DAF Battle Network "Megatron" MAC IDIQ

Updated Oct 23, 2026

Special Notice from the Department of the Air Force.

Official notice and attachments

Description

The DAF Battle Network (DBN) "Megatron" MAC IDIQ provides an agile and competitive contracting framework to rapidly deliver capabilities and address the full spectrum of PAE C3BM requirements throughout the program lifecycle. PROGRAM OVERVIEW The DBN MAC IDIQ will be a hybrid supply and service contract vehicle supporting the development, procurement, assembly, delivery, and sustainment of PAE C3BM product lines.

Under this contract, customers will be able to procure mission-critical capabilities across digital architecture, sensor integration, secure processing, connectivity, applications, and synthetic environment development to integrate USAF and USSF C3 programs and deliver resilient decision advantage. This vehicle will be awarded with a Small Business pool and an unrestricted pool of awardees.

PURPOSE This Special Notice serves as the official landing page for the DBN "Megatron" MAC IDIQ. The Notice ID will remain consistent throughout SAM.gov postings. Interested industry partners should "Follow" this notice on SAM.gov to receive automated notifications regarding: Updates to program schedule Draft Statement of Work (SOW) releases Draft solicitation documents Upcoming Industry Day event details ANNOUNCEMENTS 22 Oct 2026: The Megatron team appreciates our industry partners’ patience and flexibility while we investigated the platform technical challenges experienced during the Virtual Industry Day on 07 October.

To resolve access difficulties, preserve Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) security, and ensure widespread availability, the Government is transitioning the ABMS Mission Briefing and DBN "Megatron" Virtual Industry Day to pre-recorded briefings. 1. Release Timeline and Questions Target Upload Date: The Government plans to upload the recordings and briefing charts before the end of October 2026.

Location: To comply with CUI security protocols, files will be posted as secure, restricted attachments directly on this SAM.gov notice. Vendors must request access via SAM.gov to download them. Please be patient while waiting for your access request to be approved.

Industry Q&A: A link for questions will be posted with the Industry Day recording. Please limit questions to the briefing charts; do not resubmit SOW questions. The Q&A link will close on 06 November 2026 at 1700 EST, though files will remain available for download.

2. Access & Security Policies Please verify you have the appropriate user roles to request documents. The individual requesting access must have either a Contract Opportunities Administrator or Data Entry role.

General viewer roles cannot request documents. Please refer to the 21 Sep 2026 update in this Special Notice for role assignment instructions. Limit Requests to One Representative: Only one representative per company needs to request access.

Once downloaded, the files may be shared internally on secure systems with employees of the same wholly owned entity but are strictly prohibited from being released externally to unvetted partners. Foreign Ownership (FOCI) Policy: Under Department of War regulations and Distribution Statement D controls, foreign-owned entities must have an active, DCSA-approved FOCI mitigation agreement (such as an SSA or Proxy Agreement) verified prior to being granted access.

Otherwise, they cannot access the recordings directly and may only participate as subcontractors under a cleared domestic U.S. prime contractor. 3. Registration & Pre-Vetting Guidelines Legacy Registrants (DO NOT Re-Register): If a representative from your company registered for the 7 Oct Industry Day and received the meeting link OR was approved to download the draft SOW, your company is already vetted.

No further action is required; do not fill out the form below. New Registrants (Action Required): If a representative from your company did not register for the 7 Oct Industry Day or request and receive approval to download the draft SOW, please fill out the pre-vetting form before the recordings are uploaded: forms.osi.apps.mil/r/XbvxfwmQB4

Email & Affiliation Rules: You will receive an email confirmation once your vetting is complete. A CUI email address is not required; however, you must use an official company email address. If using a commercial domain (e.g., Gmail, Yahoo), your affiliation must be verifiable via your company’s SAM.gov registration or listed points of contact.

Note: The pre-vetting link will close once the recordings are uploaded. If you miss this window, you may still request access using the SAM.gov "Request Access" buttons, and your company will be vetted at that point prior to approval. 07 Oct 2026: Today's CUI Industry Day Briefing has been postponed due to unexpected technical difficulties with our secure virtual platform.

We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience and are working diligently to resolve these issues. For all industry partners who previously registered and received the initial link to join, your vetted status remains active. You do not need to re-register.

If any additional information is required, we will reach out to you directly. At this time, new registrations are suspended while the Government diagnoses the technical issues and assesses potential platform capacity limitations. If registration reopens, an update will be posted here.

Please continue to follow this Special Notice for updates regarding the rescheduled Industry Day. Thank you for your patience and understanding. 05 Oct 2026: Virtual Industry Day Access Link The Contracting Office is currently processing an exceptionally high volume of registrations for the upcoming DBN "Megatron" Virtual Industry Day.

Registration Deadline: Online registration remains open until 1700 EDT today, 05 October 2026. No further registrations will be accepted after this time. Vetting & Distribution Window: Due to the large number of attendees, manual vetting of all registrations is actively ongoing.

Microsoft Teams access link and event instructions are bein

The description continues in the official notice.

Contracting contact

• Julie Payne · [email protected]

As published on the official notice. Ask questions in writing and before any questions deadline the notice sets.

Is your business small enough?

For NAICS 541715, a business counts as small if it has no more than 11 employees (SBA size standard, with exceptions in the notes). This notice is set aside, so only businesses under that size, or in the named program, can bid. SBA table, current as of Oct 15, 2026.

Notice history

• Oct 7, 2026: Special Notice
• Oct 5, 2026: Special Notice
• Sep 21, 2026: Special Notice
• Sep 4, 2026: Special Notice
• Aug 5, 2026: Special Notice

Companies that win this kind of work

Federal contractors paid for research and development in the physical, engineering, and life sciences work, who also hold Air Force contracts (last 12 months): possible competitors, or partners to team with.

• The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory LLC $1.9 billion in this trade
• Lockheed Martin Corporation $1.8 billion in this trade
• Raytheon Company $1.7 billion in this trade
• The Aerospace Corporation $1.1 billion in this trade
• Booz Allen Hamilton Inc $791.0 million in this trade

About the buyer

The Department of the Air Force awarded $83.0 billion in contracts in the last 12 months; its biggest suppliers were The Boeing Company, The Boeing Company and Raytheon Company. See what Air Force is buying now.

Who can bid: Small Business set-aside

Total and partial small business set-asides are open to any business under the SBA size standard for the notice's NAICS code.

All open Small Business set-asides.

Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences contracts right now

There are 255 open government contract opportunities in this trade (NAICS 541715), 37 posted in the last 7 days; 32% are set aside for small businesses. The agencies buying the most are Department of the Air Force, Department of the Army and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Most of the work with a stated place is in Maryland, District of Columbia and Virginia. A notice in this trade gives a median of 80 days from posting to deadline.

All open research and development in the physical, engineering, and life sciences contracts

Coming up in this trade

Planned contracts from the agencies' procurement forecasts, often months before a solicitation. Plans can change.

Recent awards in this trade

• UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN SYSTEM Madison WI $1.8 million · Department of the Army · Oct 22, 2026
• The Sherwin-Williams Company $497,806 · Department of the Army · Oct 21, 2026
• Orefine LLC $1.9 million · Department of the Army · Oct 19, 2026
• BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY Provo UT $1.1 million · Department of the Army · Oct 14, 2026
• LUDWIG-MAXIMILIANS-UNIVERSITAT MUNCHEN Munchen $1.1 million · Department of the Army · Oct 13, 2026

From the award notices agencies publish.

Similar open research and development in the physical, engineering, and life sciences bids