Solicitation
Enhanced Use Leasing Project Edwards Air Force Base
Department of Defense · Department of the Air Force
AI summaryPhase 1 (this notice): developers send an email of intent by November 30, 2026 and proposals are due January 4, 2027, 5:00 PM Central; only the firm(s) the Air Force picks as Potential Lessee go on to Phase 2 lease negotiations. The Department of the Air Force, through the Air Force Civil Engineer Center (AFCEC), wants developers to lease about 215 acres at Edwards Air Force Base (AFB), California, for mixed-use projects such as housing, medical and retail (solicitation AFCEC-27-R-0001, Enhanced Use Leasing Project). This is a long-term ground lease, not a regular FAR contract: the developer pays cash rent and receives no Air Force money. More in the summary
AI summary Beta
Phase 1 (this notice): developers send an email of intent by November 30, 2026 and proposals are due January 4, 2027, 5:00 PM Central; only the firm(s) the Air Force picks as Potential Lessee go on to Phase 2 lease negotiations. The Department of the Air Force, through the Air Force Civil Engineer Center (AFCEC), wants developers to lease about 215 acres at Edwards Air Force Base (AFB), California, for mixed-use projects such as housing, medical and retail (solicitation AFCEC-27-R-0001, Enhanced Use Leasing Project). This is a long-term ground lease, not a regular FAR contract: the developer pays cash rent and receives no Air Force money.
Who can bid
- Be able to pay for and finance the whole project with no Air Force help; financing must be in place on or before the date the lease is signed
- Offeror and team must not include the named RESS or PRESS contractors or their team members and subcontractors
- An offeror the Government finds a security threat, or with a terrorist country's government holding a significant interest in it, is not selected
How to submit: Email intent to afcec.EUL@us.af.mil by November 30, 2026; the Government then sends instructions to upload the response to a secure site. Hard copies are not accepted.. What to include is under Full summary below. Check the solicitation's instructions on SAM.gov.
Things to watch (13)
From the version posted Oct 26, 2026.
- Serious: Two-phase process; only the selected firm negotiates. Phase 1 proposals are ranked and only the Potential Lessee picked goes to Phase 2 lease negotiations, which may still end with no lease.
- Serious: Intent email needed before upload instructions. Offerors must email their wish to submit a proposal by November 30, 2026, and the Government then sends the upload instructions for the secure site.
- Serious: Developer-scale financing and bonding with no Government support. Bidders must show full project financing, a bonding letter for the whole project, and two years of audited financial statements, with no Air Force loan, guarantee or occupancy support.
Show all 13Show fewer
- Serious: Environmental cleanup and review costs fall on the lessee. No Environmental Baseline Survey exists, a Phase 1 survey, NEPA review, tribal and historic-preservation consultation are needed, and a cleanup site (Site 280) sits in the northwest corner of one parcel.
- Worth checking: No small business evaluation credit. Small businesses may compete, but the Air Force gives no extra credit for small business participation and the process is not a FAR procurement.
- Worth checking: Environmental survey: documents disagree. The RFLP says a copy of the Environmental Baseline Survey is available on request, while Appendix A says none has been completed; ask the Government which is right.
- Worth checking: No utilities or emergency services; water and gas off base. The lessee gets its own utilities and fire, police and emergency services, and water and gas must be routed from off the installation.
- Worth checking: Housing may not compete with military housing privatization. Any housing idea must explain how it does not compete with the Military Housing Privatization Initiative, and the lease is not under the military housing authority.
- Worth checking: Demolition reserve and site restoration at lease end. The lessee must keep a demolition reserve account and restore the land to its condition at lease signing, unless the Government keeps the improvements.
- Worth checking: Congressional notice before the lease can be signed. The Government must complete congressional notification and reporting without objection before it signs final lease documents, so signing is not certain.
- Minor: Industry forum November 19, 2026; sign up by November 12, 2026. An industry forum is set at Edwards AFB; the summary does not call it mandatory, and details are to be sent to registrants.
- Minor: Two different email domains for the EUL mailbox. Section 4.3 gives afcec.EUL@us.af.mil for the intent email, while Section 7.2 copies afcec.EUL@af.mil on questions; confirm the right address with the Government.
- Minor: Davis-Bacon wage rules apply during construction. Appendix B includes the Davis-Bacon Act clause, so laborers and mechanics on the site must be paid the wage rates it requires while building.
Read from the notice and 10 attachments. Show which files.
- Tab 1 - AFCEC Edwards Mixed-Use EUL RFLP (AFCEC-27-R-0001).pdf (read)
- Edwards EUL sam gov Summary 102626.pdf (read)
- Tab 9 - Edwards RFLP Appendix H Offerors Authority and Housing Policy Acknowledgement GCN.pdf (read)
- Tab 8 - Edwards RFLP Appendix G_ RFLP No. AFCEC-27-R-0001.pdf (read)
- Tab 7 - Edwards RFLP Appendix F_ RFLP No. AFCEC-27-R-0001.pdf (read)
- Tab 6 - Edwards RFLP Appendix E_ RFLP No. AFCEC-27-R-0001.pdf (read)
- Tab 5 - Edwards RFLP Appendix D_ RFLP No. AFCEC-27-R-0001.pdf (read)
- Tab 4 - Edwards RFLP Appendix C_ RFLP No. AFCEC-27-R-0001.pdf (read)
- Tab 3 - Edwards RFLP Appendix B_ RFLP No. AFCEC-27-R-0001.pdf (read)
- Tab 2 - Edwards RFLP Appendix A_ Depiction of the Property and Map.pdf (read)
Full summary
What they want
- Propose a mixed-use project (housing, medical facilities, commercial or retail space) on two parcels of about 215 acres at Edwards AFB, outside the security gate
- Pay the Government cash rent (ground rent, a top-line revenue share, or both), judged on net present value
- Finance, permit, build, own and run the improvements with no Air Force funding, utilities or guarantees
- Pay for the environmental baseline survey and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) review, plus cultural and tribal consultation
- Pay $200,000 at lease signing to cover the Government's direct costs of the lease
- Keep a demolition reserve and restore the land when the lease ends
- Negotiate a lease with the Air Force if selected as Potential Lessee
- Contract type
- Long-term ground lease (Enhanced Use Lease, or EUL, under 10 U.S.C. 2667) through a Request for Lease Proposal (RFLP); not governed by the FAR
- Period of performance
- Lease term not more than 50 years unless the offeror proposes a longer one and the Government decides it serves national defense or its interest
- Place of performance
- Edwards, CA, USA: two parcels in Kern County, Site 1 about 140 acres and Site 2 about 75 acres, outside the security access gate
- Estimated value
- Not stated
- How they'll choose
- Two-phase best-value selection. Phase 1 ranks proposals on four factors; Phase 2 is lease negotiation with the selected Potential Lessee. Factors 1 and 2 are equal and rank above Factors 3 and 4, which are equal.
- Offers due
- January 4, 2027, 5:00 PM Central
- How to submit
- Email intent to afcec.EUL@us.af.mil by November 30, 2026; the Government then sends instructions to upload the response to a secure site. Hard copies are not accepted.
- Page limits
- Whole response: 40 pages (single side, 8.5 x 11 inch, standard font) in Word and/or a PDF of no more than 10 megabytes. Drawings, cost estimates, mandatory clauses, legal documents, resumes, financial statements, pro formas, engineering calculations, catalog cuts and specifications do not count. The pro forma is a separate Excel file.
What they'll judge offers on
- Factor 1, Project Description: (1.1) project concept, market analysis and feasibility, (1.2) project development, construction and operations
- Factor 2, Return to the Government: (2.1) proposed rental and/or additional consideration, (2.2) financial pro forma
- Factor 3, Organization, Experience and Capability: (3.1) organization and experience, (3.2) financial capability
- Factor 4, Integrated Project Plan and Schedule
What to include when you submit
- Organize the response by the Sections, Factors and Subfactors in Table 1 (A Project Description, B Return to the Government, C Organization, Experience and Capability, D Integrated Project Plan and Schedule)
- Send files in Microsoft Word or PDF format
- Include the signed Offeror's Cover Page (Appendix D); a corporate officer signs with a corporate certificate or resolution showing authority, or send two authenticated copies of a power of attorney if an agent signs
- Include the signed Offeror's Acknowledgement (Appendix H), and a statement acknowledging the Mandatory Clauses (Appendix B) and your compliance with them
- Send a stand-alone Excel financial pro forma with an assumptions worksheet, construction budget, sources and uses statement, annual cash flow statement for each lease year, and a consideration worksheet; a proposal without a full pro forma is not acceptable
- Justify the lease term in the pro forma if it is more than 50 years
- Document market demand with sourced data, and include a marketing strategy, conceptual site and utility plans, an environmental management plan and a security and access plan
- Include a Gantt chart integrated project schedule showing milestones, dependencies and the critical path
- Describe up to five recent, relevant projects (financing, design, construction, management, operation, cost, schedule and performance) and say who did the work if not you
- Show your organization and team, copies of team agreements (or state none exist), key personnel, and legal counsel
- Send a letter of interest from a bonding institution for payment and performance bonds covering the full project, or an alternative that protects the Government better
- Show financing: a lender letter of interest for debt, evidence of funds for equity, and up to 3 examples of past financing of similar projects
- Send financial statements for the most recent two years, audited or reviewed by a Certified Public Accountant, or an individual's executed IRS tax filings if statements are not available
- Make the required disclosures: foreign ownership, restructurings, lender actions, Government lease faults, fraud judgments in the past ten years, ongoing disputes, criminal litigation, and objections to the Lease
- Mark proprietary pages with the legends in the RFLP; marking almost every page may get the proposal rejected
- Do not name any listed Real Estate Support Service (RESS) or Privatization Real Estate Support Service (PRESS) firm as a team member or subcontractor
After award, you must have
- Pay a $200,000 cash payment at lease execution for the Government's direct costs, separate from rent From Tab 1 - AFCEC Edwards Mixed-Use EUL RFLP (AFCEC-27-R-0001).pdf:
Hundred Thousand Dollars and No Cents ($200,000.00).
- Carry the insurance in Appendix C throughout the lease term From Tab 1 - AFCEC Edwards Mixed-Use EUL RFLP (AFCEC-27-R-0001).pdf:
The Potential Lessee shall ensure that insurance policies are maintained throughout the…
- Deliver payment and performance bonds before any phase of construction starts From Tab 1 - AFCEC Edwards Mixed-Use EUL RFLP (AFCEC-27-R-0001).pdf:
Prior to the commencement of any phase of construction, the Potential Lessee shall deliver to the…
Not in the notice text
- The Government gives no estimate of rent or lease value; rent must be at least fair market value of the leasehold.
- Details of the industry forum, including whether attendance is required, will be sent later to registrants.
- The upload instructions for the secure site come after the intent email.
- No site visit is mentioned.
- Answers to pre-offer questions will be posted on SAM.gov and may change the RFLP by amendment.
Eligibility and how to respond
- No set-aside: any business, large or small, can bid unless the notice says otherwise.
- How to submit, from the AI summary: Email intent to afcec.EUL@us.af.mil by November 30, 2026; the Government then sends instructions to upload the response to a secure site. Hard copies are not accepted. Check it in the notice before you send anything.
- Construction contracts over $2,000 pay at least the local Davis-Bacon wage rates, from the wage determination in the solicitation. Price your labor from it: How to price a government contract, and how Davis-Bacon differs from the Service Contract Act.
Notice details
- Posted
- Oct 26, 2026
- Notice type
- Solicitation
- Office
- FA8903 772 Ess PK, JBSA Lackland, TX
- Product/service code
- Z1QA · Maintenance of Restoration of Real Property (Public or Private)
- Business type
- Construction & renovation (FedReady's grouping, from product/service code Z1QA)
- Versions
2 versions have been posted, newest first.
- Oct 26, 2026 · Amendment 0001 (this version)Due Jan 4, 2027
- Oct 22, 2026 · SolicitationDue Jan 4, 2027
- Attachments
Past awards and competition
Who has won work like this before, the likely incumbent, and what similar contracts paid, from USAspending.gov.
Before you respond
- How to respond to a solicitation (8 steps)
- How to read a government solicitation
- How to price a government contract
Terms on this notice: Solicitation
Full notice text from SAM.gov
The Department of the Air Force (“DAF”) is accepting proposals for the development of market facing mixed-use projects to include, but not limited to, housing accessible to military families and/or single members, civilians and defense contractors, medical facilities, and commercial/retail space (“Projects”). As consideration for leasing its parcels to developers selected under this RFLP, DAF is seeking cash rent and/or in-kind consideration (IKC) including future, undetermined construction projects. Pursuant to the foregoing Executive Order and the Enabling Statute, the Department of the Air Force (the “Government”) is issuing this Request for Lease Proposal (the “RFLP”) to solicit proposals from entities (“Offeror(s)”) interested in entering into a long-term ground lease (the “Lease”) to lease all or a portion of that certain real property located at Edwards AFB (the “Installation”), which is an active military installation located in Kern County, California comprised of two parcels totaling approximately 215-acres of land (the “Property”) from the Government for the purposes of financing, permitting, developing, constructing, installing, owning, maintaining and operating improvements upon the Property for the Lessee’s private commercial (non-Federal government) use (collectively, the “Project”). In accordance with and subject to the terms, requirements, and conditions of this RFLP, the Government will evaluate all proposals received to select one or more Offerors as a “Potential Lessee(s)” with whom to enter lease negotiations. A Potential Lessee with whom the Government makes and enters into a written and legally binding lease agreement is hereinafter referred to as a “Lessee.” If no agreement is made, a Potential Lessee may not actually become a Lessee.
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