Military service members assigned to the 7th Air Support Operations Squadron, Fort Bliss, Texas, and 729th Air Control Squadron, Hill Air Force Base, Utah, conduct warfare operations at the Tactical Operations Center-Light (TOC-L) on Oct. 14, 2022, during Project Convergence 22. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Brenda Salgado)
WASHINGTON — The Army announced plans to award initial prototype contracts for its Next Generation Command and Control (NGC2) program by May and wants to deliver initial prototypes within six months of the award date, according to a request for information posted Monday afternoon.
Though the NGC2 program was announced last May, Monday’s RFI marks the first time the service has given concrete details on when vendors can expect an initial prototype award for the program.
As for the the current RFI, the Army said it is now “seeking industry feedback as it prepares to rapidly and competitively award contracts for prototyping Next Generation Command and Control, a new approach to provide commanders and units at echelon an open and modular C2 ecosystem across hardware, software and applications with access to a common and integrated data layer,” according to an Army press release.
The service reiterated the fact that the NGC2 will not have a lead systems integrator as “no one company can provide a total solution for NGC2,” as previously reported by Breaking Defense. Today’s announcement adds that the “government intends to continue to onboard vendor teams for additional components and layers available after the initial prototyping awards.”
“We not only want to make sure we have the appropriate criteria to select the best affordable solutions, but that we are really keying in on post-award. By appropriately aligning incentives and disincentives to drive the right behaviors and competition from the awardees long-term, we’ll ensure that we’re not only getting the best deal, but the best solutions,” Executive Director of Army Contracting Command, Danielle Moyer, said in the release.
The RFI was created by the Army’s Contracting Command and the Program Executive Office of Command, Control, Communications – Network (PEO C3N) in partnership with the service’s Command and Control Cross-Functional Team, as the latter two are leading the NGC2 effort.
The document also provides details on the technology stack NGC2 will be built on and asks that interested vendors provide answers to a draft prototype statement of objectives and a draft indefinite delivery indefinite quantity performance work statement by Jan. 23.
According to the press release, the RFI will be followed by a draft request for proposals “tentatively” planned for the end of January, and a final RFP should be out in late February.
