In This Week’s Newsletter:
- Opportunity Spotlight of the Week: USSF STARCOM
- Four To Follow: Four Interesting Pursuits
- Capture Corner: AI Benefits to Capture Methodology
- Pricing Insights: Aligning Your PTW with the RFP
Opportunity Alert – USSF STARCOM
Contact Katie: katie.clatterbuck@hinzconsulting.com
US Space Force (USSF), Space Training and Readiness Command (STARCOM), Space Warfighter Training Modeling and Simulation Support.
On September 14, 2026, USSF posted a Sources Sought notice seeking interested parties capable of providing comprehensive, non-personal mission support services for the 392d Combat Training Squadron. Core capabilities to be delivered are, but not limited, planning, integrating, executing, and assessing Modeling and Simulation (M&S)-enabled exercises. Responses to this sources sought are due no later than 12:00PM ET on October 8, 2026. The final RFP for this $350M IDIQ is set for release around January 2027 with a potential award in August 2027. Reach out to Hinz Consulting for Capture Management, Competitive Analysis, Price to Win, or Proposal support, and continue to monitor SAM.gov and NUWC Newport acquisition forecasts for updates on this opportunity.
Four to Follow
- Department of Homeland Security (DHS), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Overwatch and National Security Enforcement Intelligence Research Specialists Professional Support Services (ERO ONE). ERO requires a trusted partner to provide intelligence research, all-source analysis, evaluation, reporting, and intelligence product development to support ERO mission activities related to national security, public safety, and officer safety. This $100M Full and Open/Unrestricted Task Order is set for release via OASIS+ UR around December 10, 2026 with an award date of February 2027.
- National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), GEOINT Search and Retrieval (GSR). On September 17, 2026, NGA issued a Special Notice to inform industry that the Government will be posting an RFI in Q1 FY27. This requirement emphasizes integration and accessibility of GEOINT data and involves managing and facilitating access to geospatial information to meet NGA’s operational needs. The Government requires a contractor who can deliver solutions that enhance data discovery and utilization. This $88M IDIQ is set for release in March 2027 with a potential award in July 2027.
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Kennedy Space Center (KSC), Propellant and Life Support Services (KPLSS III). NASA requires PLS services at KSC and other launch and processing facilities. This efforts supports mission requirements by providing propellants and life support operations, maintenance, and engineering support for assigned systems ad equipment at NASA and other government and commercial locations. This$165M Full and Open/Unrestricted IDIQ is expected for release in April 2030 with an award anticipated in September 2030.
- Department of the Army, Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Facilities Sustainment Restoration and Modernization (FSRM) Military Civil Construction MATOC. USACE has requirement for FSRM, Military Construction (MILCON), and Minor MILCON services for existing civil and military stakeholders within the Omaha District’s area of responsibility. Work include incidental demolition, hazardous and toxic waste remediation and disposal, including asbestos and lead abatement. This $250M Small Business MATOC is set for release in November 2026, with an award in April 2027.
AI Benefits to the Capture Methodology
Contact John: john.amoriello@hinzconsulting.com
Artificial intelligence (AI) augments rather than replaces the capture manager by reducing manual research, sharpening competitive insight, and accelerating content development. This empowers capture teams to dedicate more time toward high-value strategy, relationship building, and customer engagement.
Key AI-Driven Capture Activities
Market Intelligence
- Faster opportunity identification
- Customer analysis
- Competitive landscape and competitive profile tracking
- Positioning & Strategy Development
Probability of Win (P-WIN) modeling
- Price-to-win analysis
- Value messaging alignment
Teaming & Solutioning
- Partner analysis
- Solution analysis and optimization
Proposal Preparation
- Content automation
- Compliance check/matrix
- Proposal messaging (win themes, differentiators, proof points)
Post-Submission and Lessons Learned
- Evaluation/Scoring analysis
- Win/Loss analysis
Aligning Your PTW with the RFP
Contact Dr. Tom: thomas.hudgins@hinzconsulting.com
Not all PTW analyses are the same; “one size fits all” does not rule here. Solicitation requirements drive the activity and recommendation outcomes of the PTW analysis.
When an RFP dictates the labor categories, the level of effort, and sometimes the staffing table itself, price-to-win collapses into a rate exercise. Everyone multiplies the same hours by their own numbers. That makes the analysis unusually tractable. You can build competitor cost models with real precision, because the only unknowns are direct labor rates, fringe and benefits load, overhead and G&A structure, escalation assumptions, subcontractor pass-through, and fee posture. The spread between bidders is typically narrow, often inside ten or fifteen percent, so the winning move comes from cost structure rather than cleverness: geographic labor mix, benefits design, teaming with lower-indirect partners, incumbent compensation data, and how much fee leadership is willing to give up. The output can be a single target wrap structure with a sensitivity band around it.
Add solutioning and the variable space explodes. Two competitors with identical wrap rates can be thirty or forty percent apart on total price because one proposed 45 FTEs and the other proposed 32, or because one folded in automation, tiered support, or offshore delivery. Price becomes a function of the technical approach, so the PTW work has to model the shape of the solution before it can model the money. That means estimating what competitors will assume about productivity, tooling, ramp, and risk — and it means the pricing team cannot do the work alone. Solution architects have to sit in the room.
Evaluation dynamics change too. In a mandated-LOE bid, price realism is largely off the table. In a solutioned bid, a thin staffing plan invites a realism finding that erases the price advantage entirely. The deliverable stops being a number and becomes a scenario matrix.
In conclusion, the PTW team must read and understand the solicitation and solution before applying the model. Otherwise you’ll get the wrong analysis. E.g. in a mandated-LOE bid, the rates, the wrap and the fee are key. In a solutioning focused bid, the technical approach is vital.
If you use one playbook for all scenarios, things will end badly for your bid.
- September 24th: 2026 Intel Summit in Falls Church, VA
- October 20th: Google Public Sector Summit in Washington, D.C.
- October 24th: GovCon Summit in McLean, VA