February 2, 2030, anchors Ask Sage's entire federal footprint. Between January 31, 2025, and September 28, 2025, approximately 27 separate task orders valued at roughly $15.2 million collectively were issued under this vehicle by multiple DoD agencies including the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Defense Health Agency, Air Combat Command, Air Education and Training Command, Army commands (Army War College, Army Test and Evaluation Command, Training and Doctrine Command, Reserve Command, Tank Automotive and Armaments Command), Naval Sea Systems Command, Missile Defense Agency, and the Office of the Chief of Staff. Individual delivery order values ranged from $990 to $10.88 million. By May 2026, 43 task orders against this IDV carried $19.7 million in combined potential value. Concurrent activity includes an STTR Phase II award from Air Force Research Laboratory ($1.8 million, awarded August 2024, completed August 2025) for AI-driven acquisition support, a $1.3 million SBIR Phase III Defense Health Agency purchase order (September 2024) for AI tokens and cybersecurity use cases, and a $1.1 million Air Force Digital Transformation Office SBIR award (September 2025) for AI-driven command and control.

Activity has accelerated sharply — three awards in 2023, four in 2024, 34 in 2025 — driven by the February 2025 IDIQ establishment and subsequent task-order volume. Thirty-three awards carrying $18.6 million in combined potential value reach ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months, creating significant recompete exposure. Performance locations span Ask Sage's principal site in Bentonville, Virginia, and subordinate government installations including Langley Air Force Base, Joint Base Andrews, Fort Leonard Wood, Naval Surface Warfare Center Corona Division (Norco, California), Aberdeen Proving Ground, Adelphi, Hanscom Air Force Base, and multiple Army and Air Force facilities across the continental United States.

Ask Sage operates as a single-solution vendor: all capability claims across the award portfolio center on generative AI platform subscriptions for defense acquisition acceleration, cybersecurity assessment automation, financial management, and operational decision support. The vendor carries one subcontract reference — $2 million in tokens to BAE Systems Technology Solutions & Services Inc. on an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile weapon system integration and engineering effort (May 2024). Ask Sage's work is categorized primarily under NAICS 541512 (Computer Systems Design Services, 44 awards) and PSC codes for National Defense R&D Services (19 awards) and application software licensing (13 awards combined). The portfolio reflects SBIR/STTR researcher-to-commercial-transition positioning; generative AI capability work flows through the IDIQ rather than direct prime procurement, and the vendor competes in no full-and-open or unrestricted vehicles.