21 août 2020 | International, Aérospatial

The Pentagon can now buy US-made small drones from these five companies

WASHINGTON — Beginning in September, entities across the U.S. Department of Defense will be able to buy small, American-manufactured drones from five select companies, allowing users in the field to quickly and easily gain a bird's eye view of their environment.

A spin-off of U.S. Army efforts to develop a rucksack-packable quadcopter with the Short Range Reconnaissance (SRR) program of record, the Defense Innovation Unit's Blue sUAS effort let's U.S. government customers purchase trusted small Unmanned Aerial Systems (sUAS) that can take off and land vertically. The new drones were developed to comply with Section 848 of the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act, which prohibits the procurement of UAS built in China.

Drone configurations will be available from five manufacturers: Altavian, Parrot, Skydio, Teal, and Vantage Robotics.

“I think the fact that we started a program with a single requirement around an Army effort and were able to scale it across not only all of the services in DoD to include (U.S. Special Operations Command) and the combatant commands as well as the inter-agency federal government partners ― at least to me ― is super exciting,” Chris Bonzagni, a program manager within DIU's autonomy portfolio and an sUAS subject matter expert, told C4ISRNET. “As a former infantryman, having this capability when I was deployed to Iraq would have been a dream come true.”

While Blue sUAS uses the same aerial vehicles as SRR, it offers a vendor-provided ground control system and radio configurations that can be used by customers across DoD and the federal government more broadly. Blue sUAS drones will be available on the GSA schedule starting in September 2020, though DoD entities can also pursue a production contract via Other Transaction Authority, DIU noted in their announcement.

“Blue sUAS represents a tremendous first step toward building a robust and trusted UAS domestic industrial base that ensures sustained delivery of highly-capable, secure UAS to the warfighters that depend on it,” said Michael Kratsios, Acting Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering. “Blue sUAS showcases how we can both work with small, nontraditional companies and our allies and partners to quickly pilot cutting-edge technologies that support our mutual defense.”

The path to Blue sUAS started about two years ago, according to Bonzagni. The Army approached DIU for help adopting commercial quadcopters for use by every platoon. DIU staff walked the Army through their Commercial Solutions Opening process, distilling about 60 pages of requirements to just a page and a half, making them more accessible to commercial companies looking to work with DoD. Those specifications were posted in November 2018, drawing 34 responses from industry. DIU accepted pitches from half of those companies, and ultimately downselected to just six companies five months later in April 2019. Of those six companies, four had never even worked with DoD before.

“Blue sUAS is a great example of DoD acquisition reform by lowering the barrier to entry for non-traditional companies to rapidly iterate shoulder to shoulder with warfighters to deliver highly capable sUAS tailored to mission needs,” said Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment Ellen Lord in a statement.

Under those contracts, DIU worked with those six companies to modify their mature commercial products for broader DoD needs. Among other things, the companies had to incorporate a thermal camera, add a DoD data link, cyber test the drones and ruggedize them for field use.

Midway through development, Congress passed a new requirement in the annual defense policy legislation, prohibiting the operation or procurement of UAS manufactured in China. That effort grounded significant numbers of government drones, said Bonzagni, and there were no suitable U.S.-manufactured alternatives available. While the Army continued to focus on developing a solution specifically for its soldiers through SRR, the new requirement opened up a much broader need across the federal government for U.S.-manufactured sUAS. DIU was able to leverage the Army's investment in SRR and make the technology available for all federal government customers — including organizations that use drones every day like the Bureau of Land Management or the U.S. Geological Survey — as Blue sUAS.

Drones available through Blue sUAS can be assembled in two minutes or less and will have an operational range of over 3 kilometers, flight endurance greater than 30 minutes, and can fly through dust and rain. All products are three pounds or greater. According to Bonzagni, DIU is looking for a pricing range between $7,000 and $15,000 per unit, although the end price point will vary based on configuration.

“While all these offerings were derived from essentially consumer-based [products] ― in some cases toys and some cases fun cameras in the sky — these are sUAS built for work,” explained Matthew Borowski, program manager within DIU's sUAS portfolio and an sUAS subject matter expert. “There really is no consumer offering that has the type of payload package that these drones have on them, including higher resolution thermal cameras [and cameras with seamless zoom].”

https://www.c4isrnet.com/unmanned/2020/08/20/department-of-defense-can-now-buy-us-manufactured-small-drones-from-these-five-companies/

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  • Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - March 25, 2019

    26 mars 2019 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité, Autre défense

    Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - March 25, 2019

    NAVY Gartner Inc., Stamford, Connecticut (N66001-19-A-0049); Forrester Research Inc., Cambridge, Massachusetts (N66001-19-A-0050); and FEDmine LLC, Rockville, Maryland (N66001-19-A-0013), are awarded a multiple-award, firm-fixed-price Department of Defense (DoD) Enterprise Software Initiative (ESI) blanket purchase agreement (BPA) in accordance with the firms' General Services Administration (GSA) Federal Supply Schedule contracts. The overall estimated value of this BPA is $446,000,000. The three individual agreements are awarded in the DoD ESI category of Information Technology (IT) Research and Informative Services. The BPAs will provide commercially available technology in this category for the DoD, U.S. intelligence community, and Coast Guard activities worldwide. The ordering period will be for a maximum of 10 years, and the expected date of completion is March 24, 2029. This BPA is issued under DoD ESI in accordance with the policy and guidelines in the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement, Section 208.74. This BPA will not obligate funds at the time of award. Funds will be obligated as task orders using operations and maintenance (DoD) funds. Requirements will be competed among the awardees in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation 8.403-3(c)(2), and the successful contractor will receive firm-fixed-price orders. This BPA was competitively procured via the GSA E-Buy website among 679 vendors. Three offers were received and three were selected for award. Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific, San Diego, California, is the contracting activity. Austal USA, Mobile, Alabama, is being awarded a $261,776,539 fixed-price-incentive (firm target) modification to previously-awarded contract N00024-19-C-2227 for the detail design and construction (DD&C) of the 13th and 14th Expeditionary Fast Transport (EPF) ships, and to definitize the long-lead-time material undefinitized contract actions for EPFs 13 and 14. This modification will award the DD&C effort for EPF 13 and EPF 14 and definitize and subsume the long-lead-time material undefinitized contract actions for EPFs 13 and 14. Note: the funding obligated covers the DD&C award and also definitizes the UCAs -- which results in a total greater than the face value of the award. The EPF class provides high-speed, shallow-draft transportation capability to support the intra-theater maneuver of personnel, supplies and equipment for the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, and Army. This contract includes options which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this contract to $370,733,399. Work will be performed in Mobile, Alabama (54 percent); Novi, Michigan (13 percent); Fairfax, Virginia (7 percent); Houston, Texas (4 percent); Franklin, Massachusetts (3 percent); New Iberia, Louisiana (3 percent); Kingsford, Michigan (2 percent); Chesapeake, Virginia (2 percent); and Theodore, Alabama (1 percent), with other efforts performed at various locations throughout the United States below one percent (7 percent) and at various locations outside the U.S. below one percent (4 percent). Work is expected to completed by July 2022. Fiscal 2018 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funding in the amount of $134,609,225; and fiscal 2019 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funding in the amount of $161,815,453 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively solicited via the Federal Business Opportunities website, with one offer received. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity. Professional Contract Services Inc., Austin, Texas, is being awarded a $26,684,510 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract modification for the exercise of Option Number Four for base operations support services at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth, Virginia, and its outlying support sites all located in Virginia. The work to be performed provides for all labor, supervision, management, tools, materials, equipment, facilities, transportation, incidental engineering, and other items necessary to provide facilities maintenance and equipment repair services in support of Naval Medical Center Portsmouth and its outlying support sites. After award of this option, the total cumulative contract value will be $120,671,131. Work will be performed in Portsmouth, Virginia. This option period is from April 2019 to March 2020. No funds will be obligated at time of award. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance, (Navy) contract funds in the amount of $24,334,266 for recurring work will be obligated on individual task orders issued during the option period. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Mid-Atlantic, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity (N62470-15-D-4009). Insitu Inc., Bingen, Washington, is being awarded a $17,452,196 firm-fixed-price delivery order (N6833519F0434) against a previously issued basic ordering agreement (N68335-16-G-0046). This order provides for technical services, training, site survey and activation teams, and program management to sustain and support ScanEagle unmanned aerial vehicle sites in Afghanistan. Work will be performed in Afghanistan (95 percent); and Bingen, Washington (5 percent), and is expected to be completed in March 2020. Fiscal 2019 Afghan Security Forces funds in the amount of $17,452,196 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Lakehurst, New Jersey, is the contracting activity. Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Annapolis, Maryland, is being awarded a $10,242,891 firm-fixed-price and cost-plus-fixed-fee modification to a previously awarded contract (N61331-15-D-0011) to exercise options for the accomplishment of depot level repair, maintenance, and modifications of the AN/AQS-24 Mine Detecting System to support the Navy for the currently deployed airborne mine countermeasures legacy systems. Northrop Grumman Undersea Systems will provide depot repairs and incorporation of engineering change proposals, including the updates of all integrated logistics support documentation to support the conversions and sustainment. Work will be performed in Annapolis, Maryland, and is expected to be completed by April 2020. No funding will be obligated at time of award. Naval Surface Warfare Center, Panama City Division, Panama City, Florida is the contracting activity. ARMY Acrow Corp. of America,* Parsippany, New Jersey (W56HZV-19-D-0061); and Mabey Bridge Ltd., Gloucestershire, United Kingdom (W56HZV-19-D-0062), will compete for each order of the $250,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract for wet and dry gap line of communication bridges. Bids were solicited via the internet with two received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of March 25, 2022. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Warren, Michigan, is the contracting activity. Avon Protection Systems Inc., Cadillac, Michigan, was awarded a $245,961,250 firm-fixed-price contract for production of M53A1 Chemical Biological Protective Mask systems. One bid was solicited with one bid received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of March 24, 2024. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, is the contracting activity (W911SR-19-D-0005). South Carolina Commission for the Blind, Columbia, South Carolina, was awarded an $186,580,917 firm-fixed-price contract for full food services at Fort Jackson, South Carolina. Bids were solicited via the internet with seven received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of March 21, 2024. U.S. Army Mission and Installation Contracting Command, Fort Sam Houston, Texas, is the contracting activity (W9124J-19-D-0008). American Ordnance LLC, Middletown, Iowa, was awarded an $89,418,245 modification (P00022) to contract W15QKN-15-C-0044 for the acquisition of M918E1 40mm High Velocity Target Practice – Day/Night/Thermal (HV TP-DNT) – cartridge. Work will be performed in Middletown, Iowa; Coachella, California; Radford, Virginia; Santa Margarita, California; O'Fallon, Missouri; Lynchburg, Virginia; Mountainside, New Jersey; and St. Bonaparte, Iowa, with an estimated completion date of Nov. 30, 2021. Fiscal 2017, 2018 and 2019 other procurement, Army funds in the amount of $89,418,245 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, New Jersey, is the contracting activity. Alta Via Consulting LLC,* Loudon, Tennessee, was awarded a $22,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract for cost management services. Bids were solicited via the internet with one received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of March 28, 2024. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, is the contracting activity (W91CRB-19-D-0018). Advance Technology Solutions,* Augusta, Georgia, was awarded a $14,530,927 firm-fixed-price contract for services in the areas of military personnel actions, records processing and management, personnel manning, casualty management, transition and separations processing, personnel information systems management, and administrative processing of soldiers. Bids were solicited via the internet with 12 received. Work will be performed in Fort Gordon, Georgia, with an estimated completion date of May 1, 2025. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance, Army funds in the amount of $1,355,849 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Mission and Installation Contracting Command, Fort Gordon, Georgia, is the contracting activity (W91249-18-C-0005). DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY General Dynamics Mission Systems Inc., Taunton, Massachusetts, has been awarded a maximum $92,900,000 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for the Warfighter Information Network-Tactical Increment 1 system. This was a sole-source acquisition using justification 10 U.S. Code 2304 (c)(1), as stated in Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1. This is a five-year contract with no option periods. Location of performance is Massachusetts, with a March 24, 2024, performance completion date. Using military service is Army. 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The Defense Health Agency, Falls Church, Virginia, is the contracting activity. *Small business https://dod.defense.gov/News/Contracts/Contract-View/Article/1794949/

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