GovCon Bid and Proposal Insights
GovCon Bid and Proposal Insights
Solutions for Intelligence Analysis (SIA3) Small Business
The Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) is set to release the highly anticipated Solutions for Intelligence Analysis (SIA3) Small Business On-Ramp contract, with an estimated $17 billion in funding and 6 to 8 anticipated awards. This Total Small Business Set-Aside presents a major opportunity for companies specializing in intelligence analysis, data solutions, and national security support.
In this episode, we break down the key details of the contract, the scope of work, and how small businesses can position themselves for success ahead of the June 2025 RFP release. Tune in to get expert insights, strategies, and tips to stay ahead in the federal contracting space!
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trying to grasp defense intelligence.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:You know it sometimes feels like you're putting together this massive, crazy, complicated machine, but it's already running full speed.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I can see that.
Speaker 1:And the government's always on the hunt for, like, the brightest minds and the most cutting-edge tech. To make sense of it all. Right, that's what we find so fascinating, right?
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:How do you bring those innovations into such a high-stakes arena? It's a puzzle. Into such a high stakes arena? It's a puzzle.
Speaker 2:Definitely I mean the challenges facing the DIE, that's, the Defense Intelligence Enterprise. They're so huge and intricate right. You need a way to find the right experts, a way that's forward thinking and can adapt. If you only rely on the big, established players, you might miss out on some key new ideas and skills. You know those specialized things that smaller companies often bring.
Speaker 1:Totally agree. So that leads us right into what we're diving deep into today. Right, it's the DIA's, the Defense Intelligence Agency's program. It's called Solutions for Intelligence Analysis, or SIA3. And they've got this on-ramp initiative coming up. One of our awesome listeners sent us a document that's from a pre-solicitation conference about this on-ramp.
Speaker 2:Oh nice.
Speaker 1:So that's our mission today, right To really dig into why the DIA thinks this on-ramp is so important for SIA3, how they've set it up and what it all means for the world of defense intelligence. Right now you know where things are headed.
Speaker 2:Makes sense. Sia3 has been a pretty big deal in defense intelligence since they set it up back in August 2019.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:It's an IDIQ contract, that's indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity. Basically, it's a framework so the government can order services over time as they need them, no fixed quantity up front.
Speaker 1:Pretty big deal Might be an understatement. I mean, we're talking over $5.9 billion awarded directly to small businesses.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:Breaks down like this Over $3.1 billion in direct awards, then about $2.8 billion set aside from those larger business awards which, just to put a number on it, were around $8.1 billion total, and over 35% of that was carved out specifically for small businesses. So you can see they're really committed to involving small businesses.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and that's really at the core of why they need this on-ramp SIA 3. You see it's built with this requirement for what they call a deep small business restricted pool. It's not optional, it's fundamental to how the contract works. The restricted part means some task orders are only for these small businesses to compete for. Keeps those opportunities coming their way.
Speaker 1:OK, I'm following, but let's break that down a bit more. Why is this deep pool so crucial and what kind of problems pop up if it, you know, starts shrinking?
Speaker 2:Well, even if the two small businesses in the restricted pool right now are enough for competition, the rules say they have to recertify every year to prove they're still small businesses. Right right, and here's the interesting part. One of them will probably graduate out of the small business category in the next year or two. The other one they're a native 8A firm, so they have a special status. They don't graduate the same way. Bottom line, the numbers are going down.
Speaker 1:So if the DIA doesn't do this on-ramp, what are the downsides, besides just having fewer companies? It sounds like it could get messy.
Speaker 2:It really could. The document talks about some serious risks. The biggest one is they could actually lose the SIA3 restricted pool altogether.
Speaker 1:Oh, wow.
Speaker 2:Losing that pool wouldn't just be annoying paperwork, it could really hurt the flow of new technologies, you know the really cutting edge stuff and that niche expertise that smaller companies often bring. That could make the DAE less flexible in dealing with new threats.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I see what you mean.
Speaker 2:If that happened, the DAE would likely have to use other ways to get the work done, like standalone contracts or GWCs government-wide acquisition contracts but those might not fit their specific intelligence analysis needs as well.
Speaker 1:Doesn't sound efficient or cheap either.
Speaker 2:Nope, it could really hurt the DAE's ability to pull everything together and tackle those global problems. You know the big picture stuff. Imagine trying to solve this huge, super complicated puzzle. But some of the most important pieces are in different puzzle boxes.
Speaker 1:Right, I get it.
Speaker 2:And it also weakens the DAE's ability to invest wisely, to really put their money where their mission is. Plus, get this the document even says they could end up paying millions of dollars in service fees if they have to use GWACs more.
Speaker 1:Ouch. So we're talking big consequences, not just bureaucratic stuff, Real impact on operations and the budget. They even show how the small business numbers have changed right, Started with six down to two, and they want to get back to six to eight.
Speaker 2:Exactly. And remember this on-ramp isn't for big companies, it's all about bringing in more small businesses. Now let's look at the what. What are these complex requirements that SIA3 and this on-ramp are trying to meet? All this stuff, the DIE needs to get done globally.
Speaker 1:Right, because it's not just about the number of contractors, it's about having the right skills, the right experience. The document mentions five mission task areas MTAs. What are they?
Speaker 2:They are engineering, analysis, analytic, enabling science, and then CIU. I meant counterintelligence, human intelligence, like you said before.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:So they're looking for a very broad range of expertise.
Speaker 1:For sure, and the users of SIA3, they come from all over right Over 20 DIA offices, all seven combatant commands plus US Forces, korea, four different intelligence community agencies and all the service intelligence centers. That's a lot of different customers.
Speaker 2:Huge customer base, very diverse, and their focus areas are just as diverse. They cover everything from the traditional ways of gathering intelligence to, like the bleeding edge things like next generation data science, advanced threat modeling. They even have very specialized areas, you know, like counterintelligence and cover operations.
Speaker 1:So if a small business wants to be a prime contractor under SIA 3 through this on-ramp, it's not enough to be good at just one thing right. The document is very clear To be a prime you have to show you can handle all five of those mission task areas. That's a pretty high bar to clear.
Speaker 2:Definitely, you need either a very diverse skill set within your company or a really strong network of partners. And that brings us to what they call the challenge of success. Right, sia 3 has been so successful, such a valuable contract, that hundreds of small businesses want to join the restricted pool.
Speaker 1:Hundreds. It's a lot of competition.
Speaker 2:It's a good problem to have in a way, but it creates a new set of challenges the original SIA 3 selection process. It took them 15 months to look at just 28 bids. They just don't have that kind of time for this on-ramp, especially since they need to fill that small business pool quickly. Ideally they want it done in less than a year.
Speaker 1:Makes sense and, thinking about it, there could be over 400 small businesses who are already subcontractors under the existing SIA3 primes and want to compete directly. That's a lot of proposals.
Speaker 2:It is. It would be incredibly hard and time-consuming to compare that many bidders in the usual way. 15 months for 28 bids that's practically a full-time job just evaluating proposals.
Speaker 1:So they need a smarter, more efficient system. The document mentions a gated or tiered evaluation approach. What does that look like?
Speaker 2:in practice. Think of it like a series of filters, each one getting more selective. They need to find a way to quickly identify the best candidates and not waste time evaluating companies that aren't a good fit. They have a few ideas like giving early feedback to companies that aren't competitive on their own, maybe advising them to team up with other firms, and then they're thinking about requiring bids to be submitted on secure networks like JWICS. Also, companies would have to prove they have experience in the intelligence community, and they're putting more emphasis on past performance across all five MTAs for prime bidders. Plus, they're exploring new, innovative ways to evaluate the technical side of proposals.
Speaker 1:Okay, so being strategic and efficient. So let's talk about the how. How are they going to decide who makes the cut? What criteria are they using?
Speaker 2:They have four main criteria Qualifications, corporate experience, past performance and technical approach. Qualifications, like security clearances, those are pass-fail If you don't meet them, you're out.
Speaker 1:Simple enough. What about corporate experience? That seems like it will be really important, especially since they need companies that can handle all five MTAs.
Speaker 2:You're absolutely right. The DIA sees corporate experience basically the skills and knowledge a company has from doing similar work as a major factor. They need to be sure that any company they choose for the restricted pool can actually compete for and win task orders across all five MTAs across the entire DIE.
Speaker 1:Right, and what about past performance? That's always a big deal in government contracts, right?
Speaker 2:It is. It's basically a way to see how well a company did on past contracts, and when it comes to national security, that's super important. The DIA needs to be confident that the companies they bring in have a history of delivering high-quality work reliably.
Speaker 1:Okay, and then there's the technical approach. What does that involve in this case?
Speaker 2:The technical approach is about assessing whether a company understands the kinds of requirements they'll see in SIA 3 task orders. Can they handle the specifics of the work?
Speaker 1:I see.
Speaker 2:And the good thing is the GSA the General Services Administration has given them the green light to use what they've learned from the initial SIA 3 awards in this on-ramp evaluation so they can adjust their criteria based on real-world experience what worked and what didn't.
Speaker 1:Smart move, adapt as you go.
Speaker 2:Exactly.
Speaker 1:Now let's dig into that tiered evaluation process. You mentioned it earlier. Can you walk us through the different steps?
Speaker 2:Sure, it starts with an initial review, what they call a pre-RFP advisory, rfi, a request for information. This is really interesting. They want to check out companies' corporate experience before they even submit a full proposal. It's like a heads up are you even in the running?
Speaker 1:Kind of pre-screening them.
Speaker 2:Exactly. Companies will send in a statement about their relevant experience and the DIA will look it over and tell them if they think they're viable. Like do they have a chance? A big goal here is to get companies teaming up early on. If a company is strong in some MTAs but weak in others, they might be told to find a partner who can fill those gaps. This helps companies make better decisions about bidding. Maybe they can save time and money by not writing a whole proposal if they're not really ready to be a prime. And, importantly, if you want to be considered later on, you have to participate in this initial RFI.
Speaker 1:Okay, that's streamlining things from the start. What happens after this initial check?
Speaker 2:After the initial review, we go to phase one. This is after the RFP. The request for proposals is released. Phase one focuses on the offeror's qualifications, corporate experience and past performance Right. A big one here is that every offeror, including any joint ventures they form, needs an active top-secret facility clearance, an FCL. That's pass-fail, no exception. No wiggle room there, oh nope, there might be a couple more pass-fail qualifications, but they don't expect a lot, and if you don't pass these, you're done.
Speaker 1:And what about the SF-1508, that self-certification about accounting systems? I know it's mentioned, but not a deal breaker right away.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's right. A compliant accounting system is definitely important, especially since SIA-3 has cost reimbursement task orders. But not having an SF-1408 right now won't automatically disqualify you, although it's a sign that, to compete for all types of task orders, you'll probably need it eventually.
Speaker 1:Makes sense.
Speaker 2:Now in phase one, they look at corporate experience and past performance separately. This is important because it lets them evaluate newer companies that might not have a lot of past performance without giving them a neutral rating, which happens a lot in government contracting.
Speaker 1:Right, I see.
Speaker 2:And, of course, that experience across all five MTAs is still key. The document actually says they learned from the initial SIA3 awards that both the prime contractor and their team need experience in all those areas. They even give an example of a small business that won an award but then struggled in the MTAs where they didn't have experience until they found the right partners. So phase one is another big filter. Only the most qualified companies who meet the criteria will move on to phase two. They're thinking of making a competitive reigns, probably the top 10 proposals who will be invited to the next stage.
Speaker 1:OK, so we're through the initial review and phase one. What's next for the companies that are left?
Speaker 2:Phase two is all about the technical evaluation. This is where they're changing things up. They're going to use oral presentations, questions and scenarios instead of long written technical evaluation. This is where they're changing things up. They're gonna use oral presentations, questions and scenarios instead of long written technical proposals.
Speaker 1:Interesting. What's the thinking behind that?
Speaker 2:A few reasons. First, it's a more direct way to see if the companies really have the skills and experience with the proposal methods they'll use for SIA3 task orders. Second, it lets the evaluation team talk to the companies directly, ask questions and see how they solve problems in real time. Plus, since they've already narrowed the field in phase one, they can do these in-depth oral evaluations without taking too much time Smart.
Speaker 1:And they're also thinking about how AI is changing things right. The document mentions that AI tools can make it easier to write proposals, so you might get more submissions from companies that aren't actually qualified.
Speaker 2:Right. Oral presentations make it harder to fake it. You can't just rely on an AI to write something that sounds good. You have to actually understand the work. In phase two, the evaluation team will give each offeror a confidence rating based on the criteria in the solicitation.
Speaker 1:Okay, and then finally the awards. What happens then?
Speaker 2:The source selection authority will use the phase two ratings to choose the best offerors, the ones with the highest overall scores. They're planning on six to eight awards, but they could do more or less, depending on how the evaluations go.
Speaker 1:So it's a multi-step process, very structured, designed to find the best small businesses who can handle these critical intelligence needs. The document even gives a timeline, doesn't it?
Speaker 2:It does. The pre-solicitation conference was in early November 2024. Then they put out the RFI for the corporate experience reviews. The RFP for phase one should be out soon and then the responses will be due. After that they'll publish the phase one results, then release the schedule and questions for phase two, the oral presentations. They'll conduct those and they're hoping to make the SIA-3 on-ramp awards in Q3 of fiscal year 2025. So things are moving.
Speaker 1:That's a balancing act. They need to fill that small business pool fast, but they also can't rush the evaluation. The document also talks about what they learned from SIA-2, the previous contract and how that shaped SIA 3. What were some of the big changes?
Speaker 2:Oh, there were a lot of improvements. For instance, sia 2 was mostly focused on the DIA itself, but SIA 3 covers the entire DIA. The way they award contracts also changed. Sia 2 used mostly LPTA Low price, technically acceptable, basically the cheapest bid that met the minimum requirements won. But SIA3, they care more about quality and innovation than just the price. They're using HIDR. Highest technical rating equals proposed price or best value trade-off, and the total value of rewards has gone way up from about $2.2 billion under SIA2 to over $11.2 billion so far with SIA3.
Speaker 1:Wow, that's a huge difference. Did the types of task orders change too?
Speaker 2:Yeah, almost all the SIA2 task orders were LPTA, but under SIA3, they're almost all higher or best value trade-off. Only one LPTA so far.
Speaker 1:Interesting.
Speaker 2:They also address some pricing issues. Under SIA2, companies would sometimes bid really low just to get on the contract, then offer big discounts on task orders to win work. But that could be unstable questions about whether they could actually do the work for that price. Sia 3, they set flow rates for labor categories to prevent that.
Speaker 1:Makes sense, and it sounds like staffing and performance have gotten better under SIA 3. Much better.
Speaker 2:SIA 2 had problems with staffing levels, often below 70 percent and high turnover. Sia 3, they're usually above 95% staffing, less turnover and the quality of work is higher. And remember how SIA 2 used mainly written proposals. Sia 3 switched to oral presentations with scenarios. They also expanded the number of labor categories from 32 to 103 to match the specialized skills they need.
Speaker 1:So they're always learning, getting better.
Speaker 2:Right and they formalized the process for handling small businesses that graduate out of the program. That was more ad hoc under SIO2, where both the original small businesses ended up graduating.
Speaker 1:So they're constantly refining the process, making it smarter.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:The document has some interesting data about SIA3 too right, Like which companies are winning task orders, what kinds of government organizations are using the contract, things like that.
Speaker 2:It's a good snapshot of how things are going. We can see which companies in both the unrestricted pool and the small business restricted pool have won the most task orders and how much money they've been awarded. And it's worth noting that while some companies are doing really well, there are awards going to quite a few different contractors. The data also shows all the different government organizations using SIA-3. The DIA is a big one, of course, but the combatant commands, nscom and other agencies are using it too. Shows how widely useful it is across the defense intelligence community.
Speaker 1:What about team sizes? I remember the documents mentioned that.
Speaker 2:That's important. The charts showing how many partners each prime contractor has really highlight that you need a strong team to be successful on SIA3. It takes a village, as they say. They even advise companies thinking about SIA3 to not go it alone and point out how many partners even the big companies have.
Speaker 1:So teamwork is essential.
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Speaker 1:There's also data on the evaluation methods DIA used for SIA3 task orders.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yes, and it seems they prefer high-chip over best value trade-off. They tend to go for written proposals over oral presentations at the task order level, and they use time and materials contracts more than cost plus. Also, the average reward is about 22% above the floor rate. All this gives potential bidders valuable insight into how the government is actually using SIA-3.
Speaker 1:It's like getting a peek behind the curtain, understanding what the government is looking for.
Speaker 2:Exactly.
Speaker 1:So, to wrap it up, it's clear this SIA-3 on-ramp is really important for the DIA. They need to keep a strong competitive group of small businesses in this contract because it's been so successful and vital. They've put a lot of thought into the evaluation process, making it tough but fair, and they're using what they've learned from past contracts to make it even better. The goal is to make sure they bring in top-notch companies that can handle the complex intelligence missions they have.
Speaker 2:You got it. This isn't just about checking a box for small business participation. It's about making sure the whole DIEIE has the best people and the most innovative solutions to face those ever-changing national security challenges. It shows they're dedicated to excellence and willing to adapt in a world that's constantly in flux.
Speaker 1:On that note, here's something to think about. Could this focus on small businesses and this structured on-ramping process be a model for other government agencies, you know the ones that need very specialized expertise in fields? They're changing quickly, and what does it mean for both the big companies and the smaller up-and-coming ones in the defense world? Lots to consider.
Speaker 2:A lot to consider, for sure.