QUICK HITS
Join GovBrew and OrangeSlices AI: We are celebrating GovCon’s awesome leaders at the Dirty Habit, November 18th.
Your program has a new owner. Do you know who your new PAE is?
GSA Refresh 34: New GSAR clause 552.239-7001, Basic Safeguarding of Data within Large Language Model Artificial Intelligence Systems.
What AI Is Catching and Missing in Government: CMS and FEMA reps will be in the room! GovBrew readers get 50% off with code PROMOINVITATION.
CAPTURE TO-GO
Capture To-Go is a recurring GovBrew feature that turns a fresh RFI, sources sought notice, or forecasted opportunity into a mini capture plan
Capture To-Go: DISA ADAPTS
1. The Lid: What's on top.
ADAPTS is a new single-award IDIQ for a lead systems integrator to run, secure, and sustain DISA's business platforms: the DISA Connect portal, ServiceNow, Salesforce, Workday, and Palantir. Why now? The new ADAPTS contract would consolidate existing SETI work with new requirements under one integrator. DISA is testing industry capabilities and potential small business interest before issuing a solicitation.
2. The Label: What you ordered.
Agency: DISA (DITCO-NCR, Fort Meade) for PAE C3E and the SD2 Business Systems Portfolio PMO.
Notice: Sources Sought 622775913. Responses due Nov. 30 at 4 p.m. ET.
Size: Estimated $500M, single-award IDIQ. Five-year base period beginning February 2028, plus a five-year option.
NAICS: 541512, $34 million size standard. No set-aside yet; DISA needs two or more qualified small businesses to set it aside.
Security: Secret at the IDIQ level, TS/TS-SCI on some task orders, a TS facility clearance, 100% U.S. citizens, CMMC Level 2, and IL6 cloud experience.
Response: Up to 10 pages addressing capabilities, special requirements, and contract vehicles.
Incumbent (for the existing piece): BCMC holds the existing SETI task order HC104723F2000, awarded April 2023, with a ceiling of approximately $206M.
Brew Strength: ☕☕☕☕ (4 of 5). Hot take: half a billion dollars, single award, long runway. But the bar is a three-platform LSI past performance plus a TS facility clearance, which shrinks the line fast.
3. The Sleeve: So you don’t get burned.
The trap: If ADAPTS becomes a small business set-aside, the limitations on subcontracting will shape teaming strategies. A one-trick ServiceNow shop can’t carry that alone, which is exactly why DISA is asking about JVs and partners.
Prime profile: A cleared small LSI with a TS facility clearance, or a mentor-protégé JV that can claim small status and big-company muscle.
Teaming playlist: One ace per platform. A ServiceNow shop with stacked CSA certs, a Salesforce partner with Platform Developer I talent, a cleared Palantir integrator (Foundry, Gotham, and Maven Smart System are all named), and a Workday specialist. DISA needs an integrator, not four disconnected platform specialists. Need a teaming partner? Check out Teaming Partners Wanted: DISA ADAPTS Enterprise Platforms IDIQ.
Competimates:
BCMC, the incumbent, is a regular with its own mug. It’s an 8(a)-certified Falls Church firm that has built and managed an IL6 SaaS environment for DISA’s classified Secret ServiceNow ITSM, ITOM, and SAM.
ECS has history here too: it partnered with DISA’s SD2 Business Systems PMO to deliver the ServiceNow platform.
SETI heavyweights like Deloitte, which leads SETI obligations at $106M, with BCMC second at $49M.
Platform vendors like Palantir are better as teammates than rivals here.
4. The Brew: what you pour into your response
The basic win theme every response will use: “One accountable integrator, four platforms, zero technical debt.”
Understanding: DISA spends a whole section on technical debt: unnecessary customization, duplication, integration sprawl. Show you know the real job is saying “no” to bad enhancements.
Approach: Emphasize platform-native solutions, disciplined governance, and secure DevSecOps pipelines that support IL6 operations.
Experience: Lead with past performance integrating three or more platforms. Include relevant certifications and personnel counts, as requested.
Easter egg: The CMMC section asks for “Level 2 (self)” and then asks about C3PAO assessments in the same breath. Answer both and you’re covered either way.
5. The Grounds: what’s underneath
Customer: DISA’s SD2 Business Systems Portfolio, the folks running the systems DISA uses to sell and deliver its own services.
Needs: One integrator managing many subs across ServiceNow, Salesforce, Workday, and Palantir, with secure data flowing between them.
Wants: Less customization, stronger governance, reliable integrations, and a sustainable enterprise architecture.
Biases: A deep ServiceNow comfort zone thanks to BCMC and ECS, and real interest in a small business outcome, given the 2-plus-small rule and the LoS warning.
Reading the grounds: “Partially existing, partially new” plus “single award” is the classic consolidation play. The incumbent knows one platform cold; whoever proves they can run all four without creating a Frankenstein wins the cup.
Bottom line: A strong sources sought response could influence the acquisition strategy, especially the set-aside decision. For qualified small businesses, now is the time to demonstrate multi-platform experience and lock down teaming relationships.
DEFENSE
Where are the F-35 parts? Pentagon can’t fully track 17,000.
The F-35 program has 26 million parts in 700+ facilities, and the records aren’t keeping up. GAO found 17,000+ parts worth an estimated $1.3B missing from the inventory system, contractor data with serial numbers for just 29% of records and some parts priced at a penny or less.
USSF leaders advance shared commitments for allied space power.
The USSF is pushing allies to move beyond cooperation and jointly invest in resilient, interoperable satellite communications that can withstand growing threats in space. At the Global MILSATCOM conference, leaders from more than 45 nations discussed shared investments, stronger partnerships, and agreements established before a crisis to improve military readiness and deterrence.
Robot builds in orbit: DARPA-funded first for in-space assembly.
No astronauts, no problem. A Caltech-built robot funded by DARPA autonomously assembled part of a 1.4-meter reflector antenna in orbit, which team lead Sergio Pellegrino calls the first structure ever built autonomously in space. The ASTRA payload spent six months in orbit under DARPA’s NOM4D program.
ICYMI:
DIA RFI: Solutions for Intelligence Analysis 4.
DSCA SSN: New Security Cooperation IT Services IDIQ.
TRANSCOM SB CSO: Single Mobility System modernization.
DIB takes aim at ‘right to repair’ as NDAA decision looms.
Pentagon orders an enterprise buying strategy for AI wargaming tools.
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CIVILIAN
Chip R&D gets a lab assist: DOE-backed pilot targets lithography.
Getting a backstage pass to DOE’s national labs just got easier for chipmakers. Brookhaven and Berkeley Lab are teaming with NY Creates on a DOE-backed pilot that opens Office of Science facilities, including high-NA EUV patterning and X-ray metrology tools, to industry so lab research reaches commercial chips sooner.
HUD plans OCIO overhaul, new division for data and AI.
HUD plans to overhaul its OCIO, creating a new data and AI division and bringing the chief data officer under the OCIO. The reorganization will also consolidate acquisition, budget, and contract management functions while establishing new divisions focused on customer experience and service delivery.
Senate appropriators’ MILCON-VA plan: VA EHR funding hits $4.1B.
Senate appropriators released a $173B FY27 MilCon-VA bill with plenty for health IT watchers. The VA EHR program would get $4.1 billion, up 21%, to keep its accelerated rollout moving, plus $6.7B for telehealth. Military construction rises 45% to $28.6B.
ICYMI:
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COFFEE SHOP BUZZ
Pull up a chair at our corner table where we share industry’s spiciest takes, funniest thoughts, and conversations worth eavesdropping on.
Liz DeBiase likens AI-generated mass teaming outreach to “swiping right” on everyone.
Chelsea Roberts says GovCon professionals are asking AI to produce content when they should be teaching it how to think like a capture manager.
Miranda Bouldin wonders whether finding Amendment 3, Attachment 7, the latest PWS, and that one mysteriously missing exhibit qualifies as a competitive sport.
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