Sierra Army Depot Commercial Solutions Opening (CSO) W912GY-25-S-C001: Complete Guide for Startups
Executive Summary
The U.S. Army Contracting Command at Sierra Army Depot (ACC-SIAD) is running an open, continuously accepting Commercial Solutions Opening (CSO) for Organic Industrial Base (OIB) modernization under solicitation number W912GY-25-S-C001. The solicitation is posted on SAM.gov and is open until June 30, 2030, with no fixed proposal deadline. Companies submit a five page solution brief against one of eight published Areas of Interest (AoIs), and awards are made as fixed price contracts under FAR Part 12 commercial item procedures. Both traditional and nontraditional defense contractors are eligible, and no prior government contracting history is required.
For a venture backed startup or a commercially focused small business, this is one of the more accessible entry points into Army depot modernization. There is no 50 page proposal, no cost accounting standards burden at the front end, and no requirement to have an existing defense customer. What the Army wants is a commercially available or near commercially available product that solves a specific, physical, unglamorous depot problem.
Sierra Army Depot CSO at a Glance
Solicitation number: W912GY-25-S-C001
Issuing office: U.S. Army Contracting Command, Sierra Army Depot (ACC-SIAD), Herlong, California
Program: Organic Industrial Base (OIB) Modernization
Authority: 10 U.S.C. Section 3458, implemented by DFARS Subpart 212.70
Solicitation type: Commercial Solutions Opening, a competitive procedure similar to a Broad Agency Announcement
Where it is posted: SAM.gov (the Government Point of Entry)
Status: Continuously open, currently reflecting CSO Amendment 02 and AoI Amendment 01, both dated August 18, 2026
Closes: June 30, 2030, with the government reserving the right to extend by amendment
Areas of Interest: Eight continuously open AoIs
Phase 1 submission: Five single sided pages in 12 point font, or fifteen briefing slides
Award type: Fixed price, including fixed price incentive fee, primarily FAR Part 12
Typical period of performance: Generally not more than 12 months unless the AoI states otherwise
Eligibility: Traditional and nontraditional defense contractors, small businesses, nonprofit research institutions, and foreign owned businesses subject to clearance limitations
Contracting Officer: Ms. Melissa Kaarbo, melissa.m.kaarbo.civ@army.mil
Additional point of contact: Ms. Kimberly Hunter, kimberly.a.hunter.civ@army.mil
What Is a Commercial Solutions Opening and Why It Matters for Startups
A Commercial Solutions Opening is a competitive acquisition procedure that lets Department of Defense contracting officers buy innovative commercial products, technologies, and services without running a traditional Request for Proposals. It was authorized permanently under 10 U.S.C. Section 3458 and is implemented through DFARS Subpart 212.70. Under a CSO, the government may competitively select proposals received in response to a general solicitation based on peer review by scientific, technological, or other subject matter experts.
Three features of the CSO make it materially different from a standard federal procurement, and all three favor a startup:
It is a competitive procedure by statute. Selection under a CSO satisfies the competition requirements of 10 U.S.C. Chapter 221 and FAR 6.102. The Army does not have to justify a sole source, which removes a common source of internal friction and delay.
Everything is treated as commercial. Contracting officers must treat products and services bought under a CSO as commercial products and services. That means FAR Part 12 terms, simplified contract clauses, and no default requirement to build a government approved accounting system before you can be paid.
Your submission is evaluated on its own merits. The solicitation is explicit that solution briefs are evaluated against the stated criteria, not against other companies' submissions. You are not competing head to head against an incumbent prime for a single slot.
The solicitation itself lists five benefits of the process: a streamlined application requiring only minimal corporate and technical information, fast track evaluation timelines, negotiable payment terms for non-dilutive capital, negotiable intellectual property rights, and direct feedback from end users and mission partners inside the Department of Defense who actually operate the equipment.
What Sierra Army Depot Is Actually Trying to Solve
Sierra Army Depot is a major Army logistics and storage installation with a large footprint of open storage, maintenance shops, demilitarization operations, an airfield, and out-loading operations that push materiel to the field. The Organic Industrial Base is the network of Army depots, arsenals, and ammunition plants that manufacture, repair, and sustain equipment. The Army's stated position is that its decisive military advantage over peer competitors is steadily eroding and that modernizing the OIB is a prerequisite for closing that gap.
The solicitation names six technology domains where the Army says modernization is most needed: agile and flexible facilities, a connected digital enterprise, advanced manufacturing, digital twin, automation, and cyber security. The framing throughout the document is about throughput and speed, described as increasing the "Speed of Battle," rather than about basic research.
This matters for how you write. The Army is not asking for a science project. It is asking how your technology moves more materiel through the depot faster, with fewer people doing dangerous or repetitive work, at lower lifecycle cost, in compliance with environmental and safety rules.
The Eight Areas of Interest in Detail
All eight AoIs are continuously open, and all solution briefs submitted under them are evaluated against the Phase 1 criteria in Section 3.2.2 of the CSO. If government funding or resources are not available for a proposed effort, the solution brief is retained in the ACC-SIAD library rather than discarded, which means a strong brief can be pulled forward when funding appears later.
1. Agile and Adaptive Facilities
Scalable, world class facilities that can rapidly adapt to changing mission requirements. The stated emphasis is on integrating physical and virtual processes to create flexible production, maintenance, and demilitarization lines so the depot can respond quickly to engineering changes and supply chain variation.
Companies that fit here typically offer reconfigurable production cells, modular tooling and fixturing, digital twin and factory simulation software, rapid line changeover systems, modular or relocatable industrial structures, and manufacturing execution software that reconfigures workflows without a capital rebuild.
2. Advanced Manufacturing and Maintenance
Technologies that increase the speed, scale, and precision of depot operations, with a specific call out of the depot's maintenance processes and parts capabilities. The solicitation names wash, blast, weld, paint, preservation, and repair processes supporting a wide variety of systems and platforms, and it asks respondents to address safety, environmental compliance, capacity, and efficiency.
Relevant technologies include metal and polymer additive manufacturing for obsolete or long lead spare parts, cold spray and other repair deposition methods, robotic and automated welding, advanced coatings and surface preparation, laser ablation stripping, non-destructive inspection, reverse engineering and scan to part workflows, and predictive maintenance analytics. If you make legacy parts available on demand instead of through a 40 week procurement lead time, this is your AoI.
3. Automation and Robotics
The solicitation defines automation as an automatic control measure that uses feedback loops from sensors, cameras, encoders, lasers, and probes to control a process, mechanism, or system, achieved through mechanical, hydraulic, pneumatic, electrical, electronic, and computing means in combination. The applied focus is automated and robotic systems for materiel handling, warehousing (pick, sort, and store), and processing, with the goal of reducing manual labor in repetitive or hazardous tasks and increasing accuracy and speed.
Strong fits include autonomous mobile robots and automated guided vehicles, robotic piece picking and palletizing, automated storage and retrieval systems, machine vision inspection and sortation, collaborative robots for shop floor tasks, teleoperation for hazardous environments, and exoskeletons or lift assist systems. Hazardous task removal is called out directly, so demilitarization, chemical handling, and heavy lift use cases are well aligned.
4. Logistics and Inventory Management Modernization
Re-engineering inventory and warehouse management systems to increase accuracy, reduce loss, and improve efficiency. The solicitation specifically points to modern hardware and software, naming Warehouse Management Systems, to streamline receiving, storage, and picking.
This is the most software friendly AoI. Candidate solutions include warehouse management and warehouse execution platforms, RFID and passive sensing for asset tracking across large open storage areas, computer vision inventory audit, drone based cycle counting, digital yard management, demand forecasting and inventory optimization, and integration layers that connect commercial systems to Army logistics systems of record. Note that any software touching Army networks will eventually face cybersecurity and authority to operate requirements, so address your security posture early.
5. Airfield Maintenance
Comprehensive inspection, preservation, and repair of airport infrastructure and grounds required for safe and efficient aircraft operations. Named aspects include pavement markings and electrical systems, snow and ice management, debris and vegetation control, and coordination with air traffic control to minimize operational impact. The AoI explicitly includes the Automated Weather Observing System (AWOS), which provides continuous real-time weather information to airports, pilots, and aviation stakeholders.
Fits include automated pavement condition assessment, foreign object debris detection, runway marking and striping automation, airfield lighting systems, snow and ice removal or anti-icing technologies, vegetation management, and AWOS hardware, sensors, modernization, or data integration. The AWOS mention is unusually specific for a continuously open AoI, which generally signals a live need.
6. Energy, Environmental, and Chemical Management
Safe, sustainable, and efficient use of energy, fuels, and chemicals across depot facilities and operations. The AoI specifically asks for innovative solutions for surface coating, cleaning, stripping, and plating that reduce hazardous waste and improve sustainability.
Relevant technologies include hexavalent chromium and PFAS free coatings and platings, non-hazardous cleaning and degreasing chemistries, laser and dry media stripping that eliminates blast media waste, closed loop water and solvent recovery, VOC and emissions reduction, waste minimization and treatment, energy efficiency and on-site generation, microgrids and energy storage, and industrial process electrification. Regulatory and environmental compliance pressure on legacy depot chemistries makes this AoI durably funded across the Army.
7. Public Private Partnerships (P3) Opportunities
Collaborations with private industry that bring commercial innovation, investment, and expertise into the depot. The stated aim is to accelerate modernization, improve operational efficiency, and sustain critical depot capabilities through shared resources and shared risk.
This AoI is structurally different from the other seven. It is less about a discrete product and more about a business model: co-investment in depot capability, shared use of depot facilities or equipment, work share arrangements, technology transfer, or arrangements where a company brings capital equipment onto the installation in exchange for guaranteed throughput. If your go to market depends on placing capital equipment somewhere and operating it, read this AoI closely.
8. Advanced Packaging Manufacturing at the Point-of-Need
This AoI was added by AoI Amendment 01 dated August 18, 2026, and it is the most sharply defined requirement in the set. The Army is seeking on-site fabrication technologies and non-lumber material solutions that let Sierra Army Depot manufacture customized crates, pallets, skids, and blocking on demand.
The stated requirements are specific. Solutions must deliver a highly versatile, scalable manufacturing capability that can rapidly adapt to produce an effectively unlimited variety of dimensions, using lightweight, weather resistant, and easily recyclable materials. The technology must replace legacy carpentry operations in order to eliminate labor intensive bottlenecks, high material washout rates, continuous lumber procurement costs, and ISPM-15 Wood Packaging Material compliance risk. The stated outcome is modernized out-loading throughput and reduced lifecycle logistics costs.
If you work in automated packaging fabrication, on-demand box and crate manufacturing, thermoformed or molded composite packaging, honeycomb or engineered paperboard structures, recyclable polymer shipping containers, or CAD driven cut and assemble systems, this AoI is a direct match. The level of detail here, combined with the fact that it was added by amendment rather than included at the original posting, generally indicates an identified and prioritized requirement rather than general market research.
Funding Allowance: What You Can and Cannot Expect
This is the part most companies misread, so it is worth stating plainly. The CSO does not publish an award ceiling, a floor, or a reserved pool of funding. The solicitation states directly that because of government budget uncertainties, no specific dollars have been reserved for awards under this CSO, and that requests for a Commercial Solution Proposal are subject to the availability of government funds.
Here is what the solicitation does commit to:
Award instrument: Contracts or agreements under this authority shall be fixed price, including fixed price incentive fee. The government intends to primarily award FAR-based contracts under Part 12 commercial item procedures, but reserves the right to award other contract or agreement types depending on the AoI and industrial base response.
Period of performance: Generally no greater than 12 months for any solution brief or CSP submitted under this CSO, unless a specific AoI states otherwise. Size your proposed effort and your price to a 12 month scope.
Payment terms: The solicitation lists negotiable payment terms for non-dilutive capital as a benefit of the process. The Contracting Officer reserves the right to negotiate terms and conditions directly with the company prior to execution, including payment terms. For a cash constrained startup, this is where you negotiate milestone or advance payment structures rather than pure cost reimbursement in arrears.
Intellectual property: IP rights are negotiable. You are asked to identify any IP involved and any restrictions on the government's use of that IP. IP risk is an explicit scored evaluation factor at Phase 2, so unresolved or aggressive assertions cost you points.
Pricing format: Phase 1 requires a rough order of magnitude price. Phase 2 requires a ROM in a range of minus 25 percent to plus 75 percent along with a notional schedule. Phase 3 requires a full price volume with enough detail for the government to test price reasonableness, which for time and materials line items means labor categories, direct labor hours, fully burdened fixed hourly rates, and material costs supported by vendor quotes or other bases of estimate.
And here is what the government will not pay for:
Costs of preparing and submitting a Phase 1 solution brief.
Costs associated with a Phase 2 presentation or pitch, unless a specific AoI says otherwise.
Costs of developing a Phase 3 Commercial Solution Proposal, unless a specific AoI says otherwise.
Proposal preparation costs are explicitly not recoverable and are not a direct charge to any resulting award or any other contract or agreement.
The practical read: treat this as an unfunded business development investment with a fast, cheap first step. A five page brief is a one to two week effort for most teams, which is a reasonable bet against a fixed price production or pilot contract with a customer that operates at depot scale.
Timeline and Key Dates
There is no single submission deadline. The CSO is continuously open on SAM.gov until June 30, 2030, and the government may extend that date by amendment if the underlying authority is extended. New AoIs may be added at any point during the solicitation's life, which is exactly what happened with the packaging AoI added in August 2026, so companies are advised to check SAM.gov frequently for new postings.
The internal clocks that do matter once you submit:
Phase 1 evaluation: The government will attempt to complete evaluation of solution briefs within 30 calendar days of the close of the submittal period and to notify companies of results as soon as practicable.
Phase 2 evaluation: The government aims to complete evaluation of presentations and pitches within 30 calendar days of the pitch.
Pitch validity: Presentation and pitch submissions must remain valid for no less than 90 days after evaluation.
The 90 day funding gate: If government funding or resources are not assigned to a Phase 3 CSP within 90 days after pitch evaluation, the government will issue a notification of non-eligibility and officially close that AoI selection process. This is the single most important date in the document, because it is where an otherwise successful submission can stall for reasons that have nothing to do with your technology.
CSP validity: A Phase 3 Commercial Solution Proposal must remain valid for at least 120 days from the submission date.
Notification of non-selection: Companies not advanced to the pitch or CSP phase are notified in writing as soon as practicable. Verbal feedback may be provided on request at the Contracting Officer's discretion, and it is worth asking for.
Realistically, a company entering at Phase 1 with funding already aligned to the requirement should plan for roughly three to six months from submission to award. A company entering against an AoI where funding has not yet been identified should expect the brief to sit in the ACC-SIAD library until a requirement and funding line converge.
How the Three Phase Process Works
Phase 1: Written Solution Brief
Unless a specific AoI says otherwise, the solution brief must not exceed five single sided pages in 12 point font, or alternatively may be submitted as briefing slides not exceeding fifteen slides. The brief must contain four elements:
Title page: Company name, title, date, point of contact name, email address, phone, and address, and a specific identification of which AoI you are responding to. The title page does not count against the page or slide limit.
Executive summary: A summary of the technology or service.
Technology concept: How your solution represents an application of innovative commercial products, technologies, or services, or an adaptation of existing ones, to the AoI. Describe the unique aspects of your technology and the work as it relates to the AoI. State clearly whether you are proposing a pilot or demonstration of existing commercially ready and viable technology, or development of technology for potential defense application. If development or adaptation is proposed, identify a suggested path to mature the technology. Identify any data and software you consider proprietary.
Price: A rough order of magnitude price for the proposed solution.
The executive summary, technology concept, and price sections all count against the limit. Unnecessarily elaborate brochures are explicitly not desired, and the use of a diagram or figure to depict the essence of the proposed solution is strongly encouraged. Companies may submit multiple solution briefs against a single AoI if each represents a separate and distinct concept, but an individual brief may only address one concept.
Phase 2: Presentation or Pitch, If Applicable
Companies whose briefs are evaluated to be of merit may be invited to pitch in person, virtually, or on paper, depending on the requirement. If a demonstration is required, the AoI will say so. The government may also request an additional written submission to supplement or clarify the Phase 1 brief. During the pitch you must address a description or demonstration of how the solution is an innovative application of commercial technology to the AoI, a ROM price in a minus 25 percent to plus 75 percent range with a notional schedule, any IP involved and associated restrictions on government use, and whatever additional detail the invitation specified.
Phase 3: Commercial Solution Proposal
Companies evaluated to be of merit through Phase 1, Phase 2, or a combination may be invited to submit a full written proposal in two separate volumes.
Volume I, Technical, must contain no cost information. It requires a detailed work plan showing how each objective will be accomplished, in as much detail as you consider necessary to fully explain your technical approach and all assumptions used to develop the solution and associated costs. It must demonstrate a clear understanding of the nature of the work, explain how the project will be organized, staffed, and managed, and include a list of suggested deliverables and deliverable dates.
Volume II, Price, must contain enough information for the government to perform a basic price analysis. The government reserves the right to request additional pricing support, including commercial price catalogs, previous commercial sales receipts, and other proprietary information used to determine reasonableness and future budgetary cost estimates.
Technical proposals are rated Acceptable or Unacceptable. Price proposals are rated Fair and Reasonable or Not Fair and Reasonable. Neither an Acceptable technical rating nor a Fair and Reasonable price determination guarantees award, because program priorities, negotiations, and availability of funds are also considered.
Phase Skipping Works in Both Directions
The government reserves the right to forgo Phase 1 and Phase 2 and directly request a CSP, and to move expeditiously through the phases if urgent requirements arise. Separately, companies may elect to forgo Phase 1 and Phase 2 and submit a written CSP directly. In practice, going straight to a full CSP is usually the wrong move for a first time entrant, because the five page brief is the cheapest way to test whether a real requirement and a funding line exist behind the AoI before you invest in a full proposal.
How Your Submission Will Be Evaluated
Phase 1 solution briefs are evaluated against four criteria, listed in the solicitation in descending order of importance:
Responsiveness of the brief in addressing the AoI with a commercially available product, process, or service readily available to meet the government's immediate needs.
Technical merit of the proposed solution, including the extent to which it is unique or innovative for government application.
The extent to which funding is available for the proposed effort.
The proposed milestone schedule and its ability to meet the AoI need within a relevant time period.
Read the first and third criteria together, because they set the strategy. The most heavily weighted factor is commercial readiness and immediate availability, not novelty. A mature product with fielded commercial installations outscores a more clever prototype. And because funding availability is itself a scored criterion, a brief that is cheap, fast, and scoped to a 12 month period of performance scores better than an ambitious multi-year program the depot cannot currently pay for.
Phase 2 pitches are scored on eight factors, also in descending order of importance: relevance of the solution to the AoI with a commercially available product or process, technical merit and demonstrated feasibility, uniqueness and innovation, technical risk and maturity, risk in the proposed ROM, risk in the proposed milestone schedule, risk in the company's viability and business solution, and potential risk in anticipated IP and data rights assertions.
Five of those eight factors are risk factors. Company viability is scored explicitly, which means an early stage company should proactively address runway, manufacturing capacity, key personnel, and supply chain rather than hoping the topic does not come up. The government may also use external market research to evaluate a company's viability, so assume your funding history and public footprint will be reviewed.
Both phases are evaluated on an absolute basis, not comparatively. The government reserves the right to select all, some, or none of the submissions received against any AoI.
Eligibility and Registration Requirements
Nontraditional defense contractors are expressly welcome. A nontraditional defense contractor is defined in 10 U.S.C. Section 3014 as an entity that is not currently performing and has not performed, for at least the one year period preceding the solicitation, any DoD contract or subcontract subject to full coverage under the cost accounting standards. The definition includes all small business concerns meeting the size standards in 13 C.F.R. Part 121.
Small businesses and nonprofit research institutions are both defined and contemplated in the solicitation.
Foreign owned businesses may submit independently or as part of a teaming arrangement with one or more United States owned businesses, though the ability to receive an award may depend on obtaining the necessary clearances and approvals for proscribed information.
Unique Entity ID and SAM registration are required before award. Companies are advised to begin SAM registration as soon as they identify an AoI of interest. Registration in the Procurement Integrated Enterprise Environment (PIEE) at piee.eb.mil is also required for invoicing, and PIEE registration cannot occur without an active SAM registration.
Responsibility determination: The company must be determined responsible by the Contracting Officer and must not be suspended, debarred, or otherwise prohibited by executive order or law from receiving an award.
Proprietary Data, Export Control, and Classification Rules
The government acknowledges its obligation under 18 U.S.C. Section 1905 to protect confidential information, but that protection is conditional on how you mark your submission:
Qualifying data must be clearly marked PROPRIETARY and accompanied by explanatory text so the government is clearly notified of the limitations being placed on it.
Mark only what is truly confidential, and indicate the specific portions of a page using circling, underscoring, or highlighting.
Do not mark data already in the public domain or already held by the government or third parties on an unrestricted basis. The government is not obligated to protect unmarked data.
Do not submit classified data.
Understand the tradeoff. The government sometimes uses support contractors to evaluate responses. Marking data as proprietary precludes disclosure to those support contractors, so heavily marked submissions may receive limited or no consideration. The government will use best efforts to evaluate proprietary submissions without support contractors, consistent with available resources. Mark surgically, not defensively.
Technical data with military application may require approval, authorization, or license for lawful export. Confirm your ITAR and EAR posture before you submit.
The CSO process for FAR contracts is covered by the Procurement Integrity Act as implemented through FAR Part 3.104, so the usual ethical restrictions on procurement information apply to both sides.
How to Position a Winning Solution Brief
Five pages is not much room, and most unsuccessful briefs fail for the same avoidable reasons. Based on the stated evaluation criteria, the strongest submissions do the following:
Name the AoI in the first sentence. Responsiveness is the top weighted criterion. Do not make an evaluator infer which of the eight AoIs you are answering.
Lead with commercial readiness, not the technology. Open with what is already fielded, where, at what scale, and with what measured results. Commercial traction is evidence, and it is scored ahead of novelty.
Quantify the depot outcome. Translate your capability into throughput, labor hours avoided, hazardous waste eliminated, lead time reduced, or lifecycle cost saved. Percentages tied to a baseline beat adjectives.
Use a diagram. The solicitation strongly encourages a figure depicting the essence of the solution, and it is the highest information density you can buy within the page limit.
Price to a 12 month scope and be realistic. Funding availability is a scored criterion. A credible six figure pilot that can be executed inside a fiscal year is easier to fund than a multi-year program.
Address risk before you are asked. Company viability, schedule risk, ROM risk, and IP risk are four of the eight Phase 2 scoring factors. Retiring them early in writing converts a weakness into evidence of maturity.
Be clear about maturity. The solicitation asks you to state explicitly whether you are proposing a pilot of commercially ready technology or development for defense application, and if the latter, to lay out a maturation path. Ambiguity here reads as risk.
Submit more than one brief if you have more than one concept. Multiple distinct concepts are permitted, and several AoIs overlap. A robotics company, for example, may have separate credible answers for AoI 3 and AoI 4.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is solicitation W912GY-25-S-C001?
W912GY-25-S-C001 is the Commercial Solutions Opening issued by U.S. Army Contracting Command at Sierra Army Depot (ACC-SIAD) for Organic Industrial Base modernization. It is a continuously open competitive solicitation posted on SAM.gov that seeks innovative commercial products, technologies, and services across eight Areas of Interest, and it remains open until June 30, 2030.
What is the deadline to apply to the Sierra Army Depot CSO?
There is no single deadline. The CSO is continuously open until June 30, 2030, and the government may extend that date by amendment. Because new Areas of Interest can be added at any time and specific AoIs may carry their own open periods, companies should monitor SAM.gov regularly. Submissions received after a prescribed AoI open period has ended will not be considered, reviewed, or evaluated.
How much funding is available under this CSO?
No dollar ceiling or reserved funding pool is published. The solicitation states that due to government budget uncertainties, no specific dollars have been reserved for awards, and that requests for a Commercial Solution Proposal are subject to the availability of government funds. Awards are fixed price, generally with a period of performance of 12 months or less unless a specific AoI states otherwise, and the practical award size is driven by the scope you propose and the funding the depot has identified for that requirement.
Does the government pay for my proposal costs?
No. The government will not pay for costs associated with solution briefs, presentations or pitches, or development of a Commercial Solution Proposal, unless a specific AoI stipulates otherwise. Proposal preparation costs are explicitly not recoverable and are not a direct charge to any resulting award or other contract.
Can a startup with no prior government contracts apply?
Yes. Both traditional and nontraditional defense contractors may be awarded contracts or agreements under this CSO. A nontraditional defense contractor is defined as an entity that has not performed a DoD contract subject to full cost accounting standards coverage for at least one year preceding the solicitation, and the definition expressly includes small business concerns. You must obtain a Unique Entity ID, register in SAM, and register in PIEE before award.
How long is the solution brief and what must it contain?
Unless a specific AoI says otherwise, the solution brief is limited to five single sided pages in 12 point font, or alternatively fifteen briefing slides. It must include a title page, an executive summary, a technology concept section, and a rough order of magnitude price. The title page does not count against the limit, but the other three sections do.
What are the eight Areas of Interest at Sierra Army Depot?
The eight continuously open AoIs are agile and adaptive facilities, advanced manufacturing and maintenance, automation and robotics, logistics and inventory management modernization, airfield maintenance, energy, environmental, and chemical management, public private partnership opportunities, and advanced packaging manufacturing at the point-of-need. The eighth AoI, covering on-site fabrication of crates, pallets, skids, and blocking using non-lumber materials, was added by AoI Amendment 01 dated August 18, 2026.
How long does the evaluation take?
The government will attempt to complete Phase 1 solution brief evaluation within 30 calendar days of the close of the submittal period, and aims to complete Phase 2 pitch evaluation within 30 calendar days of the pitch. Pitch submissions must remain valid for at least 90 days after evaluation, and a Phase 3 proposal must remain valid for at least 120 days from submission.
What happens if my solution brief is good but there is no funding?
If government funding or resources are unavailable for the proposed effort, solution briefs are retained in the ACC-SIAD library rather than discarded. Separately, if funding or resources are not assigned to a Phase 3 proposal within 90 days after pitch evaluation, the government provides a notification of non-eligibility and officially closes that AoI selection process. Retained briefs can be revisited when a funding line materializes.
What kind of contract results from a CSO award?
Contracts or agreements under this authority are fixed price, including fixed price incentive fee. The government intends primarily to award FAR-based contracts under Part 12 commercial item procedures, but reserves the right to award other contract or agreement types depending on the AoI and the industrial base response. Only a Contracting Officer, under FAR 1.602, can enter into or modify a binding contract on behalf of the government.
Is my intellectual property protected?
IP rights are negotiable under this CSO, and you are required to identify any IP involved and any restrictions on government use. Proprietary information must be clearly marked and accompanied by explanatory text to receive protection under 18 U.S.C. Section 1905. Be aware that marking material proprietary precludes disclosure to support contractors assisting the evaluation, which may result in limited or no consideration of that material, so mark only what is genuinely confidential.
Can foreign owned companies submit?
Yes. Foreign owned businesses may submit independently or as part of a teaming arrangement with one or more United States owned businesses. However, the ability to receive a contract or agreement may depend on the foreign owned business obtaining the necessary clearances and approvals to access proscribed information.
Can I skip straight to a full proposal?
Yes. Companies may elect to forgo Phase 1 and Phase 2 and submit a written Commercial Solution Proposal directly, and the government likewise reserves the right to skip phases and request a proposal directly based on individual merit or urgency. For most first time entrants the five page brief is the better path, because it is a low cost way to confirm that a real, funded requirement sits behind the AoI.
Who do I contact about this solicitation?
The Contracting Officer is Ms. Melissa Kaarbo at melissa.m.kaarbo.civ@army.mil, and an additional point of contact is Ms. Kimberly Hunter at kimberly.a.hunter.civ@army.mil. Questions about the objectives or preparation of a solution brief should be directed to the points of contact listed in the respective AoI, and submissions must be made electronically exactly as prescribed in that AoI.
Why the CSO Path Is Worth Your Time
For a deep tech, advanced manufacturing, robotics, or industrial software company, the Sierra Army Depot CSO offers something SBIR does not: a direct route to a fixed price commercial contract with an operating customer, with no dilution, negotiable IP terms, a five page front door, and a decision cycle measured in weeks rather than a twice yearly cycle. The tradeoff is that funding is not guaranteed, which makes the quality and targeting of the first submission the whole game.
BW&CO helps deep tech and dual use founders identify the right Area of Interest, structure a responsive solution brief, price to a fundable scope, and manage the path from brief through pitch to proposal. We have helped clients secure more than $350 million in non-dilutive funding across the Department of Defense, NIH, NSF, NASA, DOE, and ARPA-H. Innovation funding simplified.
If you are evaluating whether your technology fits one of the eight Sierra Army Depot Areas of Interest, contact BW&CO for a fit assessment.
