In This Week's Newsletter:

• Opportunity Spotlight of the Week: US Special Operations Commands (USSOCOM), Special Operations Forces Global Services Delivery (SOFGSD)

• Four To Follow: Get the lowdown on four interesting pursuits

• Transitioning Talent: Chris Radabaugh

• AI Corner: Take the Tech Companies Evaluation Survey

• Pricing Insights: Cost-Sharing Contracts

• Capture Corner: Core Elements of a Black Hat Review

US Special Operations Commands (USSOCOM), Special Operations Forces Global Services Delivery (SOFGSD)

Contact Katie: [email protected]

On April 18, 2025, the Contracting Office released an update stating SOF AT&L – PEO Services will be hosting a SOFGSD sidebar during SOFWEEK May 7, 2025, in Tampa, FL at the Tampa Convention Center (TCC). The estimated release date for the $3.2B Small Business Set-Aside IDIQ remains set around the end of May 2025 with the projected award timeframe of February 2026. Reach out to Hinz Consulting for proposal and pricing support.

Four to Follow:

1. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), RENAV Software Enhancements On April 29, 2025, NGA released a Sources Sought notice for the services needed to support the integration of enhancements and adaptive maintenance of the specialized INS KF Engine software to enhance the RENAV software capability. Responses are due May 29, 2025. Continue to monitor SAM.gov for further information.

2. Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA), Enterprise Cybersecurity Support Services. On April 22, 2025, the Contracting Office issued a Sources Sought notice for a requirement to provide comprehensive cybersecurity support to the current enterprise and programs. Responses are due no later than 5:00 PM EST on May 20, 2025. The anticipated release date for this $169M, 8(a) Set-Aside effort is January 2026, with a possible award date of May 2027. Monitor SAM.gov for changes.

3. Department of Interior (DOI), Eastern US Multidisciplinary Architect Engineer Design Services The DOI, National Park Service (NPS), Denver Service Center (DSC) requires Multi-Disciplinary Architect-Engineer (AE) Design Services and Other Supporting Services. This $150M Full and Open/Unrestricted IDIQ is anticipated for release January 2027 with a projected award timeframe of June 2027. Continue to monitor SAM.gov for updates.

4. United States Marine Corps (USMC), MAGTF Operations Center Training Team Operational Support Services (MOSS MOCTT) The USMC has a requirement for providing various services related to C2 TECOE and MISTC Academics Management, C2 Systems and COC Instruction and Training, Curriculum Development, Faculty and Instructor Development, Systems Engineering, and more. This $70.5M IDIQ is anticipated for release on or around June 2026 with a projected award date of September 2025. Continue to watch SAM.gov for further movement on this effort.

Transitioning Talent: Chris Radabaugh

Do you need a great hire? Hinz is proud to showcase our Military Skillbridge Intern - Chris Radabaugh. Chris has just completed a career in the military and six months learning BD Analysis and Proposals with Hinz Professionals.

We are looking to place Chris in the next 30 days. If you are building your team, please reach out to us at [email protected] or directly to Chris at [email protected].

Tech Companies Evaluation Survey

Contact Josh: [email protected]

Hinz is preparing a Proposal Industry 2025 Technology Report, due out in September.  Input from this group of experts is critical, so we have created a survey to collect the "Wisdom of the Group." Please contribute to the survey and you will receive a free copy of the Report!

Cost-Sharing Contracts

Contact Tom: [email protected]

Government agencies and contractors use many types of cost-type contracts: Cost Plus Fixed Fee (CPFF), Cost Plus Award Fee (CPAF), Cost Plus Incentive Fee (CPIF), Cost-Sharing, and others through hybrid versions. Cost-type contracts are essentially structured as cost plus a proposed fee—typically used for projects that are difficult to estimate—but Cost-Sharing is somewhat different.

A Cost-Sharing contract reimburses the contractor for an agreed-upon portion of allowable costs but does not include a fee. This type of contract is typically used when the contractor expects to gain substantial benefits from the project—such as valuable experience or the development of new technology.

Organizations often use Cost-Sharing contracts in research and development projects when both parties expect to benefit from the outcomes. For example, a company might enter into a cost-sharing agreement with a government agency to develop new technology, sharing the costs because it expects to apply the technology in future products.

This type of contract is used less frequently than other cost-type contracts, but it is still used in certain situations. Contractors should be prepared to justify both their costs and the proposed cost-sharing ratio. For example, a 90%/10% split—where the contractor proposes that the government cover 90%—would generally not be considered reasonable.

Your pricing specialist will assist in developing all types of cost-type contracts, including cost-sharing arrangements.

Core Elements of a Black Hat Review

Contact Nick: [email protected]

A Black Hat review is a strategic, critical analysis used to evaluate and refine an organization’s approach to competing for a contract award. These reviews are meant to uncover internal vulnerabilities, develop innovative strategies to mitigate these vulnerabilities, uncover competitor vulnerabilities, and develop strategies to exploit these vulnerabilities. Participants should include the core capture team and external resources not closely involved with the pursuit. Black Hats should be conducted between your qualification and bid / no bid gate reviews. It is imperative the review is conducted from a critical perspective and for reviewers to not “drink your own Kool-Aid.” Below, we provide a high-level overview of some of the core components that should go into your Black Hat review. If you’d like to have a deep dive on Black Hats or assistance with conducting your next review, Hinz Consulting welcomes the opportunity to support you on your path to winning!

1. Capture Strategy Assessment: Ensure all participants of the review have been oriented with the opportunity and understand the customer’s needs, highlighting the customer’s mission, priorities, and pain points to ensure alignment with organizational capabilities and goals. Assess the customer’s acquisition strategy (e.g., ability to perform under such a strategy, customer’s history of sole-sources, potential for being a set-aside, etc.). Once the baseline understanding has been set, present and evaluate the overall strategy for winning.

2. Competitive Landscape: Conduct a Strength, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis on your top 3 – 5 competitors. This analysis should include the competitors’ most likely approach(es) to solving the customer’s problem, their position with the customer/ ability to influence, and any unfavorable publicly available information that exists about your competition.

3. Internal Customer Relationship and Ability to Influence: Perform an honest assessment of your organization’s relationship with the customer and the position you’re in to influence the customer.  Evaluate your engagement with key stakeholders (e.g., program managers, contracting officers). Review pre-RFP influencing activities already conducted, such as technical exchange meetings, white papers, or industry day engagements. Identify your gaps in understanding the customer’s hot buttons or decision-making process.

4. Solution and Technical Approach Review: Test the feasibility, differentiation, innovation, and compliance of the solution. Reviewers should scrutinize the technical approach for alignment with the requirements, challenge assumptions about the solution’s cost/schedule, and identify risks in execution.

5. Pricing and Cost Strategy Evaluation: Often this information is derived from the Price-to-Win (PTW) analysis. This evaluation  analyzes internal and external pricing assumptions and should challenge the balance between cost competitiveness and profitability.

6. Recommendations and Action Plan: As with every review, reviewers must provide actionable insights to strengthen the capture effort. The recommendation and action plan should provide a clear roadmap to improving win probability.

• May 13-16: VETS25 Conference in Orlando, FL

• May 18-21: BPC Nashville 2025 in Nashville, TN

• June 24-27th: Government Fleet Expo & Conference in Charlotte, NC

About Hinz Consulting

Hinz Consulting provides services across the full business development cycle:

• Proposal Consulting

• AI Services

• Strategic Pricing

• Training

• Capture

• Competitive Intelligence

• BD Transformation Consulting

• Process/Methodology Consulting

• Tools and Templates

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