- Procurement will be classified, with future actions moving to the NRO ARC
- Prime awardees must team with all four small business set-aside categories
- Responses due Nov. 24
The Defense Intelligence Agency has begun market research on Solutions for Intelligence Analysis 4, the follow-on to its $17.1 billion intelligence analysis vehicle.
The Virginia Contracting Activity published the request for information Nov. 2 on SAM.gov, with responses due Nov. 24. Everything after this stage moves to the National Reconnaissance Office’s Acquisition Research Center. DIA expects all vendor proposals to be classified. Interested contractors should begin preparations immediately to ensure they possess the necessary facility clearances, secure communications access and operational capabilities to submit a compliant response.
Offerors will need an active Top Secret facility clearance and the ability to support work at the Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information level. Falling short of either requirement at the time of proposal submission makes a company ineligible.
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What Will SIA 4 Cover?
SIA 4 will be a non-personal services contract for intelligence analytics supporting the Virginia Contracting Activity and the defense intelligence enterprise, inside and outside the continental U.S. Some overseas work will place personnel in conditions the government designates as imminent danger or hostile fire zones.
The agency plans multiple-award IDIQ contracts with a five-year base ordering period and one five-year option. Task orders may run a one-year base with up to four one-year options. The vehicle is expected to include small-business on- and off-ramp provisions for both small and other-than-small businesses.
Every prime awardee must bring a team that includes small businesses from all four primary set-aside categories — small disadvantaged business, woman-owned small business, service-disabled veteran-owned small business and HUBZone — at the time of proposal submission.
Task orders would be subject to funding availability beginning in fiscal 2029.
What Answers Is DIA Seeking From Industry for SIA 4?
DIA is weighing a past performance model drawn from the SIA 3 small business on-ramp, which required up to 25 citations spread across mission task areas and split between prime and team. Most on-ramp offerors filled all 25, so the agency is considering 30 to 35 citations for SIA 4 and asking industry whether that is too restrictive.
On contract type, the agency wants to know where fixed-price arrangements have worked for analytic support, what assumptions made them workable and which elements vendors believe cannot be bought that way. It is also asking how objective-based contracting could pair with fixed-price task orders and what performance incentives would drive analytic quality and modernization rather than headcount.
The notice asks vendors to identify terms, conditions and oversight patterns that inhibit experimentation and tool adoption, and to recommend approaches for rapid technology insertion, secure prototyping and open architectures that avoid vendor lock-in.
Which Companies Hold Positions on SIA 3?
DIA awarded 16 companies positions on the 10-year, $17.1 billion SIA 3 vehicle in August 2019, selecting from 29 bids. Work under that IDIQ runs through August 2029 at contractor and government sites in the U.S. and abroad.
The awardees were BAE Systems, Bluehawk, Booz Allen Hamilton, CACI International, Calhoun International, Celestar, CSRA, Edge Analytic Solutions, Flucrum IT Services, General Dynamics Information Technology, HII, Invictus International Consulting, Leidos, Mission Essential, Preting, SOS International, The Buffalo Group and Perspecta.
The agency opened a small business on-ramp for SIA 3 in fiscal 2025, issuing subsequent information through the classified side of the NRO’s Acquisition Research Center.
