Which Rulebook Is Your Compliance Matrix Citing?

If you keep a saved search on sole-source notices, Thursday gave you one worth reading twice.

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency posted a notice of intent to award Leidos a bridge contract for Foundation Sustainment Services, the mapping, charting and geodesy program that carries aeronautical, maritime, topographic, elevation, geodesy and controlled-imagery work for the Source Directorate.

The authority line reads RFO 6.103-1(c)(2).

Pull it up on acquisition.gov and you get a 404. The paragraph that carries the language NGA quoted, "Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements," is still sitting at 6.302-1.

The Bridge Itself

Take the contract story first.

NGA says the FS2 bridge exists to hold the program through April 2028 while it finishes what the notice calls "the delayed FS3i follow-on acquisition." The anticipated ordering period is April 2027 to April 2028, a 12-month base on CPFF, cost-reimbursement and time-and-materials lines.

The notice does something most bridge notices avoid. It tells you when the real competition arrives: NGA intends to finalize the FS3i acquisition strategy and solicit in Q1 of FY27.

And it tells interested parties not to bother responding yet, in so many words: "it would be more useful to the government to hold off until the follow-on FS3i notice is published."

Capabilities statements are due Oct. 25 if you file one anyway.

So the pursuit calendar is set. A year of incumbent continuation, a solicitation inside the next three months, and a follow-on competitive IDIQ the agency itself calls delayed.