NETWORK MARKETPLACE: OPEN FOR BUSINESS AND GROWING


TACTICAL APPS By allowing third-party contributors to build tactical applications, the command post com- puting environment promises to expand op- portunities for small businesses to participate in competitive procurements by enabling them to build to a clear set of standards. (Photo by PEO C3T)


in laboratories or in the Defense Intel- ligence Information Environment, the online collaborative environment for industry partners to execute TOs.


Project managers will now be responsible for managing integration of a capabil- ity coming from different vendors. But with government serving as part of the technology solutions, product managers can start to drive toward an open archi- tecture and set themselves up early in the process to understand transitions in sus- tainment and how they’ll handle security requirements.


MOVING BEYOND THE RADIO MARKETPLACE Realizing that the NDI concept could be applied across the PEO C3T portfolio, project managers began to look at other innovative acquisition models for their portfolios. Nowhere was this a better fit than with its on-the-move tactical net- work, WIN-T.


WIN-T enables commanders and Sol- diers to pass critical voice, video and data across the formation and while on the move. WIN-T is made up of many parts; by applying the marketplace concept,


16 Army AL&T Magazine July-September 2016


the Army can maximize the benefits of emerging technology by inserting com- petition in new ways.


LEVERAGING SBIR One way to leverage competition from the commercial marketplace is through the use of Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contracts. Te Army recently awarded a contract to GATR Technologies for its inflatable antenna system to satisfy the early-entry satellite communications (SATCOM) system known as the Transportable Tactical Command Communications (T2C2), part of the WIN-T system. Tis new duo of lightweight, portable satellite ter- minals will provide early-entry units in air-to-land missions, as well as follow-on units at the tactical edge, with a light and heavy variant of high-bandwidth, deploy- able satellite dishes to keep Soldiers and commanders connected to the network and well-informed.


Te SBIR program’s three-phase com- petitive process allows proposals to be submitted in response to DOD’s emerg- ing requirements. SBIR significantly reduces risk through reusing testing and logistics data from other services. It also


creates an environment that allows the quick adaptation of commercial hard- ware and software while opening up new markets to small businesses.


In a separate effort, the PM for WIN-T is able to apply innovative solutions by using the DOD-wide Global Tacti- cal Advanced Communication Systems (GTACS) contract, which it manages. (See “Innovation Trough Competi- tion.”) Te GTACS contract was used recently to improve the marketplace for the Army’s new and developing Pseu- dolites program. Tis program enables the continued operation of positioning, navigation and timing-enabled systems such as Blue Force Tracker, the Army’s premier friendly force positioning system, in electronically or physically challenged environments. Pseudolites provide a terrestrial radio navigation similar to sat- ellite GPS for GPS-denied environments.


Under the GTACS contract, the Army competed a limited-rate production for pseudolites, choosing two vendors that are going head-to-head to develop the most innovative, cost-effective solution to fill this unique requirement. Te victor will conduct the full-rate production.


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