Air Force sets timeline for $6.9B NetCents 2 redo

The Air Force has issued a new timeline for its troubled $6.9 billion NetCents II products contract.

After making awards in April, the Air Force backed off those decisions after running into a slew of bid protests from companies that didn’t get awards.

Only companies that qualified for the first attempt were allowed to bid again.

In a memo released June 21, the Air Force laid out a tentative timeline for the new contract.

On Monday, June 25, the Air Force expects to request final proposal revisions, with responses due June 27.

The memo also reminds bidders that they must comply with the Trade Agreements Act and offer products that were either made in the United States or in a qualifying country. Products that don’t meet that requirement can cause the bidder to be disqualified.

Price changes also need to be substantiated and explained.

The Air Force also is using the lowest price, technically acceptable criteria to make awards.

This NetCents II product contract is primarily for hardware and is one of several contracts under the NetCents II umbrella.

Commercial products to be sold include networking equipment, servers and storage, peripherals, multimedia, software, and identity management/biometric hardware and associated software.

The NetCents program supports the Global Information Grid architecture, the Defense Information Infrastructure, the Air Force, and the Defense Communications Systems' info-structure for computer networks and telecommunications network mission areas.