CSO Advance Notice

December 16, 2025

ADVANCE NOTICE TO ALL INTERESTED PARTIES

This letter is to inform you that the General Services Administration (GSA), Federal Acquisition Service (FAS), Assisted Acquisition Services (AAS) Defense Capability Accelerator (CapX) intends to utilize the Commercial Solutions Opening (CSO) procedures throughout Fiscal Year 2026. These CSOs, on behalf of interagency partners within the Department of War (DoW), including Military Departments (MILDEPS), 4th Estate entities, Combatant Commands (CCMDs), and others, will seek innovative, commercial solutions to address specific mission and operational challenges.
Disclaimer: This is not a solicitation, and no white papers or proposals are being requested at this time. Specific CSO solicitations will be released separately as funding becomes available. A general set of anticipated CSO topic areas are provided as a part of this notice. I.

CSO Authority

Commercial Solutions Opening (CSO) procedures are authorized by Section 880 of the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and as amended by Section 7227 of the FY23 NDAA. CSOs are subject to the limitations outlined in the General Services Acquisition Manual (GSAM) Part 571 and the associated CSO Guide. CSO procedures can be utilized to competitively procure innovative commercial products and commercial services to include innovative technologies and solutions using the commercial solutions opening. II.

CSO Pilot Program Benefits

GSA developed this program to be implemented outside the normal Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) requirements to engage traditional and non-traditional Government contractors, including start-up companies. This pilot program is intended to promote competition with a streamlined approach to acquire innovative commercial products and commercial services. This pilot program offers the following benefits:

III.

1.

Streamlined solicitation requiring only minimal corporate and technical information.

2.

Fast track vendor selection timelines.

3.

Simplified contract administration procedures and requirements.

4.

Preference for the vendor retaining core intellectual property.

Planned Topic Areas

GSA anticipates issuing CSO announcements focused on the following general topic areas. This list of topics is not all encompassing and CSOs may be issued that are not defined in these topic areas.
Integrated Data, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Automation Ecosystems This topic seeks commercial solutions that enable fully integrated, secure, and scalable data and