In This Week’s Newsletter:
- Opportunity Spotlight of the Week: DOJ Support Services
- Four To Follow: Four Interesting Pursuits
- Capture Corner: The AI Revolution in Capture
- Pricing Insights: Strategic Importance of Top-Down Analysis
- The Interesting Section: Interesting Developments and Awards
Opportunity Alert – DOJ Support Services
Contact Katie: katie.clatterbuck@hinzconsulting.com
Department of Justice (DOJ), Executive Administrative and Professional Support Services.
On October 3, 2025, the Contracting Office released an RFI requesting that potential offerors provide Professional and Administrative Support Services, covering over 30 professional disciplines. Questions and comments on the RFI are due by 11:59 AM on November 14, 2025. Answers are expected to be posted via SAM.gov on or before 5:00 PM ET November 28, 2025. Responses to the RFI are due no later than December 12, 2025. Final solicitation documents for this $130M Small Business Set-Aside are due for release by May 2026 via GSA MAS, with a projected award timeframe of March 2027. Contact Hinz Consulting for Capture, PTW, and Proposal support today.
Four to Follow
- Department of Transportation (DOT), Transportation Technology and Engineering Mission Solutions (TTEMS). On October 10, 2025, the Contracting Office released answers to questions, providing a modified synopsis, and releasing Pre-Solicitation Conference slides. The DOT requires contractors to provide resources and expertise in existing and cutting-edge technologies related to transportation systems. The anticipated release date for this $200M Full and Open/Unrestricted BPA is November 2025, with a projected award timeframe for March 2026. Continue to monitor SAM.gov for more information.
- Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), Enhancing the Delivery of Training. On October 7, 2025, the Contracting Office released an RFI requesting technology and AI to improve DIA’s training programs and learning objectives. Questions on the RFI are due no later than October 17, 2025, by 12:00 PM EST, with responses due by October 24, 2025, at 5:00 PM EST. Final solicitations are due for release around December 2025, with award by April 2026. Contract value and competition type are currently unavailable for this effort. Continue to monitor SAM.gov for further changes to the procurement schedule.
- Department of the Air Force, High Band Mission Application Software Support (HBMAS). The Department of the Air Force for HBMAS seeks support services, including development, modernization, integration, fielding, cybersecurity, and sustainment activities for the Air Force Distributed Common Ground System (AF DCGS). The anticipated released date for this $500M Full and Open/Unrestricted opportunity is November 2025, via OASIS+ UR, with a projected award date of April 2026. The government shutdown could impact the final RFP release date. Continue to monitor SAM.gov and your eBUY portal for further information and updates to the procurement schedule.
- Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), Research and Development Advisory Assistance Services, Scientific Technical Support (STS). DTRA needs dedicated and unbiased STS Advisory & Assistance Services to act as a scientific and technical “trusted agent” for the agency, both internally and externally, during the execution of its specified and implied missions. The anticipated release date for this $180M opportunity is December 2025 via OASIS+ UR, with an estimated award date of April 2026. The competition type is currently unavailable. Continue to monitor your eBUY portals and SAM.gov for more information.
The AI Revolution in Capture
Contact Nick: nick.mccauley@hinzconsulting.com
AI isn’t just hype. When used appropriately, it becomes a secret weapon for predictive capture planning, competitive analysis, capability gap identification, and partner selection. When relied upon too much, though, AI tools can present significant pitfalls. However, with federal spending nearing $700 billion annually and mandates like OMB M-25-21 driving AI adoption in procurement, capture managers who ignore it risk falling behind. This post explores how AI boosts market forecasting, competitor analysis, and gap assessments, while addressing safeguards vital for GovCon integrity.
The GovCon landscape has evolved rapidly since the rise of generative AI. Once-isolated automation tools now operate as integrated platforms spanning the entire capture lifecycle—from SAM.gov scouting to RFP analysis and proposal transition. Industry experts note that AI-savvy teams achieve up to 40% higher bid rates and PWin scores over 70%. Platforms like Vultron, GovDash, CaptureExec, and Deltek GovWin IQ highlight this evolution, merging natural language processing (NLP) with predictive analytics for proactive capture.
The Trump administration’s 2025 AI policies stress efficiency in federal contracting alongside transparency. Paired with DoD and HHS pilots in AI-driven contract systems, this creates momentum: Agencies use AI for bid evaluations, urging contractors to adapt. Consequently, capture shifts from pure relationships to a data race, where AI empowers mid-tier firms to rival incumbents.
AI-Powered Market Forecasting: Spot Opportunities Before They’re Posted
Forget manual searches through budgets, FPDS, USASpending.gov, or SSQ+. AI now ingests massive datasets, such as agency budgets, past awards, and procurement cycles, to forecast upcoming needs with remarkable accuracy. What once took days of research now takes hours or even minutes.
For example, Procurement Sciences’ GovCon AI scans trends to highlight “hidden” opportunities, like a DoD cyber push pre-RFI. SamSearch’s “Chat with Opportunities” allows plain-English queries—”Show me VA IT contracts like this from the last three years”—delivering instant summaries. This is machine learning-driven pattern recognition, accelerating pipeline building.
Competitor Analysis: Unmasking Rivals in Real Time
Knowing your competition is key in capture. AI crunches data to reveal top players in customer segments or NAICS codes. Beyond basic scraping, Deltek’s Ask Dela™ uncovers rivals’ pricing and teaming histories, outlining counter-strategies. Unanet maps agency challenges to competitor strengths, suggesting partners—e.g., “Team with XYZ for logistics; they’ve won 60% of similar HHS deals.” This informs bid/no-bid decisions, focusing on pursuits with PWin above 60%.
Automated Gap Assessments: Bridging Strategy to Submission
Gap analysis—identifying mismatches between internal capabilities and RFP requirements—was once a tedious manual task. Now, AI uses NLP to parse solicitations, extract evaluation criteria, and flag potential gaps in seconds.
Proposal-focused tools auto-create compliance matrices, check narratives against FAR/DFARS to prevent score-killing errors, and some even score drafts. Use AI wisely: Pilot on low-stakes sources sought notices and always verify outputs.
The Perils of Over-Reliance: When AI Becomes a Liability
AI offers both promise and pitfalls in the regulated GovCon arena. Biased training data can favor large primes, putting small businesses at a disadvantage. Overreliance may dull human judgment, obscure agency nuances, and even risk proprietary data exposure.
Heavy dependence without checks invites missteps, such as the erosion of critical thinking. Accepting outputs ignores subtle contexts, leading to misaligned strategies or risks. AI “hallucinations” (fabricated insights from flawed data) can spread errors, yielding non-compliant bids. Unvetted tools may breach FAR or spark audits.
A recent example underscores the risk: A major consulting firm recently issued a partial refund to a customer after AI hallucinations were discovered in a paid report. This warns GovCon: Apply “human-in-the-loop” protocols—validate with experts, audit tools regularly, train on proper use, and encourage AI scrutiny. AI is a tool, not a replacement for expertise.
The Bottom Line: Accelerate Your Capture Engine Today
By 2026, Deltek forecasts 75% of winners will use these tools. Start small, demo a few, and integrate favorites. If unsure, contact Hinz Consulting—we’ve evaluated dozens of AI tools and offer insights on what works, what doesn’t, and best practices for implementation.
Strategic Importance of Top-Down Analysis
Contact Dr. Tom: thomas.hudgins@hinzconsulting.com
Top-down analysis is an essential method for establishing a strategic and market-aligned pricing framework, particularly in the early stages of product development or investment. This approach begins with the “big picture” by first assessing the entire market, its size (Total Addressable Market or TAM), overall growth trends, and macroeconomic factors like inflation, GDP, and competitor pricing within the broader industry. By starting with these macro-level insights, a business gains an essential understanding of the maximum potential revenue and the financial constraints or tailwinds that will influence a product’s success, preventing pricing decisions from being made in a vacuum.
The primary importance of this method is its ability to ensure strategic coherence and financial feasibility before committing resources. For pricing, a top-down analysis quickly determines a plausible, high-level price or target budget based on industry benchmarks, historical data, and the anticipated market share that can be captured. This high-level estimate provides a ballpark figure to senior leadership, allowing them to assess a project’s financial viability, secure initial funding, and set a ceiling for costs and a floor for expected revenue. This rapid, strategic overview guides all subsequent, more detailed planning.
Finally, the top-down approach is crucial for risk mitigation and optimal positioning. By first analyzing the market and the sector, a company can proactively identify major external threats—such as economic downturns, changes in commodity prices, or shifts in consumer confidence—that directly impact willingness-to-pay and the cost of goods. This foresight allows the organization to set a price that is competitive yet resilient. It ensures the final product or service is strategically positioned to capture the highest possible value within the context of prevailing market conditions, rather than simply basing the price on internal costs alone.
Interesting Developments and Awards
Leveraging Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
GDIT has secured a $1.25 billion task order under the Enterprise Mission Information Technology Services 2 (EMITS-2) contract to support U.S. Army Europe and Africa. This award reinforces GDIT’s role as a trusted mission partner, delivering enterprise IT, communications, and mission command capabilities across the command’s headquarters, subordinate units, NATO allies, and regional partners. The scope and scale of this effort deepen GDIT’s long-standing relationship with the Army and expands its footprint across a critical theater of operations. This win not only validates GDIT’s technical leadership, but it also creates proving ground for next-gen AI/ML capabilities that can be scaled across the DoD and allied missions.
While not a traditional “award,” this development is a major procurement milestone worth noting. In August, GSA added OpenAI (ChatGPT), Google (Gemini), and Anthropic (Claude) to its Multiple Award Schedule (MAS), streamlining access to generative AI tools for federal, state, and local agencies. This move supports the President’s AI Action Plan, which emphasizes truthfulness, transparency, and freedom from ideological bias. It also enables agencies to deploy AI for back-office automation, citizen services, and mission-critical operations. With MAS access, all three companies now have a direct path to federal buyers, accelerating adoption across both civilian and defense sectors.
Other Transaction Authority (OTA) Activity
Peraton was recently awarded an Other Transaction Authority – Prototype (OTA-P) contract by the U.S. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC) to develop and prototype secure, interoperable cyber infrastructure in support of Air Force and joint cyber operations. The scope includes:
• Systems Engineering & Integration: Designing and integrating advanced cyber infrastructure solutions tailored to dynamic mission needs.
• Network & Infrastructure Support: Strengthening the backbone of Air Force cyber operations with scalable, resilient architectures.
• Cyber Mission-Enabled Technologies: Implementing tools that enhance operator readiness and mission agility across evolving threat environments.
This award adds to a surge in OTA activity across the DOD, where flexible acquisition pathways are increasingly used to prototype emerging technologies, from cyber to autonomy to artificial intelligence.
- October 16th: 2025 GovCon International Summit in McClean, VA
- October 17th: APMP-NCA MAC in Washington DC
- November 5-6th: GovAI Coalition Summit in San Jose, CA
- November 10-12th: Deltek Project Con in Aurora, CO