AFWERX Challenge Commercial Solutions Opening (CSO)
Contract Overview
Solicitation details, issuing organization, response deadlines, documents, and interested companies for this government contract opportunity.
AI Contract Overview
The AFWERX Challenge Commercial Solutions Opening (CSO), solicitation FA2280-23-S-C001, is an open-ended framework designed to foster innovation between the Department of the Air Force and industry, academia, and non-traditional contributors. This CSO serves as an umbrella for multiple competitive calls aimed at closing capability gaps through a three-spiral process consisting of initial submissions, oral demonstrations, and full commercial solution proposals. Awards may be issued as FAR Part 12 fixed-price contracts or Other Transaction agreements, with the potential for follow-on production contracts. The program is governed by Section 803 of the National Defense Authorization Act for FY2022 and utilizes a trade-off evaluation process based on relevance, technical merit, innovation, integration potential, scalability, and impact. Key active challenges under this CSO include the Agile Combat Employment (ACE) initiatives, such as the Common Aviation Support Equipment Challenge for mobile maintenance tools and the Expedient Basing Challenge for rapid deployment in austere environments. Other specialized calls include the Air-to-Air Refueling Mechanism (A2RM) Digital Design Challenge for platform-agnostic fuel transfer, the UAS Power Generation Challenge for large group 4-5 unmanned aircraft systems, and the Super Goggle Digital Design Challenge for high-fidelity synthetic flight training. Performance for these initiatives is centered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with contracting administration handled in Dayton, Ohio. All offerors must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) and possess a Unique Entity ID (UEI) to be eligible for award.
General Info
Agency
Place of Performance
Minneapolis, MN, USASet-Aside
Timeline
Response Deadline
Organization & Contact Information
Full Description
This CSO is for the AFWERX Challenge Program. Individual Calls against the CSO will be posted under this notice, as well as afwerxchallenge.com.
08/05/2025: Updated Attachment for FA2280-23-S-C001 001 ACE Common Aviation Support Equipment Challenge
- Updated Attachment "07.29.2025 ACE Common Aviation Support Equipment Challenge" supersedes previously posted attachment titled “02.27.2023 A2RM ACE Common Aviation Support Equipment Challenge”. A summary of changes is included in the BLUF.
08/05/2025: Updated Attachment for FA2280-23-S-C001 005 A2RM Design Challenge
- Updated Attachment "08.05.2025 A2RM Design Challenge" supersedes previously posted attachment titled “01.24.2024 A2RM Design Challenge Update”. A summary of changes is included in the BLUF.
08/05/2025: Updated attachment for FA2280-23-S-C001-003 UAS Power Generation Challenge
- Updated attachment "07.29.2025 UAS Power Generation Challenge" supersedes previously posted attachment titled "07.19.2023 UAS Power Generation Challenge". A summary of changes is included in the BLUF.
08/05/2025: Updated attachment for FA2280-23-S-C001-004 Expedient Basing Part 2 Challenge"
- Updated attachment "07.29.2025 Expedient Basing Challenge Part 2” supersedes previously posted attachment titled "07.11.2023 Expedient Basing Challenge Part 2". A summary of changes is included in the BLUF.
8/05/2025: Updated Attachment for FA2280-23-S-C001 006 Super Goggles Challenge
- Updated Attachment "07.29.2025 Super Goggles Challenge" supersedes previously posted attachment titled "05.01.2024 Super Goggles Challenge ". A summary of changes is included in the BLUF.
08/05/2025: Updated Attachment for FA2280-23-S-C001 002 Expedient Basing Challenge
- Updated attachment "07.29.2025 Expedient Basing Challenge" supersedes previously posted attachment titled "01.15.2025 Expedient Basing Challenge." A summary of changes is included in the BLUF.
01/15/2025: Updated Attachment for FA2280-23-S-C001 002 Expedient Basing Challenge
- Updated attachment "01.15.2025 Expedient Basing Challenge" supersedes previously posted attachment titled "07.20.2023 Expedient Basing Challenge." Updates in document contained in Government Contracting Terms and Conditions.
05/01/2024: Updated Attachment for FA2280-23-S-C001 006 Super Goggles Challenge
- Updated Attachment "05.01.2024 Super Goggles Challenge" supersedes previously posted attachment. This document updates the non-Government personnel and removes Spiral 1 Networking Opportunities.
03/12/2024: FA2280-23-S-C001-006 Super Goggles Challenge
- This Call is issued under the CSO.
- All details regarding submission and evaluation criterion are provided in the attached document titled "03.15.2024 Super Goggles Challenge"
- https://afwerxchallenge.com/emergingtechnology/mixed-reality-xr-super-goggle-challenge/overview
01/24/2024: Updated Attachment for FA2280-23-S-C001 005 A2RM Design Challenge
- Updated Attachment "01.24.2024 A2RM Design Challenge Update" supersedes previously posted attachment. Updates to the non-Government personnel provided in this update.
11/29/2023: Updated Attachment for FA2280-23-S-C001 005 A2RM Design Challenge
- Updated attachment "11.29.2023 A2RM Design Challenge Update 3" supersedes previously posted attachment titled “11-20-2023 A2RM Design Challenge Update.” Please note the due date is extended to 01.04.2023.
11/21/2023: Updated Attachments for FA2280-23-S-C001 005 A2RM Design Challenge
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Updated attachment “11-20-2023 A2RM Design Challenge Update2” supersedes previously posted attachments titled "11.06.2023 A2RM Design Challenge Update" and "10.23.2023 A2RM Design Challenge."
11/06/2023: Updated Attachments for FA2280-23-S-C001 005 A2RM Design Challenge
- Updated attachment "11.06.2023 A2RM Design Challenge Update" supersedes previously posted attachment titled "10.23.2023 A2RM Design Challenge."
10/23/2023: FA2280-23-S-C001-005 Air to Air Refueling Mechanism (A2RM) Digital Design Challenge
- This Call is issued under the CSO.
- All details regarding submission and evaluation criterion are provided in the attached document titled "10.23.2023 A2RM Design Challenge"
- https://afwerxchallenge.com/air-to-airrefueling/air-to-air-refueling-mechanism-a2rm-digital-design-challenge/overview
07/20/2023: Updated Attachment for FA2280-23-S-C001 002 Expedient Basing Challenge
- Updated attachment "07.20.2023 Expedient Basing Challenge" supersedes previously posted attachment titled "06.22.2023 Expedient Basing Challenge." Updates in document contained in Government Contracting Terms and Conditions.
07/19/2023: Updated Attachments for FA2280-23-S-C001 CSO and FA2280-23-S-C001 003 UAS Power Generation Challenge
- Updated attachment "AFWERX Challenges CSO FINAL 07.19.2023" supersedes previously posted attachment titled "AFWERX Challenges CSO FINAL 02.24.2023." Updates in document contained in Sections 5.5.5.1 and 5.8.
- Updated attachment "07.19.2023 UAS Power Generation Challenge" supersedes previously posted attachment titled "06.01.2023 UAS Power Generation Challenge." Updates in document contained in Government Contracting Terms and Conditions.
07/11/2023: FA2280-23-S-C001-004 Expedient Basing Part 2 Challenge
- This Call is issued under the CSO.
- All details regarding submission and evaluation criterion are provided in the attached document titled "07.11.2023 Expedient Basing Challenge Part 2"
- https://afwerxchallenge.com/expedientbasing/expedient-basing-challenge-focus-areas-4-5/overview
06/22/2023: Updated attachment for FA2280-23-S-C001 002 Expedient Basing Challenge
- Updated attachment "06.22.2023 Expedient Basing Challenge" supersedes previously posted attachment titled "05.30.2023 Expedient Basing Challenge" in order to update and extend the Spiral 1 submission due date.
06/01/2023: Updated attachment for FA2280-23-S-C001-003 UAS Power Generation Challenge
- Updated attachment "06.01.2023 UAS Power Generation Challenge" supersedes previously posted attachment titled "05.31.2023 UAS Power Generation Challenge."
- Website link updated to: https://afwerxchallenge.com/uaspower/uas-power-challenge_265/overview
05/31/2023: FA2280-23-S-C001-003 UAS Power Generation Challenge
- This Call is issued under the CSO.
- All details regarding submission and evaluation criterion are provided in the attached document titled "05.31.2023 UAS Power Generation Challenge"
- http://www.afwerxchallenge.com/uaspower/uas-power-challenge/overview
05/30/2023: Updated attachment provided for FA2280-23-S-C001-002 Expedient Basing Challenge
- Updated attachment document titled "05.30.2023 Expedient Basing Challenge.pdf" supersedes previously posted attachment titled "05.25.2023 Expedient Basing Challenge.pdf"
05/25/2023: FA2280-23-S-C001-002 Expedient Basing Challenge
- This Call is issued under the CSO.
- All details regarding submission and evaluation criterion are provided in the attached document titled "05.25.2023 Expedient Basing Challenge.pdf"
- https://afwerxchallenge.com/expedientbasing/expedient-basing-challenge/overview
02/27/2023: FA2280-23-S-C001-001 Agile Combat Employment (ACE) Aviation Support Equipment Challenge
- This Call is issued under the CSO.
- All details regarding submission and evaluation criterion are provided in the attached document titled "02.27.2023 ACE Common Aviation Support Equipment Challenge.pdf"
- https://afwerxchallenge.com/operationaleffectiveness/ace-common-aviation-support-challenge
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