Peter Adam

On May 24, 1844, inventor Samuel Morse sent a telegraph message from the U.S. Capitol to his assistant, Alfred Vail, at a railroad station in Baltimore.  A moment later, Vail telegraphed Morse’s message back –“What hath God wrought?”

Bidders for GTACS II may want to repeat Morse’s words.

Making tactical commo systems combat ready – is a tougher challenge than ever before.  Also this is a highly competitive environment with incumbents like CACI, DRS, GD, Harris, and Lockheed.  The fight for a piece of this $5B contract will be fierce.

Making the GTACS Vision a Reality

Jim Sawall, Product Manager Satellite Communications (PdM SATCOM) explains: “The current GTACS contract, . . . continues to . . . get . . .capability into the hands of the soldiers more rapidly, and we are confident that . . . GTACS II will be able to increase these benefits.”

Sawall’s assessment of GTACS was fleshed out at a recent TechNet Ft. Bragg symposium. Participants included Army user commands, PEO C3T, and industry representatives.

The symposium provided insight into what Army expects going forward. Bidders need to ensure their submissions show an understanding of how the Army brass expect commo systems to improve the expeditionary capabilities of U.S. ground forces.  So bidders…………..listen up!

The Army wants GIs to have technologies on duty as advanced as those they have off post. “The Army is increasing the expeditionary nature of its forces by . . . taking commercial technologies found in the average home today and providing them to the Soldier,” said LTC Joel Babbitt, product manager (PdM) for WIN-T Increment 1.

During the symposium, leaders stressed the importance of reducing size, weight and power (SWaP) for equipment.

Bidders should call out past SWaP efforts, as well as upgrades they can make to infrastructure.  LTC Babbitt provided an example, citing the Win-T Increment 1’s “Slim Fast” effort, which enabled the shedding of 1,000 transit cases.

Improvements in the Air and on the Ground

Another example of system streamlining is integration of network nodes onto the Army’s tactical vehicles. Putting Network Extension nodes onto HUMVEES has improved force responsiveness. And now Tactical Communications Nodes (TCN), have been made installable on lighter platforms — to provide command post connectivity for early entry units.

Bidders should demonstrate how their solutions would build on successes such as these and enhance system capabilities elsewhere.

And, of particular note, the Army considers reach-back capabilities to be really important. As Col. Ed Swanson, PM WIN-T, the Army’s tactical communications network backbone program, stressed, “The key to supporting continuous expeditionary communications is reach back.”

Bids should emphasize – personnel, technologies, R&D, managerial capabilities – to prove they can really deliver the system upgrades the Army wants.

In the Chute, Ready to Drop (Before You Know It)

The final GTACS II solicitation is expected to drop as soon as February.  It is a 5-year, IDIQ FFP, Cost Reimbursement, CPFF deal covering  a wide range of tactical C3T, hardware, software, engineering services, logistics support, test and support.

GTACS II, in brief, is intended to do the following:

  • Provide for support of R&D, production and deployment, sustainment and logistics;
  • Support ground force tactical system requirements;
  • Serve as a one-stop shop for a broad range of hardware and services;
  • Provide for an extended service range, enabling the Army, to spend more efficiently and get capability into the hands of Soldiers quickly.

This last point should be emphasized in proposal submissions.

Time is of the essence.  Winners will have to demonstrate their ability to quickly respond to TOs that could be awarded in 120 days.

Bidders take note! This compressed drawing-board-to-frontlines timeline will be achieved through the following:

  • Documentation standardization processes that can significantly decrease review cycles and
  • A one-team approach to the entire contracting process.

(So addressing these issues is a must.)

Bang for the Buck. As PdM SATCOM Sawall notes, “We’re looking for product innovation to provide the best capability possible for our Soldiers at a competitive price.”

Cutting the Tactical Comm Mustard

Anyway, 30 prime contractors will make the cut.  Roughly a third will be awarded to small business, with a percentage set aside for women / veteran / disadvantaged / underutilized firms.

What the winners will need:

  1. Build a good team
  2. Price to win (PTW) study
  3. Risk management procedures
  4. Strong past performance

Although this is not an LP/TA contract, a tight fisted approach will help.  A best value solution and a winning price will result in an award.