This Request for Information (RFI) is issued for informational and market research purposes only in accordance with RFO (Revolutionary FAR Overhaul) Part 10. It does not constitute a solicitation, a Request for Proposal (RFP), or a promise to issue RFP in the future. The Government will not reimburse any company or individual for expenses associated with preparing or submitting information in response to this RFI. The information provided may be used by the U.S. Air Force in developing its acquisition strategy, Statement of Work (SOW), and performance specifications. Interested parties are responsible for adequately marking proprietary or competition-sensitive information.
BACKGROUND / DESCRIPTION
The United States Air Force (USAF) operates a fleet of MH-139A aircraft for security and support missions. The aircraft is primarily used for security and transportation patrols across extensive intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) fields, while supporting search and rescue missions, and personnel/cargo transport. The aircraft platform is a commercial Leonardo AW139 helicopter modified by Boeing for military use. The existing fleet is twenty-six (26) aircraft with approximately thirty (30) additional aircraft planned in production. The fleet is disseminated at six (6) CONUS AFB locations.
SCOPE OF REQUIRED CAPABILITIES
The Air Force Materiel Command (AFMC) is seeking information from industry sources on the potential capability to provide Contractor Logistics Support (CLS) Services for the MH-139A (Grey Wolf) helicopter platform. The information provided by industry responders will be used to assess logistical support capability from contractors in the marketplace to assist the United States Government (USG) in refining its acquisition strategy as the MH-139A fleet transitions from its current Interim Contractor Support (ICS) and Interim Supply Support (ISS) postures to continued sustainment.
The functional areas include, but are not limited to the list below:
- Material Acquisitions
- Purchasing Management Support for Helicopter Rotable/Repairable Assets, Parts, and major Line Replaceable Units (LRUs) (e.g., engines, main gearboxes): Manage high-value components that can be physically repaired and reused rather than thrown away as well as disposable items that may or may not have a life limit.
- Purchasing Management Support for Consumable/Expendable Support: Manage a consumables program of parts as well as sourcing “one-time use” items required for daily maintenance.
- Purchasing Management Support for Test and Support Equipment: Procuring the specialized tools, stands, and calibration equipment necessary to test aircraft systems and to perform depot-level maintenance.
- Procurement Planning: Execute timely, "just-in-time" procurement of scheduled maintenance materials to ensure parts are on hand prior to the commencement of heavy inspection events, minimizing aircraft downtime.
- Inventory Management
- Inventory Stores Management: Operating the physical warehouse on base, tracking stock levels, and ensuring parts are ready for immediate issue to the flightline.
- Tool Crib Support Management: Manage and track check-in/check-out tooling usage for daily maintenance activity.
- Spares Management and APSR Integration: Maintain 100% floor-to-ceiling accountability of all Government Furnished Property (GFP) and spares using an approved DoD Accountable Property System of Record (APSR) (e.g., ELMS) that provides Total Asset Visibility (TAV) to the Government.
- Support Equipment (SE) Transition: Execute a 100% joint inventory, resolve discrepancies, and manage the physical relocation of all SE and tooling from incumbent facilities to operational bases, while maintaining strict calibration (AFMETCAL) and diagnostic software version control.
- FIAR and Accountability: Ensure strict adherence to Financial Improvement and Audit Readiness (FIAR) guidance by sustaining verifiable audit trails for all asset lifecycle transactions, enabling accurate financial valuation, and supporting independent audits to guarantee total operational accountability."
- Maintenance Management
- Heavy (Depot Level) Maintenance Management
- Unscheduled / Time Inspection Events
- Unscheduled Hourly Inspection Events: Inspections triggered strictly by aircraft flight hours
- Depot Flow Plan (DFP): Develop, maintain, and execute a comprehensive Depot Flow Plan (DFP) detailing aircraft retrofit and modification schedules to be coordinated with the SPO.
- Over and Above (O&A) Management: Possess a structured process to identify, document, estimate, and execute O&A repairs for unprogrammed work (e.g., severe corrosion or structural defects) discovered during inspections.
- Analytical Condition Inspections (ACI): Integrate structured ACI activities into planned depot work to foreclose structural integrity risks.
- Depot component Level Maintenance Management
- Scheduled / Time Inspection Events
- Maintainers must proactively execute TCTOs and engineering directives. Maintainers must also submit, respond to, and resolve technical requests, coordinating directly with Field Service Representatives and OEM engineers as required.
- Scheduled Hourly Inspection Events: Inspections triggered strictly by aircraft flight hours
- Modifications, Technical Order/Engineering Order event activity: Physically installing hardware/software upgrades or safety modifications on the aircraft flightline
- Depot-level repair actions must comply with directed TCTOs and engineering dispositions.
- Heavy (Depot Level) Maintenance Management
- Unscheduled / Time Inspection Events
- Unscheduled Hourly Inspection Events: Inspections triggered strictly by aircraft flight hours
- Reliability and Engineering Data Analysis: The contractor shall establish a robust data analytics program to provide the Government with full transparency into component lifecycle health. This includes conducting continuous Failure Modes, Effects, and Criticality Analysis (FMECA) and providing detailed maintenance shop data. The contractor must generate and report true Reliability, Availability, and Maintainability (RAM) metrics (e.g., Mean Time Between Failure [MTBF], Mean Time To Repair [MTTR]) for both the airframe and individual components
- Component Depot Level Maintenance Activity
- Repair Order Management – Outsourcing Service Orders
- Component Warranty Management
- Component Modifications Programs
- Airworthiness Directives, TCTOs, Service Bulletins, Service Information Letters: Monitoring and implementing FAA, OEM, or military airworthiness alerts to ensure the aircraft remains legally certified to fly.
- Contract Field Team
- Provide CFTs for tasks requiring shop facilities, tooling, support equipment, processes beyond organizational level capability technical manuals, and/or personnel of higher technical skills.
- Field Team Logistics: For all CFT deployments, the contractor shall be solely responsible for coordinating all personnel requirements, scheduling work, obtaining workspace, securing base access/clearances, and provisioning all required tools and Support Equipment.
- Engineering Support
- OEM Engineering Reach-Back and Data Currency: The contractor shall establish and maintain a direct line of communication and authorized data exchange with the Type Certificate (TC) holder (Leonardo).
- Technical Order and Engineering Order Management
- STC Management
- Deficiency Report Analysis and Investigation
- Health and Usage Monitoring Systems (HUMS): The contractor shall utilize aircraft diagnostic data (e.g., from HUMS/HELIWISE systems) to actively review fleet health, predict component degradation, and recommend proactive or unscheduled maintenance prior to catastrophic failure.
- Reliability and Maintainability Management Program (RAMMP): Manage a formal RAMMP in accordance with the Life Cycle Sustainment Plan (LCSP) to address, track, and correct R&M problems. This includes providing analysis to the SPO to help prioritize product improvements and tracking the implementation of all approved modifications by individual tail number.
- Technical Publications and Documentation: Demonstrate authorized access to, and the authority to use, all OEM proprietary technical data, drawings, maintenance manuals, and engineering dispositions necessary to perform the 1200-hour and four-year inspections on the AW139/MH-139A platform.
- OEM Portal and Technical Data Reach-Back: The contractor must secure and maintain direct, authorized access into Leonardo's customer portal (Wingman Portal) to download and manage the distribution of all technical publications, including Service Bulletins, Service Information Letters, manual maintenance revisions, and Flight Manuals. This includes access to Interactive Electronic Technical Publications (IETP) and a regular summary of IETP changes. The contractor must also possess a clear process to receive and propose updates to Flight Manuals based on changing military operational profiles.
- Sustainment/Obsolescence Program:
- PMA Management
- DER/ODA Management
- DMSMS monitoring, surveillance, and mitigation
- Parts Development and Redesign Program for Obsolescence Items
- Obsolescence Working Group (OWG): Provide active representation to the program's OWG to assess supply chain risks, react to obsolescence challenges, and evaluate alternate part sourcing.
- Spares Requirements Review Board (SRRB) for the replenishment of the sustainment of spares. This excludes all initial spares.
- Personnel and Certifications: Personnel should hold appropriate FAA certifications (e.g., A&P licenses) and possess at least five years of experience with this specific airframe or comparable complex, commercial-derivative rotary-wing platforms."
- Implement robust workforce management plan addressing recruitment, retention, and succession planning to ensure long-term program stability and minimize turnover risk.
- Possess the capability to provide familiarization and over-the-shoulder training to Government personnel, as required, on specific maintenance procedures or contractor-managed logistics systems.
- Supply Chain and Logistics: Supply Chain and Logistics: Demonstrate a robust supply chain management system for sourcing, stocking, and managing the repair of all assets, including major Line Replaceable Units (LRUs) and engines. This system must utilize historical fleet data to conduct advanced supply modeling and predictive data analysis, actively forecast failure rates, plan/schedule maintenance events, and ensure parts are prepositioned to support complex troubleshooting and repair actions.
- Predictive Logistics and Consumption Tracking: Demonstrate a robust supply chain management system for sourcing, stocking, and managing the repair of all assets. The contractor must utilize historical fleet data to conduct advanced supply modeling. Crucially, the contractor must track and report both component failure rates AND true consumption rates to prevent obscured sustainment costs. This data must be actively used to plan/schedule maintenance events and ensure parts are prepositioned to support complex troubleshooting and repair actions.
- Cybersecurity Risk Management Framework: manage all aspects of cybersecurity in accordance with DoDI 8510.01. This includes obtaining and maintaining a platform level Authority to Operate.
- Facility and Quality Certifications:
- Part 145 Repair Station: The contractor's facilities performing heavy maintenance, depot-level component repair, and major inspections shall be certified in accordance with 14 CFR Part 145.
- Part 142 Training Center: Contractor personnel operating and supporting simulator training devices shall follow quality and instructional standards commensurate with 14 CFR Part 142.
INFORMATION REQUESTED FROM INTERESTED PARTIES
Interested parties are requested to provide a capability statement addressing the following items. Please limit your response to no more than ten fifteen (15) pages.
- Company Information:
- Company Name, Address, and Website
- Point of Contact (Name, Title, Email, Phone)
- CAGE Code and Unique Entity ID (UEI)
- Financial System Capability: Confirm your organization's capability to invoice and process payments electronically via the Government's mandated Wide Area Workflow (WAWF) / Procurement Integrated Enterprise Environment (PIEE) system.
- Business Size Status under NAICS 488190 (e.g., Small Business, 8(a), Woman-Owned, etc.)
- Business Size Status under NAICS Code 336413 (Aircraft Manufacturing), with a size standard of 1,500 employees. Please self-certify for all applicable categories:
- Small Business (Yes/No)
- Woman-Owned Small Business (WOSB) (Yes/No)
- HUBZone Certified (Yes/No)
- Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) (Yes/No)
- Company Ownership (Domestic or Foreign-owned).
Capability Narrative Technical Capability, Logistics, and Sustainment:
- Provide a detailed narrative describing your company's ability to meet the requirements outlined in Section 3.0.
- Describe your facility, its size, location, and the specific strategic business unit of your organization that possesses the logistics support activity; please detail if any experience is on Leonardo helicopters.
- Explain the basis of your authority to access and use OEM proprietary engineering data, diagnostic software, and technical documentation.
- Describe the training, certifications, and experience level of your technical workforce as it relates to this airframe.
- Facility Certifications: Describe your organization's FAA certifications. Specifically, detail your status as a 14 CFR Part 145 Certified Repair Station and your experience operating in compliance with 14 CFR Part 142 Training Center standards.
- Describe your company's process for managing the supply chain for a major inspection event.
- RAM Metrics and Consumption Analytics: Describe your capability to perform FMECA and generate accurate RAM metrics (MTBF, MTTR). Specifically, how will your organization track and report true component consumption rates to the Government, distinct from standard failure rates, to ensure full transparency of sustainment costs?
Past Performance and Relevant Experience: Provide a brief summary of up to three (3) relevant contracts from the past five (5) years where your company provided depot-level maintenance or comparable heavy inspections on complex rotary-wing aircraft. Experience on the Leonardo AW139 is highly preferred. Include contract numbers, customer, period of performance, and a brief description of the work performed.
SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS
- Responses shall not exceed 15 pages (single-sided, 12-point font).
- Submit responses electronically by 3:00 PM Eastern Time on [10/01/2026].
- Mark all proprietary information clearly. Unmarked information will be considered publicly releasable. Be advised that government-contracted support personnel may handle submissions under non-disclosure agreements.
- Prospective contractors must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) at https://www.sam.gov.
