Te process of modernizing mission com- mand systems by transitioning away from a major contract award to a smaller, more agile award strategy comes at the same time the Army is embracing the Com- mon Operating Environment (COE) as a way to drive competition. Tis “app store” approach to development brings a standardized and open computing environment and is changing the way mission command capabilities are created. Trough the command post computing environment (CP CE), part of the COE, software development kits will allow third-party contributors to build to tacti- cal applications, similar to how apps are built for smartphones.
Tis could improve opportunities for
small businesses to participate in com- petitions. Aimed at attracting innovative software-based solutions, maintaining a reference architecture is key, because it enables vendors to build against a require- ment following a set of standards. CP CE is helping to drive common, cross-cutting capabilities across warfighting functions and “widgetizing” the command post with web-based apps.
Leveraging a government-developed infra- structure that is well-known and understood, then defining standards to support that effort, provides a predictable environ- ment so a wider array of developers can deliver products more quickly.
THE APP APPROACH Tis shift toward tactical applications, or TacApps, is where industry collaboration and a single architecture environment work together. Currently,
URBAN COMMUNICATION Soldiers from the 1st Armored Division use the Manpack radio, which can be mounted in a vehicle or carried in a rucksack. A marketplace approach to acquisition shifts the Army away from big one-time procurements and toward the kind of incremental evolution that smartphone companies use to keep their products up to date. (U.S. Army photo)
command (PM MC) will mirror that environment, enabling companies large and small to develop applications that can run on an established framework.
Tis approach forces the government to be more disciplined with specifications while allowing for more competition from organizations traditionally outside of the DOD arena.
commercial,
mobile operating systems like iOS and Android have provided software devel- opment kits that have enabled nearly anyone to build an application into their marketplace. Te acquisition efforts of PEO C3T’s project manager for mission
In essence, it gives PM MC the oppor- tunity to leverage innovation from industry while ensuring competition in future capability development, enabling any business—no matter how large or small—to compete and resulting in cost savings for the Army.
One initiative in support of mission command modernization, under this
acquisition model, involves the standard and shareable geospatial foundation. Te program office plans to issue a competi- tive task order (TO) through a blanket purchase agreement for industry to bid on. Vendors will be able to compete at the TO level, allowing the government to award an effort quickly.
In the past, a major award to a single ven- dor serving as the lead systems integrator would take many months. With the new marketplace model, PM MC has reduced the time frame by 80 percent, from sev- eral months to weeks. Tis method also injects much-needed flexibility into the contracting process.
Work packages assigned to project man- agers are mapped to a task or delivery order and integration is done on-site
ASC.ARMY.MIL 15
ACQUISITION
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