DOD sets industry day to preview potential $80B tech research vehicle
Gettyimages.com / Eugene Mymrin
By
Ross Wilkers
The Defense Department is pushing to create a new “competitive R&D ecosystem” with government agencies, companies, academic institutions, laboratories and non-traditional entities all involved.
The Defense Department has opened registration for an industry day to discuss its plans for the recompete of one of its primary contract vehicles for broad research-and-development services.
DOD has penciled in Oct. 30 as the date for when it will give attendees an overview of the upcoming Next Gen IAC MAC competition, which will succeed the current IAC-MAC program that opened for business in 2018 at a $48 billion ceiling.
Attendees will be able to provide feedback on DOD’s approach to the acquisition and ask questions, the department said in its Tuesday notice with instructions for registration.
Next Gen IAC MAC is poised to have a ceiling north of $80 billion, according to a promotional flyer for the event. Government agencies, companies, academic institutions, laboratories and non-traditional entities would be a part of what DOD describes as a “competitive R&D ecosystem” under the future contract.
DOD first unveiled its plan for the follow-on to IAC-MAC, short for Information Analysis Center Multiple-Award Contract, in the spring of 2025 and asked for industry to weigh in on how the department could structure the recompete.
At that time, the department said it was considering whether to set up Next Gen IAC MAC with two pools of awards or a single pool.
The current contract has three pools based on the type of company involved: an unrestricted portion, a second for small businesses, and the third for nonprofit organizations.
RSVPs and registration for the industry day must be received no later than Oct. 26.
IAC-MAC primarily supports the Defense Technical Information Center, a DOD field activity responsible for helping the defense ecosystem preserve and share information and knowledge related to military technology.
DTIC also operates the Information Analysis Center network that provides technical analysis and data support to service branches, combatant commands, DOD’s administrative support agencies and senior Pentagon civilian leaders.
DOD has obligated $16.9 billion in task order volume to-date via IAC-MAC ahead of its scheduled sunset in April 2028, according to GovTribe data.
HII, Booz Allen Hamilton, KBR, the ManTech TSG-2 joint venture and CACI International are the top five recipients of the spend. Their combined obligations also represent the clear majority at 79%.
KBR is in the process of spinning off its government services segment into a publicly-traded company, which will go by the name of Trinzic.