The Army has initiated its full and open competition to procure additional quantities of the Rifleman Radio that provides wireless networking communications to individual soldiers.
A draft Request for Proposals (RFP) was posted Aug. 16 on the Federal Business Opportunities website: www.fbo.gov, seeking potential radio solutions from industry.
The draft RFP will be followed by an unclassified informational industry day now scheduled for for Sept. 5 at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md. The release of the RFP will follow.
A contract award is expected in Fiscal Year 2014.
The Rifleman Radio will be a standalone, handheld, one channel radio, software defined radio to support real-time, intra-squad communications to be employed worldwide in both hostile and non-hostile environments and in a variety of terrain and climatic conditions.
The AN/PRC-154 Rifleman Rifleman Radio is jointly developed and manufactured by General Dynamics [GD] and Thales Communication, which are expected to compete as are a number of companies that have been preparing for the competition, to include Harris [HRS] and ITT Exelis [XLS].
The Army intends the competition to decrease costs, drive down the size weight and power (SWaP) and increase overall system function for the soldiers.
“The Rifleman Radio is a key component of enabling our soldiers from the small unit level down to the individual dismounted soldier–especially in austere environments,” said Col. Ryss Wygal, Army project manager for Tactical Radios. “We absolutely encourage all vendors to participate and look forward to seeing the new and innovative ways they can meet this vital network requirement.”
The Army intends to award a single contractor a five-year indefinite-delivery, indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract. The approach was developed based on the current and future fiscal environment and the government’s desire to minimize overall program costs, while increasing capability for the soldier.
Procuring the radios from a single vendor is expected to allow the Army to achieve lower costs per unit, based on economies of scale, the service said, as well as lower life cycle costs related to fielding, training, maintaining and sustaining one form factor of radio instead of several different models.
Following the initial competitive contract award, to promote further innovation and technical refresh, the Army plans a follow-on competition within the next three to five years for the next generation of the radio.
The Rifleman Radio is part of the Handheld, Manpack, Small Form Fit (HMS) program. It is carried by platoon, squad and team level soldiers and provides voice communications. It can also connect with end user devices to transmit text messages, GPS locations and other data.
The Soldier Radio Waveform (SRW) allows the radios to form a mobile, ad-hoc network that connects lower echelon soldiers to one another and back to their leaders at the company level so they can rapidly exchange information.
The Rifleman Radio has been fielded to two brigade combat teams (BCT) of the 10th Mountain Division as part of Capability (CS) Set 13. The 4th BCT, 10th Mountain Div. is now using the radios to communicate in support of its advice-and-assist mission in Afghanistan. Two BCTs of the 101st Airborne Division will also receive Rifleman Radios as part of CS 13.
To date, the HMS program has been authorized to buy 19,327 Rifleman Radios through Low Rate Initial Production orders from the original program of record vendor.
The full-rate production phase will support production and fielding of the Rifleman Radio along with enhanced capability for future capability sets.
The competition will include technical and field tests of the industry-proposed solutions so the Army can assess the effectiveness, suitability, survivability, and reliability of each radio technology.
Additionally, the Army is preparing to conduct a full and open competition for the Manpack radio, also part of the HMS program, with a contract award expected in Fiscal Year 2014.
“Our Soldiers deserve the best radios we can provide them,” Wygal said. “A competitive approach will ensure that we continue to procure improved products, and do it in a way that makes smart business sense for the Army.”