Released:
Netcentric Products (FA877108R0016) - Released 02/02/10, Due 05/18/10 ($6.9 Billion)
Enterprise Integration and Service Management (FA87710R0008) - Released 03/02/10, Due 04/01/10 ($460 Million)
Network Operations and Infrastructure Solutions Full and Open (FA877109R0018) - Released 05/20/10, Due 07/01/10 ($7.91 Billion)
Application Software Services Small Business Set-Aside (FA877109R0021) - Released 05/20/10, Due 06/30/10 ($960 Million)
Scheduled:
Network Operations and Infrastructure Solutions Small Business Set-Aside (FA877109R0019 ) - 08/10 ($5.39 Billion)
Application Software Services Full and Open (FA877109R0020) - 08/10 ($960 Million)
Telephony and Peripherals (FA877109R0022) - 10/10 ($910 Million)
IT Professional Support/Engineering Services (FA877109R0028) - 02/11 ($710 Million)
TOTAL ESTIMATED VALUE: $24.2 Billion
The NETCENTS II program provides enterprise-wide net-centric products at reasonable prices to Department of the Air Force, Department of Defense (DoD) agencies, and other Federal Agency customers, including but not limited to locations inside the contiguous United States (CONUS), outside the contiguous United States (OCONUS) and war zone areas for development, acquisition, integration, test, deployment, and sustainment of Air Force Command, Control, Communications, Computers (C4), Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance (ISR) (C4ISR) Enterprise and Information Systems in support of Research and Development (R&D) and operational/production activities. The overall NETCENTS II acquisition consists of eight ID/IQ solutions contract categories.
Program Name: U.S. Air Force Network Centric Solutions – 2 (NETCENTS-2)History: The initial NetCents -2 RFI was issued in Summer 2007. This effort has been stopped, delayed, and/or postponed. Industry now expects a draft RFP in early Fall 2009. NETCENTS 2 will be a follow-on to the original five-year, $9-billion NETCENTS contract, which expires in September 2009.
Government contractors can look forward to soon commenting on a draft request for proposal (RFP) regarding the Air Force’s Network Centric Solutions 2 (NETCENTS 2) contract, an IT products and services buying program that has the potential value of more than $9 billion dollars over five years. The draft RFP should be available in only a few months, according to Ann Lee, NETCENTS program manager at Maxwell AFB, Gunter Annex, Alabama. NETCENTS is administrated at the 754th Electronic Systems Group at Maxwell.
Analysts are predicting that the new version of the program will divide it into separate parts for products, services and services provided by small business.
Currently, four large and four small-business prime contractors, along with hundreds of participating equipment manufacturers and service providers, participate in NETCENTS. The large contractors are Booz Allen Hamilton, General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman. The small businesses are Centech Group, Multimax, NCI and Telos.
Solicitation Number: R1613
Agency: Department of the Air force
Office: Electronic Systems Group – Maxwell AFB
Estimated Value: $19 Billion over 5-7 years
Description: The scope of this new contract will shift. Other net-centric programs, such as the Distributed Common Ground System, will likely be incorporated into NETCENTS-2. In addition, there will be an increased emphasis on acquiring the services necessary to establish and maintain service-oriented architectures (SOAs). This shift reflects the Defense Department’s move toward SOAs as an organizing principle for military information systems and networks since the first NETCENTS contract was awarded.
“The requirements for NETCENTS -2 encompass the current requirements for net-centric products and services,” said Debra Foster, the Air Force’s NETCENTS -2 program manager. “NETCENTS -2 will also include advisory and assistance services, biometrics, as well as service-oriented architecture type services such as Web services, metadata services, and data and content delivery services.”
Another primary objective of NETCENTS -2 will be “to provide the Air Force with a wide range of hardware and software tools to support, interconnect and enhance the Air Force’s highly complex and critical command-and-control operations as well as its cyber mission,” Foster said. The service provisionally established the Cyber Command last year and has included cyber operations as one of its 3 warfighting domains.
Contract Type and Other Characteristics: Eight competitive acquisitions for products and services. There will be multiple award IDIQs. Contract length will be 3 base years and 2-4 1-year option periods. Estimated contract award 3Q&4QFY10.
The first NETCENTS contract was awarded to eight prime contractors, four of them small businesses. All the prime contractors and their teams of subcontractors were entitled to compete for task orders issued under the contract. However, the contracting strategy will change with the new contract. Eight separate contracts will be open to dozens of prime contractors.
Part of that strategy involves splitting the NETCENTS 1 contract into three parts: services, products, and services-small businesses. In the original NETCENTS contract, all three elements were wrapped into one.
As envisioned by Air Force acquisition officials at an industry day presentation May 29, the NetCents-2 acquisition strategy calls for eight separate procurements — two products-related contract vehicles and six services vehicles — each with multiple contract awards. Of these, three contracts will be set aside for small businesses, one for products and two for services.
Goals and Objectives of NetCents-2: The objective is to create an enterprise ordering vehicle that will allow USAF customers to acquire IT products and services that:
• Meet or exceed operational Net-Centric requirements
• Ensure technical compliance with AF and DoD standards
• Meet or beat required delivery timeframes
• Leverage USAF buying power to meet strategic sourcing goals
• Promote Small Business/Support "Beyond Goals" vision
Areas of Technology: Engineering. software development, systems integration, security and telephone services, SOA-based requirements, biometrics/Identity management, advisory and Assistance services (A&AS), as well as voice, video and data hardware and software products.
Structure of the RFP: There likely will be multiple RFPs – Telephony, NETOPS and Infrastructure Solutions, IT Professional Support, etc. There will be 8 acquisition categories with 6-8 awards in each. Three of the categories appear to be slated for small business.
Proposal Preparation Challenges: It would appear teaming and team building will be vitally essential in this effort. NETCENTS contractors see the competitive landscape among vendors important for the continuation of this program. For one, the fact that each prime contractor must be able to address a broad spectrum of capabilities from construction to enterprise network development and sustainment drives significant teaming structures.
“When establishing a team, Lockheed Martin first defines the full landscape of capabilities required by the customer in the networking area. We then determine the specific industry leaders that will help us provide the customer with a best value solution,” commented Schuhle, NETCENTS program manager for Lockheed Martin.
Partnerships with contractors and subcontractors (team members) play a key role to NETCENTS as they strive to provide customers with the best value solution.
“In this capacity we utilize significant levels of small business to help create that solution,” stated Schuhle. “As competition increases, we look to minimize pricing which means that we look to outsource areas that can be provided by other businesses more efficiently, this is where subcontracting comes into play, and in many cases small businesses.”
Resources of OCI can be beneficial
Based on the current information, this may not be an easy proposal to develop. Care will have to be taken to determine how/when to bid as a prime or a subcontractor and how that might benefit your company. Teaming and pre-proposal strategy will be a definite priority for success. A competitive and compliant NetCents-2 proposal will require forward and detailed planning.
OCI has the expertise and resources of professional proposal consultants to assist you with any or all of the following:
1. Capture planning
2. A Black Hat Review
3. Competitive analysis
4. Proposal Management
5. Proposal Writing
6. Pricing analysis
7. Proposal Production
8. Red Team Review
9. Whole Proposal Team