In This Week's Newsletter:

• Opportunity Spotlight of the Week: USSOCOM SOF GSD

• Four To Follow: Four Interesting Pursuits

• The Interesting Section: The Acquisition Shift That’s Become Rocket Fuel

• Capture Corner: Capture Methodology for Startups

• Pricing Insights: The Meaning of Percentiles in Salary Surveys

Opportunity Alert – USSOCOM SOF GSD

Contact Katie: [email protected]

U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), Special Operations Forces (SOF) Global Services Delivery (GSD). 

USSOCOM requires support in the following areas: education and training services; management support services; program management; engineering, technical, and professional services; and administrative & other services. On November 14, 2025, the Contracting Office released a notice to inform industry of the updated procurement timeline. The final RFP for this $3.2B Small Business Set-Aside IDIQ is now expected to be released in Q2 FY26, with the award anticipated in June 2026. The Contracting Office mentioned that at least one more Draft RFP is to be released before the final RFP.

Four to Follow

1. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Predictive Lake Analytics NextGen Exchange Services II (PLANXS II). USCIS needs a contractor to develop and enhance advanced analytics and reporting capabilities, broker data for IT systems, and transform agency-wide analytical functions to improve decision-making and predictive analysis. The final solicitation for this $103M Small Business Set-Aside is anticipated to be released via GSA MAS on or around December 1, 2025. The award is expected in March 2026. Continue to monitor SAM.gov and your eBUY portal for further information on the procurement schedule.

2. Department of the Navy, Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA), Mission Critical Interior Communications Data Networks Support. NAVSEA needs a contractor to provide engineering, technical, and administrative services for the design, development, integration, configuration, testing, troubleshooting, repair, maintenance, and fleet sustainment of interior communications data networks and associated user systems. According to the latest NAVSEA Long Range Acquisition Forecast, the final RFP for this $50M opportunity is expected to be released in December 2025 via SeaPort NxG, with a projected award timeframe of September 2026. The competition type is currently unknown. Continue to monitor SAM.gov and your SeaPort portal for more information.

3. Department of the Air Force, Sensor Technology Advisory and Assistance Support (STAAS). The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) requires a contractor to provide a comprehensive range of professional services, including program acquisition, engineering, scientific research, financial management, security, equipment custodial, laboratory services, test range services, and safety and administrative support. The final RFP for this $61M Small Business Set-Aside is anticipated for release in December 2025 via OASIS+ SB, with a projected award in March 2026. Continue to monitor SAM.gov and your eBUY portal for further movement on this effort.

4. Department of the Army, US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Architect-Engineer (A-E) Master Planning Services. On November 14, 2025, USACE released a Sources Sought Notice to conduct a Market Survey and identify interested parties, including small businesses, to help determine the appropriate set-aside decision. Responses are due no later than 5:00 PM ET on December 19, 2025. The final RFP for this $450M IDIQ is anticipated for release around February/March 2026, with a projected award timeframe of September 2026. Continue to monitor SAM.gov for updates on the procurement timeline.Contact Us

The Acquisition Shift That’s Become Rocket Fuel

For decades, “DoD acquisition reform” meant another blue-ribbon panel, another 400-page report, and zero change to the 700-page RFPs that kept arriving on schedule.

On April 9, 2025, Executive Order (EO) 14265 changed all that. Six months later, the results are already measurable—and accelerating.

The Core Mechanism: Making the FAR Optional When Speed Matters

The EO does three straightforward but powerful things:

1. Directs the Secretary of Defense to treat Other Transaction Authorities (OTAs) and Commercial Solutions Openings (CSOs) as the preferred vehicles for all modernization, software, and autonomy efforts under $500M.

2. Requires every new CSO to be posted publicly on SAM.gov for at least 30 days—eliminating closed, invitation-only processes.

3. Establishes a presumption of sole-source production follow-on for any successful prototype unless the program manager can justify renewed competition in a one-page memo.

Point #3 is a game-changer: less competition in the system, more power to the successful incumbent.

The Snowball Effect Is Now Documented—and Rapid

Prototype awards that once looked trivial are routinely scaling to nine-figure annual run rates in months, not years. 2025 examples include:

• May 2025: Shield AI awarded a $4.2M Army CSO for Hivemind autonomy → $180M sole-source production by September → $419M total program value by November (<12 months).

• June 2025: Palantir/Anduril consortium awarded $0.9M Air Force CSO for JADC2 mesh networking → $96M Phase II by October → $1.1B currently budgeted across FY26–30.

• July 2025: Palantir awarded $2.9M AFWERX/DIU CSO for predictive analytics inside ABMS → $120M sole-source Phase II in August → $450M locked in the POM for FY26–30, with Pacific Air Forces adding another $150M+ per year in unfunded requirements.

A sub-$5M prototype can now become a $150–$200M annual program in under six months.

Not to be forgotten, the legacy DIB titans have placed significant focus on OTAs and CSOs — Northrop with Counter-Swarm, L3Harris with Viper Shield, Lockheed with its Skunk Works Rapid Capabilities OTA portfolio and Next Generation Interceptor prototype-to-production wins, and Raytheon’s new-entrant divisions — and they are already winning production dollars at scale.

The Sole-Source Authority Is Real and Protest-Resistant

10 U.S.C. § 4022 has long permitted sole-source follow-ons from successful OTA prototypes. The 2025 EO elevated that option from “allowed” to “presumed.” GAO and the Court of Federal Claims have already upheld multiple post-EO sole-source awards. The window for effective protests has effectively closed.

This Is Not a New Trend—It Is the Steep Part of a Decade-Long Curve

DoD OTA obligations as a percentage of total RDT&E spending:

DIU, AFWERX, SOFWERX, and the Replicator Initiative lit the fuse early on. Operational lessons from Ukraine and urgent COVID-era needs proved Congress will fund anything labeled “OTA.” The May 2025 EO simply removed the remaining governors.

Why “Waiting It Out” No Longer Works

Every successful OTA delivers three assets legacy contractors cannot easily replicate:

• Government-owned data rights

• Real-world performance data

• Operators who will fight to keep the capability

The EO sunsets in 2029, but the technical and operational lock-in is permanent. Companies that continue to treat OTAs and CSOs as secondary pursuits or “innovation theater” are ceding the future franchise—one small prototype at a time.

Bottom line: In 2025, we have watched $2–$5M prototypes become $150M+ annual run-rate programs in under six months. The 7–10 year program-of-record model is no longer the path to production—it is the path to irrelevance. OTAs and CSOs are now the primary on-ramp to new money and new missions. Treating them as anything less than core business is a direct competitive risk.

Capture Methodology for Startups

Contact John: [email protected]

When generating and applying the Capture Methodology for Startups – A Simple, High-Impact Approach should be considered and applied. Capture practitioners know that the Capture methodology is a structured, proactive process for identifying, shaping, and winning strategic opportunities before a formal solicitation, RFP, or deal request is released.

For startups, this approach helps you compete against larger firms by preparing early and shaping customer needs in your favor. This is important because startups often face challenges such as:

• Low brand recognition

• Limited resources

• Little to no past performance

• Larger incumbents with deeper/seasoned relationships

The Capture methodology helps overcome these challenges by building customer trust early, shaping requirements, and maximizing evaluation criteria before competitors engage. A framework that can be applied and tailored for startups is as follows:

1. Opportunity Identification
   Goal - Be aware of key opportunities before they are widely announced:

   • Identify and track the target government agencies or commercial enterprise roadmaps.

   • Cultivate relationships with stakeholders, buyers, and partners.

   • Identify the customer pain points your organization is uniquely positioned to solve.

2. Customer & Competitor Intelligence
   Goal - Gather targeted information:

   • Who is the decision-maker?

   • What is the budget, and when will it be available?

   • What are the problems being prioritized?

   • Who is the incumbent?

This approach gives startups an advantage, since founders can often gather intelligence more quickly and with greater personal insight, even with small teams.

3. Positioning & Differentiation

   Goal - Position the startup to stand out through innovation, agility, and speed to value by adding:

• Win themes

• Value Proposition

• Differentiators

4. Customer Engagement & Shaping
   Goal - Engage Customers early:

• Ask clarifying questions.

• Offer free pilots and demonstrate any prototypes.

• Share thought leadership by helping them define and refine requirements.

5. Teaming/Partner Strategy
   Goal - Identify and establish a strategic partnership:

• Startups often need to identify a prime contractor, channel, or system integrator partner.

• This increases their credibility and can help fill any capability gap.

6. Price-To-Win Analysis

   Goal - Price in alignment with how the award will be evaluated:

• Generate a defensible, competitive price.

• Establish a clear tradeoff strategy.

• Establish cost models tailored to the customer’s evaluation style.

7. Proposal Readiness
   Goal - By the time the RFP is released, 70% of the Capture should be complete.

The Meaning of Percentiles in Salary Surveys

Contact Dr. Tom: [email protected]

In salary surveys, percentiles are statistical measures that indicate the percentage of salaries that fall below a specific dollar value for a given role. They are crucial for compensation planning as they help a business strategically position its pay relative to the market.

Unlike the arithmetic mean (average), percentiles are less susceptible to extreme outliers, providing a more reliable and nuanced view of salary distribution. A company selects a target percentile based on its compensation philosophy—for example, targeting the 50th percentile to remain competitive, or the 75th percentile to attract top-tier talent.

Ensure your pricing support team has access to robust salary survey tools, such as those provided by the Economic Research Institute (ERI). ERI is an excellent resource because it offers percentile data, along with a wide range of filters and adjustments that cover factors such as certifications, geography, and more, so pricing decisions can be better tailored and defensible.

• November 20th: ATARC Public Sector Workforce Modernization Summit in Reston, VA

• December 2nd ALAMO AFCEA ACE in San Antonio, TX

• December 10th: Small Business Expo in Atlanta, GA

About Hinz Consulting

Hinz Consulting provides services across the full business development cycle:

• Proposals

• Capture

• Price To Win

• Competitive Intelligence

• Strategic Pricing

• Production

• AI Services

• Training

• BD Transformation 

• Process/Methodology 

• Tools and Template

• Small Business