The Air Force has pushed back the deadline for industry to submit bids for its new ground-based radar system by two weeks to accommodate work restrictions caused by the COVID-19 coronavirus.
The service released a request for proposals March 2 for the Three-Dimensional Expeditionary Long-Range Radar (3DELRR) “SpeedDealer” program, with responses originally due back April 1 (Defense Daily, March 6). On Monday, the service updated its solicitation to extend the deadline to April 15.
“The Government will be extending the proposal due date to 15 April 2020 at 3 PM Eastern Standard Time (EST),” the updated solicitation said. “The Government is now allowing electronic proposal submission and paper copies of the proposal are no longer required.”
The Air Force earlier this year canceled its original $71.8 million Engineering and Manufacturing Development (EMD) SpeedDealer contract with Raytheon [RTN] due to numerous technical and supplier issues that caused schedule delays.
It intends to award up to three prototype Other Transaction Agreements of up to $500,000 for the companies to demonstrate their solutions, which could then lead to a follow-on production agreement for up to 35 systems. Northrop Grumman [NOC] announced its intent to compete earlier this month, while spokespeople for Lockheed Martin [LMT] have said the company is evaluating the opportunity. Raytheon has declined to comment on whether it intends to pursue the new contract.
As of March 22 at 9 p.m., the Air Force reported 64 positive COVID-19 cases among its ranks, including 34 military members, 13 civilians, five contractors and 12 dependents.