Army readies solicitation for universal battery charger; asks for comments from industry
ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md., 24 Oct. 2013. U.S. Army procurement officials are getting ready to issue a solicitation to industry for a man-portable universal battery charger (UBC) for field-charging of lithium ion, nickel metal hydride, nickel cadmium, and other batteries, and they are looking for comments from industry before formally issuing the request for proposals (RFP).
Officials of the Army Contracting Command at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., have issued a notice (W91CRB13R005) asking for industry comments on a battery charger power electronics program for which the Army may buy as many as 9,013 charger kits and 4,147 vehicle mount kits in the five-year period from 2014 to 2018.
Army officials say they expect to deploy the battery charger at the squad or platoon level for use in remote locations where there is no commercial power grid or reliable power generation infrastructure.
For this, they are looking for a UBC of minimal weight and volume, that meets MIL-STD 810 testing to survive use in a tactical environment, and that can charge batteries using alternative or renewable energy sources along with standard AC and platform DC power sources.
The Army Contracting Command issued the notice on behalf of the Army Program Manager Soldier Warrior (PM SWAR) and the Communications-Electronics Research Development and Engineering Center's (CERDEC) Command Power and Integration (CPI) Directorate. A sources-sought notice for the program was issued last spring.
Before issuing a formal solicitation, Army officials want to know which companies would be interested in bidding for the UBC program, which will involve two basic kits for the universal battery charger and additional components to be ordered on an individual basis.
The Army is looking for information from potential bidders on the size of each interested business, the length of a proposed warranty, and other information that will help officials fine-tune the upcoming solicitation.
Companies interested should email written comments no later than 1 Nov. 2013 to the Army's Thomas Marousek at [email protected]. For questions or concerns phone the Army's Erin Weber at 410-306-2187.
More information is online at https://www.fbo.gov/notices/d12af6fe918ae4cf7af0aa4b1fbece77.
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.
