Solicitation
Aircraft Defensive Electro-optical Protection Technologies (ADEPT)
Dept of Defense · Dept of the Air Force · Sol. FA2377-26-R-B011
Due in 31 days
AI summary Beta
Some details weren't available to this summary, so it may miss requirements. Check the attachments on SAM.gov.
The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio wants research and engineering help to build and test ways to protect U.S. aircraft from infrared and other electro-optical (EO) guided missile threats. It is a one-step research call (ADEPT) with two separate technical areas, and the Air Force expects to award one cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for each, running 84 months. The work is high-security (TS/SCI and Special Access Program) and the key requirement documents are export-controlled and released only to approved U.S. contractors.
Watch out for
- Core requirements are restricted. The Statements of Objectives that define the work are controlled unclassified information, only released to qualified U.S. contractors with a certified DD Form 2345 after you email the contracting team, so you cannot judge fit or price the work from the public posting.
and is only available to qualified US contractors, as defined by
- TS/SCI and Special Access Program security. Work at this level requires cleared facilities and people and a DD 254; a small business without existing clearances cannot realistically meet this by the deadline.
TS/SCI and SAP. See DD254 (Attachment 5). Offerors must verify their
- Funding not yet available. The Air Force can cancel before or after the closing date and will not pay for your proposal costs, so you could spend heavily on a proposal with no award.
Funds are not presently available for this effort. No
- Strict conflict-of-interest limits. If you win, you may be barred for the life of the system from supplying the system or major parts to DoD, or from working for those suppliers, and you must sign associate contractor agreements with other firms.
that the Contractor is precluded for the life of the system from award of a DoD
- Large cost-type contract with heavy compliance. An 84-month CPFF contract needs an adequate accounting system, cost accounting standards disclosures, rate support, CMMC, flight and ground test safety reviews and security reporting, which is a lot of overhead for a small firm.
contracts require successful offerors to have an accounting system considered adequate
- Conflicting due time. The announcement says 2 p.m. EST on 09 November 2026 but the draft SF 33 form shows 12:00 PM, so confirm the cutoff with the contracting officer and submit early.
12:00 PM 09 Nov 2026
- Unclear weighting of cost. The announcement says the criteria are in equal order of importance but also says cost is second in priority, so it is not clear how much price will matter.
through Peer or Scientific Review using the criteria below, in equal order of importance:
- Government wants unlimited data rights. If your technology was built at private expense and you want to protect it, you must list the restrictions in your proposal and they can count against your technical score.
Unlimited data rights are desired for this call. See detailed
Read from the notice and 8 attachments.
- Attachment 1- Placeholder Techncial Area 1 (HEAT) Statement of Objectives (SOO).pdf
- Attachment 2 - Placeholder Technical Area 2 (ACE) Statement of Objectives (SOO).pdf
- Attachment 3 - AFRL SOW -PWS Supplemental Requirements.pdf
- MSDEW ARA_ Call 03_ADEPT.pdf
- Attachment 5 - Placeholder Solicitation DD254.pdf
- Attachment 4-ADEPT CDRLs -20260727.pdf
- Attachment 6 - Section K (Reps.Certs).pdf
- Attachment 7_Model Contract_(ADEPT).pdf
Full brief
What they want
- Technical Area 1, HEAT (Hardware & Executable Analysis of Threats): take apart and study foreign EO-guided missiles, launch equipment and airborne threats such as loitering drones, and produce high-fidelity modeling inputs
- Technical Area 2, ACE (Advanced Countermeasure Engineering): continuous scientific and engineering support to characterize new threats, run laboratory and open-air tests, and build digital threat models
- Create and improve pre-emptive or reactive countermeasures (expendable, directed energy and new concepts) to raise aircraft and aircrew survivability
- Skills named include threat hardware and software exploitation, laser-based testing, open-air testing, missile and flare signature modeling, high-performance computing and prototype countermeasure hardware
- Develop software and hardware as needed and deliver all hardware and non-consumed materials to the Government at the end
- Support AFRL ground and flight test reviews, test plans and reports
- Deliver data per the CDRL list (not readable in the files provided) and a final technical report
- Contract type
- Cost-Plus-Fixed-Fee (CPFF) completion contract under the FAR; the model contract uses one CPFF CLIN 0001 for experimentation, evaluation and assessment, plus software and hardware CLINs. Also states other instruments (OT, grants) are possible, but the Air Force intends a FAR-based award. The model contract's type-of-contract provision names IDIQ.
- Period of performance
- 84 months per contract (81 months technical plus 3 months for final reporting). Options are not anticipated.
- Place of performance
- Wright-Patterson AFB, OH (AFRL facilities including Area B, Bldg 620 and the DIME laboratory); field and flight tests anticipated; travel within the U.S. and overseas may be required
- Estimated value
- Total estimated call value $74,633,000 over FY27 to FY33: Technical Area 1 (HEAT) $13,695K and Technical Area 2 (ACE) $60,938K. The Air Force may exceed this; the funding plan is an estimate only.
- Contract vehicle
- Advanced Research Announcement (ARA) Multi-Spectrum Defensive Electronic Warfare (MSDEW), basic ARA FA8650-20-S-1119, Call 03 (FA2377-26-R-B011)
- How they'll choose
- Peer or scientific review, not a price-based ranking. Each technical-area proposal is rated Selectable or Not Selectable; only Selectable proposals can be awarded, and selection also depends on importance to Air Force programs and available funding. The Government may award all, some or none without discussions.
- Offers due
- 2 p.m. EST on 09 November 2026 (SAM.gov header 2026-11-09T14:00:00-05:00). The draft SF 33 in the model contract shows 12:00 PM 09 Nov 2026. A prior email asking for the DoD SAFE link is also required, with a deadline date/time that is not filled in.
- How to submit
- Email first to Lesley Breitzman (lesley.breitzman@us.af.mil) and Richard Bailey (richard.bailey.26@us.af.mil) with your company CAGE code. They check your Joint Certification Program status, then send a DoD SAFE link for downloading the restricted attachments and for dropping off the proposal.
- Page limits
- Technical/Management proposal: 15 pages per technical area (Microsoft Word). Statement of Work: 10 pages per technical area, not counted in the 15. 10-point Arial, Times New Roman or Calibri, double-spaced, 8.5 x 11 in., 1-inch margins. Pages over the limit are not considered.
What they'll judge offers on
- Technical Merit: understanding of the scope; soundness of approach, related experience and technical staff qualifications; potential to advance the state of the art and meet mission needs; potential to transition results (restrictions on technical data or software are considered)
- Cost/Price: realism of the proposed cost; a substantial factor but second in priority
What to include when you submit
- Submit a separate proposal for each technical area you want (you may bid HEAT, ACE or both)
- Keep technical/management and cost/business in separate volumes; each must stay valid for 180 days and reference FA2377-26-R-B011 and the technical area
- Include a proposed SOW answering the Government's Statement of Objectives, with no proprietary information in it
- Cost files in Microsoft Excel with the formulas used to calculate rates and bases; cost breakdown by contractor fiscal year with labor hours, rates, materials, subcontractors, travel and a funding profile by government fiscal year
- Include a copy of your approved DD Form 2345 with the proposal
- Return completed Section K Representations and Certifications (Attachment 6) with a digital signature
- List any technical data or software to be delivered with less than unlimited rights (asserted restrictions form under DFARS 252.227-7992)
- Provide previous or ongoing work related to this acquisition for the conflict-of-interest review, and a subcontracting plan if the effort exceeds $900,000 (small businesses are exempt)
- Keep everything unclassified; contact the technical POC if a classified appendix is needed
- Send questions to the technical POCs (Robert Desonia, Edward Rooks) or the contracting POCs listed above
You must have
- Open to all businesses (no set-aside); size standard 1,000 employees under NAICS 541715
Eligible Offeror: This is an unrestricted solicitation.
- Certified, current DD Form 2345 (Militarily Critical Technical Data Agreement) to receive the restricted documents and submitted with the proposal; ITAR export controls apply
DD Form 2345, Militarily Critical Technical Data Agreement, is required
- Security: program classification of TS/SCI and Special Access Program; offerors must have current Cognizant Security Office information with DCSA (facility clearance needed for the DD 254)
TS/SCI and SAP. See DD254 (Attachment 5). Offerors must verify their
- No foreign participation
Foreign Participation is not authorized on this call due
- Employees needing base or government network access must be U.S. citizens (green card holders do not qualify) unless a written waiver is granted
must be U.S. citizens. For the purpose of base and network access, possession of a permanent
- Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) Level 2 (Self) in SPRS before award, with CMMC unique identifiers in the proposal
by this solicitation is: CMMC Level 2 (Self).
- An accounting system adequate for tracking costs on a cost-reimbursement contract
contracts require successful offerors to have an accounting system considered adequate
- Active SAM registration with completed annual reps and certs, and a completed Section K with the proposal
Not in the notice text
- The actual Statements of Objectives for both technical areas (Attachments 1 and 2) are CUI and not included, so detailed tasks, deliverables and performance goals are unknown
- Attachment 4 (CDRLs) did not load (the file shows only a PDF viewer message), so required data deliverables are unknown
- Attachment 5 (DD 254 security specification) is CUI and not included, so facility clearance and safeguarding levels are not fully known
- Section M (Evaluation Factors) in the model contract is blank; evaluation is only described in the ARA
- The date and time by which you must email for the DoD SAFE link is left blank in the ARA
- Fixed-fee, cost and contract value amounts in the model contract are all 'To Be Determined'
- Key positions and minimum qualifications in the supplemental requirements are left as a blank template
- Large parts of Attachment 3 (about 12,000 characters) and Attachment 7, the model contract (about 131,000 characters), were not provided, so some special terms and clauses are unknown
- Whether a clearance is required at the proposal stage, or only for performance, is not clear in the text provided
- Who the current or previous contractor on related MSDEW calls is, is not stated
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Key facts
- Response due
- Nov 9, 2026, 7:00 PM UTC
- Posted
- Sep 28, 2026
- Notice type
- Solicitation
- Solicitation
- FA2377-26-R-B011
- Agency
- Dept of Defense · Dept of the Air Force
- Office
- FA2377 Usaf AFMC Afrl PZL Afrl Ryks
- Set-aside
- No Set aside used
- NAICS
- 541715
- Product/service code
- AC32
- Business type
- Engineering, architecture & research
- Place of performance
- Wright Patterson AFB, OH
- Contracting contact
- Lesley Breitzmanlesley.breitzman@us.af.mil
- Versions
- 2 (amended since first posted)
Full notice text from SAM.gov
28 September 2026 Amendment- Solicitation amended to revise technical proposal page limit to 15 pages per Technical Area. In support of the AFRL Information and Spectrum Dominance Directorate (AFRL/RF), the objective of the ADEPT effort is to develop pre-emptive or reactive countermeasure solutions —including expendable, directed energy, and novel developmental solutions in the EO spectrum—to protect U.S. aircraft and aircrew in contested environments. The ADEPT program is divided into two separate technical areas: Hardware & Executable Analysis of Threats (HEAT) Advanced Countermeasure Engineering (ACE)
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