Air Force releases RFI to study COVID-19 impact on operations, investments

The Air Force is starting a new effort to assess the COVID-19 pandemic's long-term impacts on operations and readiness that could affect the service's financial investments.

A request for information the Air Force released May 22 will help come up with a solicitation to potential contractors on behalf of the service's deputy chief of staff for operations, who is overseeing the effort.

The RFI includes a draft performance work statement explaining the study will help "develop an updated [program objective memorandum] and investment decision making process, tying cost to readiness and using data and modeling to prioritize the investments that will most improve readiness over time."

The contractor will also evaluate the Air Force's ability to train and equip the force by studying critical parts of the industrial base, develop tailored readiness recovery plans and assess challenges with the flying hours program.

The study is further intended to build upon prior work supporting the service's "Readiness Pathfinder" initiative, according to the PWS.

Responses are due May 28.