REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. – Eight U.S. defense companies will share $3 billion over the next nine years to help the U.S. Army rapidly develop and test prototype technologies for space, high altitude, and missile-defense capabilities.
Officials of the Army Contracting Command at Redstone Arsenal, Ala., announced eight contracts collectively worth $3.04 billion Thursday as part of the Design, Development, Demonstration, and Integration, Domain-One (D3I Domain 1) project.
The Army Contracting Command awarded the contracts on behalf of the Army Space and Missile Defense Command at Redstone Arsenal, Ala.
"D3I supports the command's mission to advance space, missile defense, and high altitude capabilities for the Army, the Department of Defense, and other government agencies," says Diane Whitmore, chief of the Army Space and Missile Defense Command's acquisition support office.
The D3I Domain 1 contractors announced Thursday are:
-- BAE Systems Technology Solutions and Services in Rockville, Md.;
-- Dynetics Inc. in Huntsville, Ala.;
-- Kbrwyle Technology Solutions LLC in Columbia, Md.;
-- Northrop Grumman Technical Services Inc. in Herndon, Va.;
-- QWK Integrated Solutions LLC in Huntsville, Ala.;
-- Raytheon Co. in Tewksbury, Mass.;
-- Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC) in McLean, Va.; and
-- Teledyne Brown Engineering Inc. in Huntsville, Ala.
Related: Army seeks to upgrade or replace Patriot missile-defense radar system
The D3I Domain 1 contracts will enhance the Army Space and Missile Defense Command mission by contractually supporting the command's efforts to design, develop, demonstrate, and integrate space, high altitude, and missile-defense products, Army officials say.
The Army Space and Missile Defense Command uses the D3I program to research and develop hardware and software not only for space, high altitude, and missile-defense, but also for information integration and data exploitation and enhanced warfighter capabilities.
"The D3I program will reduce acquisition cycle times for contract actions for the command ... by reducing the procurement lead times," Whitmore says. Contracts for the D3I Domains 2 and 3 were awarded in February 2016 and December 2015.
"We have numerous task orders in the pipeline planned for award," Whitmore says. Each D3I Domain 1 contract carries a 5-year base ordering period and two consecutive 2-year options.
The Army D3I program seeks to develop a flexible and streamlined contracting arrangement that promotes competition, achieves efficiency metrics, and responds to requirements across the Army Space and Missile Defense Command and Army Forces Strategic Command technology base.
D3I contractors will carry out rapid test and transition, and rapidly employ lessons learned from test-to-test in an evolutionary development of systems architectures. The D3I contracts will help the Army conduct research and development in hardware and software for space, high altitude and the aerial layer; integrated missile defense, cyber and information operations (IO); information integration and data exploitation; and enhanced warfighter capabilities.
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