The New Modern Software Development contract is a new software development support services contract with a ceiling value of $1 billion over 10 years.

Background: You’re still a little in the rest mode from all the work (and waiting) with the SEWP VI response. Alliant 3 is still going strong, and you thought you’d have a little more time with the extended deadlines of those programs. Well, if your organization is an IT Development/Services firm, you may have some work coming down the pike that you might want to get ready for – the $10B New Modern Software Development Multiple Award IDIQ (NMSD).  This Army program is slated to come out soon, possibly before the final response date for SEWP VI and very likely before the same for Alliant 3.

What We Know About the New Modern Software Development Contract: This IDIQ aims to provide software enablement efforts in support of Army systems, including:

  • Development of custom software solutions
  • Customization, integration, or modification of existing software
  • Software as a service (SaaS) enablement
  • Software security and hosting modernization

The Army intends to leverage modern software development approaches such as:

  • DevSecOps
  • Agile methodologies
  • Lean practices
  • Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery (CI/CD)

Based upon the information available and the draft RFP, we know that the estimated ceiling value is over $10 billion, with a 10-year period of performance. It will most likely have a multiple award structure with 20 awards, including 5 spots reserved for small businesses. This last set of numbers could change based on the questions for the draft RFP that was released on SAM.gov on 10/11 with an update posted on 10/22. Responses to the last update are due on 10/25. We also know that the Army intends to issue task orders with response time frames somewhere in the 5-25 day range, depending on complexity.

The final RFP was expected in September, but that has moved to the right. This is a new requirement, so there is no apparent contract event driving the timeline.

Some Specifics from the Draft New Modern Software Development RFP: The Army is intending to structure the RFP with 7 distinct volumes split across three evaluation phases:

Phase One

    • Volume I: General – will contain a cover letter, property management plan, OCI certification/plan, and a data rights discussion.
    • Volume 2: Technical Corporate Experience – this will be comprised of a worksheet that demonstrates three projects of similar scope and complexity to the requirements of the published draft PWS.
    • Phase One Down select: The Phase one evaluation will be a compliance review of the content instructions after which the Army will provide a down select decision. It appears that those offerors not selected will not have the opportunity to proceed any further.

Phase Two

    • Volume III: Technical Pivot Challenge – consists of a 7-minute or less video responding to a scenario provided with the Phase One downselect notification. This will be a short turnaround of approximately 3 business days. The scenario will assess the Offeror’s capability to satisfy the requirements set forth in the PWS, with an emphasis on the one or more of the 7 major areas outlined in the PWS. These areas are:
      • Army Secure Development practices
      • DevSecOps Software Development Practices which include Agile software development
      • Modular Open System Development
      • API First Development Practices
      • Data Centricity Development Practices
      • Human Centered Design Development Practices
      • Integration of AI into workflows
      • Use of Digital Engineering and Model Based System Engineering practices to develop software
    • Phase Two Downselect: – Only the highest-rated proposals will move forward into Phase Three. At this point, the Army is intending for there to be no more than 30 offerors chosen to proceed to Phase Three.

Phase Three:

    • Volume IV: Small Business Participation Plan (SBPP) – both large and small businesses must submit a SBPP with a given set of instructions. The SBPP will indicate the Offeror’s intent to use small business through the first-tier subcontractor level. As an aside, this requirement may change to only requiring submittal by OTSB rather than all businesses.
    • Volume V: Price – using an attached IDIQ Labor Hour Model, the offeror will provide median rates for the base year pricing. You will also be required to provide a Basis of Estimate (BOE) for your proposed rate in a separate document.
    • Volume VI: The Ultimate Technical Challenge – you’ll have to build a web application based upon a spec provided via GitLab. This challenge will be built in the offeror’s own technical environment with the Government being provided access for evaluation. The timeline for the completed application is 10 business days post receipt of the challenge.
    • Volume VII: Management Approach – a 10-page document addressing your 1) flexibility and adaptability, 2) collaboration and communication, and 3) metrics and performance tracking. You will also have to describe your staffing approach in some detail.

WHEW!

What Should You Be Doing Now: In the draft New Modern Software Development RFP, the Army is placing some tight timelines on the responses along with some stringent requirements. Several things come to mind as to your actions in the pre-release timeframe. You should:

  • Be working on your corporate experiences within the confine of the six focus areas and how they tie into at least five of the eight experience areas. This may be slightly different for small businesses.
  • Be having solutioning sessions around the possible candidate areas outlined for the Volume III Technical Pivot Challenge and develop your script for your video response. Rather than wait, work with a good Orals Coach to get the content honed and ready for dry-runs and production.
  • Start mind-mapping your approach to the various areas indicated within the draft RFP, remembering that you only have a maximum of 10 business days to prepare.
  • Identify your proposal team to include at least the following:
    • Proposal Manager (You may need more than one if you split the orals video presentation from the document preparation piece)
    • Coordinator
    • One or more Technical Writers
    • Graphic Artist (particularly important given the constrained space of the Management Volume and the information required)
    • These resources are on top of the technical resources required to perform the solutioning as well as prepping the orals and development efforts.

How Do I Win: There are likely to be about 60 competitors for this effort. Getting an early start is critical, particularly with the orals and development components. You need to have a more detailed plan for this response than you might normally have, considering that there will be more overlapping activities than what most procurements require.

Help for Bidders: OCI can provide consultants to fill any position on your team — or an entre team.  This includes Proposal Manager, Technical Writer, Coordinator, Orals Coach, Videographer, Solution Architect, Graphic Artist, BOE Analyst, Pricer, Desktop Publisher, and Color Team Reviewers.  We can provide high-stature talent fully up to this challenging task from among our 1,500 associated proposal consultants.   Glad to discuss your requirements.

Proposal Basic