Federal Contract Alert: Well 4 PFAS/PFOA Upgrade — DEPT OF DEFENSE.DEPT OF THE AIR FORCE.AIR COMBAT COMMAND.FA4803 20 CONS LGCA

What This Contract Covers

Air Combat Command (ACC) is upgrading groundwater remediation infrastructure at a contaminated site to handle PFAS and PFOA removal. This is heavy civil construction work—excavation, treatment system installation, piping, testing, and likely some geotechnical assessment. The work falls under NAICS 237110 (Water and Sewer Line and Related Structures Construction), which means you're competing against general contractors and specialty environmental/utility builders. The scope is time-limited and project-based, not an indefinite delivery vehicle, so this is one defined job rather than an open-ended task order pool.

Who Can Bid

This is a Total Small Business Set-Aside under FAR 19.5. You must be certified as a small business in NAICS 237110 at the time you submit your proposal. Check your SAM.gov registration to confirm your NAICS assignment and small business status—miscoding here kills bids at the gate. The Air Force procurement office (FA4803, part of ACC) will verify your eligibility before award. If you're anywhere near the size standard for this code ($16.5 million for construction), get documentation ready to prove headcount and revenue if challenged.

Key Deadline and Where to Find Details

Responses are due by September 8, 2026 at 10:00 a.m. Eastern. All solicitation documents live on SAM.gov; search the notice ID or pull the full RFQ from the linked opportunity page. Don't rely on email notifications—log into SAM daily from late August forward because amendments happen and contracting officers sometimes post clarifications in the files section without sending a formal mod. Use GovWin IQ or Bloomberg Government to monitor for any presolicitation activity, past similar awards at this base, and incumbent performance data. ACC has multiple installations doing PFAS work right now; check what pricing and approaches succeeded elsewhere.

How to Approach This Bid

Step 1: Site Visit. Walk the location if possible. PFAS remediation is site-specific; soil conditions, groundwater depth, and existing utilities affect your cost and schedule. The government's geotechnical report (if available) might be buried in the RFQ attachments or you may need to FOIA it afterward.

Step 2: Price the Scope Realistically. Environmental remediation always runs over. Build contingency for unexpected contamination, subsurface conditions, and regulatory delays. Assume the government's schedule is optimistic.

Step 3: Propose Experience. Highlight any past PFAS or water-treatment projects. Key discriminator: past work at Air Force bases or with DoD environmental compliance. If you have none, team with a subcontractor who does.

Competitive Intelligence Takeaway: This is a legitimate small-business set-aside, but confirm whether the incumbent (if there was one) is still eligible. An incumbent small business can re-compete; if they're now large, you have better odds. Check past performance records on CPARS to see if the prior contractor delivered cleanly or had claims.

CMMC & DFARS Compliance Checklist

PFAS remediation work at an Air Force base will almost certainly trigger controlled unclassified information (CUI) requirements. Before you bid:

• CMMC Level: Expect Level 1 (basic hygiene) at minimum. Level 2 is less likely unless site plans or detection data touch classified environmental assessments. Confirm in the RFQ which practices apply.
• DFARS Clauses: Check for 252.204-7012 (Safeguarding Covered Defense Information), 252.204-7019 (DoD Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification), and 252.204-7020 (CMMC Assessment). If any are included, you must either hold a current CMMC certification or budget for a third-party assessment before award.
• SPRS Score: Your Supplier Performance Risk System (SPRS) self-assessment must score acceptably. Low score (green) is a non-issue; any moderate or high designation will draw scrutiny on a small-business set-aside.
• What to Have in Place: A written information security plan, even basic, that addresses how you'll handle site data, reports, and communications. If you're not already CMMC-certified, budget $5,000–$15,000 for a Level 1 assessment and factor that into your bid timeline.

Three Actionable Tips

1. Read the Evaluation Criteria First. Skip the background section; jump to the evaluation factors. If past performance is worth 40 percent and you have none, you're unlikely to win regardless of price. Decide now whether to bid or pass.

2. Get Bonding Capacity Confirmed. Large environmental projects require performance and payment bonds. Contact your surety this week and confirm capacity and cost before you bid. A surety rejection post-award is a deal-killer.

3. Subcontractor Lock-In. If you need environmental engineering or a specialty treatment vendor, get them committed in writing before proposal due date. Late subs proposals or unsigned teaming agreements lose points or are grounds for rejection.

Next Steps

Set a calendar reminder for 72 hours before close to upload your proposal—same-day submissions always have upload errors. Subscribe to GovEdge Weekly to catch other DoD small-business set-asides in your wheelhouse before they hit the radar.