Navy puts out word to electronics distributors; needs 500 discontinued Xilinx FPGAs
PORT HUENEME, Calif., 2 April 2013. U.S. Navy shipboard weapons technicians are making an urgent request to electronic parts distributors to provide recently discontinued 1.5-volt Virtex II field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) from Xilinx Inc. in San Jose, Calif.
Xilinx officials notified industry last December of their intention to discontinue all temperature grades and variants of the Virtex-E/-EM, Virtex-II, and EasyPath FPGAs due to supplier line discontinuance. The company will provide last-time buys of the devices until April 2014.
Weapons experts at the Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) Port Hueneme in Port Hueneme, Calif., have realized they need many of the discontinued Xilinx FPGAs to maintain the missile systems, missile launchers, radar systems, and other shipboard weapons systems for which they are responsible.
NSWC Port Hueneme issued a solicitation last Thursday (solicitation number 1300338451) for 500 Xilinx Virtex-II FPGAs, part numbers XC2V250-4FG456C, for continuing operations. NSWC Port Hueneme installs, maintains and upgrades weapon systems aboard Navy surface warships and Coast Guard cutters, including missiles, missile launchers, and radar systems.
The solicitation, issued as a request for quote, is directed to manufacturer authorized distributors and other authorized suppliers of the discontinued Xilinx FPGAs.
NSWC Port Hueneme officials are conducting an online reverse auction on FedBid Inc. to obtain the Xilinx FPGAs. Bidders must submit the pricing portion of their quote using the online exchange online at www.fedbid.com.
NSWC officials are warning bidders not to manipulate the price of a transaction artificially on www.FedBid.com by any means, and point out it is unacceptable to place bad faith quotes, to use decoys in bidding.
The Navy will accept only new equipment, and will not accept remanufactured or gray-market parts, officials say. All items must be covered by the manufacturer's warranty.
Companies interested in bidding should submit bits on www.fedbid.com no later than 5 April 2013, which is this Friday. For questions or concerns contact www.fedbid.com client services by phone at 877-933-3243, or by email at [email protected].
More information is online at https://www.fbo.gov/spg/DON/NAVSEA/N63394/1300338451/listing.html. Also contact NSWC Port Hueneme online at www.navsea.navy.mil/nswc/porthueneme.
John Keller | Editor
John Keller is editor-in-chief of Military & Aerospace Electronics magazine, which provides extensive coverage and analysis of enabling electronic and optoelectronic technologies in military, space, and commercial aviation applications. A member of the Military & Aerospace Electronics staff since the magazine's founding in 1989, Mr. Keller took over as chief editor in 1995.
