- The Navy has announced plans for a software engineering IDIQ recompete
- The planned contract spans a five-year base ordering period with no option years
- The 2026 Navy Summit will explore AI, digital engineering and more
The U.S. Navy has announced its intent to award a single-award, follow-on indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for software engineering support services through an unrestricted competition.
Navy acquisition priorities will be on full display at the 2026 Navy Summit, where discussions will cover artificial intelligence, digital engineering, enterprise network modernization, unmanned underwater vehicles and more. The Potomac Officers Club will host the event on Aug. 27 in Falls Church, Virginia, bringing together Navy leaders and industry executives. Save your seat now!
According to a special notice posted Thursday on SAM.gov, the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, or NAWCAD, Mission Systems Software Engineering Department stated that all details in the notice remain in draft form and are subject to change until the government releases a final solicitation.
Why Did the Navy Choose an Unrestricted Competition?
The NAWCAD Office of Small Business determined that an unrestricted competition offers the best path to adequate competition. The office based that call on market research that included the prior sources sought notice, which drew 16 responses.
NAWCAD classified the requirement under Product Service Code R425, covering professional services. Work will fall under the agency’s Patuxent River, Maryland, office. The government plans a single-award IDIQ with a five-year base ordering period with no option years.
How Will the Navy Price the Contract?
NAWCAD does not plan to include firm fixed price terms in the recompete. The agency said the requirement carries too much variability to support fixed pricing without building in a “risk premium” or inviting repeated requests for equitable adjustments. Instead, the government intends to allow both non-performance-based and performance-based cost-plus orders, giving contracting officers flexibility to align pricing with the type of work ordered.
How Will the Navy Structure Labor Categories?
NAWCAD said industry feedback on labor categories aligned with the government’s own goal of evaluating contractors on outcomes rather than fixed qualifications. Defense cyber workforce requirements and associated qualifications will stay unchanged under the recompete, though the agency remains open to industry input on how labor categories are tailored.
Labor category definitions drawn from the performance work statement will apply only to level of effort orders. For performance-based orders, NAWCAD plans to rely on government labor categories and averaged contractor-proposed rates to build the independent government cost estimate and support cost evaluations at the order level.
The proposed recompete follows a naval air software engineering award from 2021, when AMERICAN SYSTEMS won a potential five-year, $165.4 million contract from the Navy to provide software engineering and technical support for naval air programs.
