The Enterprise Cyber Capabilities (EC2) contract seeks to acquire a broad range of cyber-related support activities.

There was a recent article stating that ransomware cost US schools more than $3.56B in 2021. When you consider that ransomware is just a small part of the cybersecurity threat faced by organizations, it’s no surprise that a component of the Air Force would consider spending up to $5.3B to acquire a broad range of cyber-related support activities.

Enterprise Cyber Capabilities (EC2) Final RFP Right Around the Corner 

The Air Combat Command’s 16th Air Force (Air Forces Cyber) is well down the path for releasing the Enterprise Cyber Capabilities (EC2) solicitation to support the broad range of capabilities mentioned above. The 16th AF is providing information warfare capabilities to combatant commanders with the speed to match today’s technological environment. The EC2 is an Air Force wide multi-award IDIQ effort, and a draft solicitation is on the street. A final RFP release could occur as soon as July 1 of this year with a potential turnaround time of 60 days. The date has been moved from an earlier estimate of 10/18/2022. While the effort was estimated for orders to begin in December of 2023, the new timeline has moved that date up to May of 2023 nearly a 7-month change!

The PWS covers a total of seven broad categories of services with more than 31 subcategories with work locations in Texas, Virginia, and Illinois. Cost/Price will be evaluated at the task order level and indications are that pricing may not be required at the IDIQ level. The number of potential contracts is not known at this time.

The RFP will consist of four response volumes and will have a self-scoring matrix as a component with 310 possible points. All submittals will be electronic through the Procurement Integrated Enterprise Environment (PIEE) Solicitation module.

Enterprise Cyber Capabilities (EC2) Evaluation

The evaluation process will use three main criteria:

  1. Responsiveness / Responsibility Determination
  2. Past Experience
  3. Past Performance

The Air Force released a slide deck from the EC2 Proposal Conference on May 17 that provides a very granular overview. The deck is available through SAM as is the full draft RFP.

How To Prepare Now For EC2

There are a number of activities that need to be done now in preparation for the final RFP release. They are:

  • Review the draft RFP and the May 17 slide deck to see the granularity of the requirements
  • Identify your proposal team
  • Begin gathering your past performance and work samples
  • Perform a pre-evaluation with the self-scoring matrix to see where you might stand
  • Make a Bid/No Bid decision based on what will probably be a 240–250-point total for the matrix

Problems in Getting the Proposal Done

It is estimated that responding to the self-scoring matrix requirements will need 1 FTE month of effort, give or take.  Of course, there will be person-weeks of coordinator time, given the range of documentation required, depending on team size.

Further, there is an excellent probability that this bid will be on the street at the same time as Polaris, complicating the picture for (1) those bidders going for both contracts; and (2) those bidders requiring outside consultants.

Resources available at OCI:

  1. Experienced talent to provide a 2nd opinion as to your point count
  2. Proposal Readiness Review (PRR) to help ID gaps and complete a winning plan
  3. Proposal Coordinators
  4. Proposal Writers
  5. Proposal Managers
  6. Proposal Team

GovWin Opportunity ID:  184301

SAM Solicitation ID:  FA877322R0005

Want to learn more about OCI Proposal Consultant Services?