IC Technology & Surveillance — 2026-05-11

NGA Releases Astrea Geospatial Intelligence Platform RFP

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency released the Astrea RFP on May 8 through the Acquisition Center of Excellence's Classified Acquisition Research Center, according to SAM.gov. The solicitation covers measurement of surface optical properties and bulk properties of materials, development of models that generate material signatures of interest, and curation of material databases produced by outside organizations. The RFP explicitly excludes software development, software maintenance, and exploitation activities. Questions must reach contracting officers Joseph Cloft and Kelvin Chau by 2:00 p.m. Eastern on May 22, with proposals due by 2:00 p.m. Eastern on June 26.

Analysis
The Astrea solicitation positions NGA to build a centralized spectral signature library, measuring surface optical and bulk material properties, developing predictive signature models, and ingesting external databases, as foundational data-layer work feeding multi-domain GEOINT collection. The explicit exclusion of software development and exploitation activities separates this effort from downstream analytical tools NGA either already operates or is acquiring elsewhere. That exclusion may instead reflect an existing vehicle already covering those functions, making Astrea a targeted insert into a larger contracted framework rather than a new program's leading edge. NGA is unlikely to award within 12 months, per a single SAM.gov-sourced acquisition notice: proposals close June 26, and classified evaluations of this technical complexity rarely conclude in under six months.

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NGA releases Astrea RFP - Intelligence Community News