and pass the SIGINT
The Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center in Charleston, SC has issued a pair of indefinite-delivery /indefinite-quantity, cost-plus-incentive-fee, performance-based, multiple-award type contracts for engineering, analytical, technical, and programmatic support services re: the U.S. Army Prophet/Cobra program and project office. Both are one-year contracts with four one-year option periods, with an immediate cumulative value of $103.4 million and a potential cumulative value of $530.5 million.
Prophet, which is being developed under the Army Program Executive Office, Intelligence, Electronic Warfare & Sensors (PEO IEW&S), is is a lightweight tactical signals intelligence and electronic warfare system designed to support the US Army division and brigade forces.
Prophet will be the Army’s primary tactical ground signal intelligence/electronic warfare (SIGINT/EW) platform, and the HMMWV-mounted Prophet also has a dismounted manpack SIGINT version. It operates in stationary mode and on the move, and the 20 feet communications mast is erectable in less than 2 minutes vs. 2-3 hours for legacy systems. According to US military, the Prophet’s frequency coverage is a 10x improvement over current ground-based EW systems.
While the U.S. Marines use separate ground platforms for EW and electronic surveillance, Prophet uses one platform for the full tasking. The Prophet is replacing aging AN/TSQ-138 Trailblazer, AN/TRQ-32 Teammate, AN/TLQ-17A Trafficjam, and the AN/PRD-12 systems, and its procurement program is structured in five Blocks. Blocks IV and V will apply to the US Army Objective Force/Future Combat Systems requirements.
The US Army plans to procure around 80 Prophet Electronic Warfare (EW) systems, whose main contractor is L-3 Communications/Titan. Each division will be equipped with 6 Prophets, cavalry armored regiments will have 4, Stryker-equipped IBCTs will have 3, and independent brigades will have 2 Prophets.
With respect to the current contracts:
* Small business qualifier Applied Marine Technology Inc. in Virginia Beach, VA won a $53 million contract with option periods that, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of the contract to an estimated $271.8 million (N65236-05-D-7862).
& Small business qualifier Gemini Industries Inc. of Billerica, MA won a $50.4 million contract with option periods that, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of the contract to an estimated $258.7 million (N65236-05-D-7863).
The contracts were 100% small business set-aside procurements, advertised through the Commerce Business Daily’s website, FedBizOpps, and the SPAWAR Systems Center e-Commerce website, with three offers received. Work will be performed in Washington, DC (40%); Charleston, SC (20%); Tampa, FL (5%); other CONUS sites (15%); and sites outside the continental US (20%), and is expected to be completed by May 2006.
See also:
* Military Information Technology – Army Goes on the Electronic Attack