Presolicitation
Department of the Air Force Program Business and Enterprise Systems (BES) Commercial Solutions Opening (CSO)
Dept of Defense · Dept of the Air Force · Sol. FA8771-26-S-C0001
No deadline
Track this notice by email. We'll email you if it's amended or awarded, and a week and two days before responses are due.
AI summary Beta
The Air Force's Business and Enterprise Systems directorate (Maxwell AFB Gunter Annex, Alabama) has posted an umbrella Commercial Solutions Opening (CSO) to buy innovative commercial IT and business software solutions. It is a framework, not a request for proposals: specific requests, called Calls, will be posted as needed until 2 March 2030. Nobody should submit anything until a Call is posted.
Watch out for
- Nothing can be submitted yet. This is an umbrella notice and the real requirements, due dates and set-asides only appear in later Calls, so a business has to keep watching SAM.gov.
NO RESPONSES WILL BE ACCEPTED UNDER THIS CSO UNTIL A CALL IS POSTED
- Two-step Calls can shut out late entrants. In a two-step Call, only companies whose white papers are evaluated well are invited to send proposals, so missing the white paper step means no proposal.
(White Papers first, then Proposals by invite-only)
- No exceptions for late submissions. A late white paper or proposal will not be read, even if the cause was a technology problem.
No exceptions will be made for late
- Awards are not guaranteed and may be OTAs. The government may award nothing, and some awards may be Other Transaction Agreements with different rules than a standard contract.
The Government is not obligated
- SAM.gov shows no set-aside. The notice is listed as having no set-aside, but the CSO says small business set-asides may be set in individual Calls.
Government reserves the right to small business set asides and will be
Full brief
What they want
- Commercial off-the-shelf IT and business solutions that improve Air Force capabilities, efficiency and cost
- Focus areas: agile methodology, integration with existing IT, scalability, security, automation, reporting and analytics, compliance, vendor support and training, artificial intelligence, reduced cost of ownership
- Specific needs (Areas of Interest) will be spelled out in each future Call
- The focus areas are not exclusive; the Air Force may add more by amendment
- Contract type
- Awards may be FAR-based contracts or Other Transaction Agreements (OTAs) under 10 U.S.C. 2371b; decided per Call
- Period of performance
- Not stated. Calls will be published as needed until 2 March 2030.
- Place of performance
- AL, USA (SAM.gov field); the CSO is issued from Maxwell Air Force Base, Gunter Annex, Alabama
- Contract vehicle
- Commercial Solutions Opening (CSO) with Calls issued by amendment
- How they'll choose
- Each Call evaluates at least the mandatory factors below on the merit of the concept against the Area of Interest, not against other submissions; Calls may add or expand criteria
- How to submit
- Not yet open. Calls will give submission dates and instructions and will be announced on SAM.gov.
- Page limits
- Not stated; proposal content and format are set in each Call. A white paper is described as usually 2-5 pages with a rough-order-of-magnitude price.
What they'll judge offers on
- Technical: soundness and technical merit of the solution for the stated need, and demonstrated feasibility
- Importance to Agency Programs / Commercial Innovation: how innovative, unique or under-utilized the capability is
- Funds Availability
- Price: considered at least to decide that it is fair and reasonable
What to include when you submit
- Do not submit anything until a Call is posted
- Closed Calls are one-step (proposals only) or two-step (white papers first, then proposals by invitation only); Open Calls are always two-step
- Late submissions are not reviewed, even for technology problems during submission
- Companies may send multiple submissions for one Area of Interest if each is a separate concept, one concept per submission
- Mark trade secrets and proprietary data clearly
- Links, disks and promotional material will not be considered unless the Call says so
You must have
- Active SAM.gov registration (a UEI) before award
In order to be awarded a FAR-based contract, you must be
- Must be found responsible and not suspended or debarred
Offerors must be determined to be responsible by the Contracting/Agreements Officer
- Registered in Wide Area Work Flow (WAWF), the government invoicing system
Offerors must be registered in the prescribed government
- Facility clearance only if a Call involves classified work
firm must have a facility clearance to perform the work.
- Small business set-asides, if any, will be decided in each Call
Government reserves the right to small business set asides and will be
- Export-controlled work needs a certified DD Form 2345 with the proposal
Certified DD Form 2345, Militarily Critical Technical Data Agreement,
Not in the notice text
- Dollar value or ceiling of any award
- Specific Areas of Interest, dates and submission instructions, which come with each Call
- Whether any Call will be set aside for small business
- Page limits and proposal format, set per Call
- Whether classified work or a DD254 will apply to any Call
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Key facts
- Posted
- Oct 6, 2026
- Notice type
- Presolicitation
- Solicitation
- FA8771-26-S-C0001
- Agency
- Dept of Defense · Dept of the Air Force
- Office
- FA8771 AFLCMC GBK
- Set-aside
- No Set aside used
- NAICS
- 541519
- Product/service code
- DA01
- Business type
- IT, software & telecom
- Place of performance
- AL, 36104
- Contracting contact
- Mary Wasdenmary.jackson.17@us.af.mil
- Versions
- 2 (amended since first posted)
What similar contracts paid
165 contracts at this agency under the same NAICS code, in the same state, had activity in the last 5 years, according to USAspending.gov. Small businesses won 61% of the dollars in this market over the last 3 fiscal years.
Typical contract$181KMiddle half: $68.5K to $832K
Typical per year$162KValue divided by years of performance
Possible incumbent's contract endsMar 2027A similar contract in this state, ending near when this one starts
Before you respond
Full notice text from SAM.gov
NO RESPONSES WILL BE ACCEPTED UNDER THIS CSO UNTIL A CALL IS POSTED This BES CSO is being posted as a pre-solcitation notice to industry in anticipation of potential opportunities to come. No responses of any kind shall be submitted at this time. Future calls will prescribe submission info.
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