Bidders Seen Lining Up for $3B DOD Contract for AI-Powered Indo-Pacific ISR Capabilities

Eight contractors are expected to compete for a multiyear, $3 billion Department of Defense contract to procure commercial data and artificial intelligence-driven analytics services for monitoring Indo-Pacific threats. 

The capabilities will be procured under the DOD’s Long-Range Enterprise Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Activity program on information processing from platforms on the ground, in the air and space. The Special Operations Command Pacific, which supports the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, is coordinating the LEIA program, SpaceNews reported Friday.

The LEIA contract solicitation is a full and open competition expected to be awarded later in 2024. HigherGov, an intelligence provider for the government contracting market, named Leidos, SAIC, Peraton, General Dynamics, Microsoft, CACI, Booz Allen Hamilton and Accenture as the eight potential LEIA bidders. 

Military use of AI-powered data analytics is already ongoing in a U.S. Space Force pilot program dubbed Tactical Surveillance, Reconnaissance and Tracking. It has awarded contracts worth a total of $8 million to 30 commercial data and analytics vendors to provide rapid intelligence and data insights to various commands through the web-based Global Data Marketplace.