Navy preps small businesses for aircraft systems integration recompete
A pair of F-18 aircraft flying over Virginia Beach. Gettyimages.com / Aleksandr Pantyukhin
By
Ross Wilkers
The service branch sketches out a rough timeline for the draft solicitation and indicates it is looking close at President Trump's fixed-price contracting executive order.
In keeping with the contract’s tradition, the Navy has decided to reserve an upcoming airborne systems integration services recompete for small businesses only as work continues toward a final solicitation.
The Navy awarded the current Weapons Systems Integration Support Services V contract in 2022 to Advanced Systems & Software Engineering Technologies, a joint venture of DCS Corp. and NDTI, at a $293 million ceiling over up to five years. That was also a small business set-aside award, as WSISS VI will be.
A draft request for proposals for the upcoming WSISS VI contract is being eyed for the fall and small businesses will be able to provide feedback, the Navy said in a Friday Sam.gov notice.
Navy officials are also evaluating changes that may be required to comply with the executive order President Trump signed in late April to push agencies toward greater use of fixed-price contracts.
The WSISS program’s scope of work breaks out into a handful of general areas including aircraft weapons and systems integration, software engineering, and technical support for the Navy’s integrated product teams. Design, fabrication and integration services are also covered under the contract.
Approximately $124 million in order volume has flowed through the current contract ahead of its scheduled sunset at the end of October 2027, according to GovTribe data.
Examples of aerial platforms covered under the contract include the F/A-18, EA-18G, AH-1, F-35 and unmanned systems.