Air Force readies potential five-year contract to Rockwell Collins to provide handheld GPS navigation
ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga., 7 June 2016. U.S. Air Force navigation and guidance experts are readying a potential five-year contract to Rockwell Collins in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to build and maintain military handheld GPS receivers.
Officials of the Air Force Materiel Command at Robins Air Force Base, Ga., issued a presolicitation Monday (FA8523-16-R-0028) revealing plans to award a sole-source contract to Rockwell Collins next month for the Defense Advanced Global Positioning System (GPS) Receiver (DAGR).
These purchases will be for U.S. and foreign military customers. The DAGR is the approved handheld GPS receiver for all U.S. military services and is integrated or embedded in more than 150 military platforms, Air Force officials say.
DAGR is a small, lightweight GPS receiver for vehicular, hand-held, sensor, and gun laying applications. It provides moving map and situational awareness capabilities, and it meets military environmental requirements.
The DAGR provides enhanced protection against jammers and was among the first hand-held GPS receiver programs in the U.S. to include selective availability anti-spoofing module (SAASM) security technology, Rockwell Collins officials say.
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The Air Force will solicit and negotiate with Rockwell Collins on a sole-source basis to build, repair, and de-militarize DAGR units. The proposed contract is for a one-year basic period plus four one-year ordering periods. The value of the upcoming contract has yet to be negotiated.
The Air Force will award the contract to Rockwell Collins sole-source because the Government does not own rights to the unit's technical data to support a competitive procurement from any other source, officials say.
Although the presolicitation is not a request for competitive proposals, companies with handheld GPS products that could meet Air Force requirements should contact the Air Force's Jennifer Ogden by email at [email protected], or by phone at 478-926-7465.
More information is online at https://www.fbo.gov/spg/USAF/AFMC/WRALC/FA8523-16-R-0028/listing.html.
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.
