WASHINGTON — The US Army has released the final version of its request for proposals for the Rifleman Radio, but the service is not aiming at awarding a contract to a single vendor. Rather, it would create a "radio marketplace" for multiple vendors to compete to fill delivery orders as needed.
The solicitation, posted Monday on a government contracting web site, is intended to allow the Army to choose from numerous technologies, and provide it the flexibility to release a new contract in the future to take advantage of improvements in processor power, weight and battery life.
The Army expects this strategy to cut its procurement costs as it modernizes its tactical communications network amid fiscal constraints, according to a news release. The Rifleman Radio is a software-defined handheld radio system used by dismounted soldiers to push data, text, pictures and videos back and forth via the Army's network.
"The full and open competition gives all vendors the opportunity to participate as we work together to deliver the most technologically-advanced and user-friendly radios for soldiers," Col. James P. Ross, project manager for tactical radios, said in the release. "Our goal is to field radios that not only consistently improve their capabilities, but also get simpler for Soldiers to operate."
The solicitation is for an indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract award to multiple vendors, with a five-year base ordering period and an optional five-year period. The award would be in 2015, with radios provided the same year for qualification tests. Full rate production would begin in fiscal 2017.
The Army would award contracts to multiple vendors whose radios it would evaluate in lab tests to see if they meet threshold requirements, and — if successful — operational tests in its Network Integration Evaluation.
The acquisition strategy includes on-ramp opportunities for vendors whose technologies mature after the initial competition and operational tests, according to the Army news release.
Through two low-rate initial production orders, the Army has purchased 21,379 Rifleman Radios from General Dynamics C4 Systems and Thales. Corp. There have been 19,327 radios delivered to date from these contracts, and the Army's total acquisition objective is 193,276.
Rifleman Radios have been fielded to brigade combat teams in the 10th Mountain Division, 101st Airborne Division, 82nd Airborne Division and 1st Armored Division. They have been used to support operations in Afghanistan and other unspecified regions both as a stand-alone capability and to provide connectivity to Nett Warrior devices.
The program is also using a similar multivendor acquisition approach for the vehicle-mounted Manpack radio, with plans plan to release the RFP in the coming months, followed by contract awards and qualification testing. Full-rate production is expected to begin in fiscal 2017.
Email: jgould@gannett.com / Twitter: @reporterjoe
Joe Gould was the senior Pentagon reporter for Defense News, covering the intersection of national security policy, politics and the defense industry. He had previously served as Congress reporter.
