Sunday, April 05, 2009

JLTV Edges Closer To Entering Technology Development

JLTV Edges Closer To Entering Technology Development
(NSI News Source Info) April 5, 2009: The Army and Marine Corps co-hosted a three-day preproposal conference Feb. 19-21 at Selfridge Air National Guard Base, Mich., to inform industry of the U.S. Government’s acquisition strategy for the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) program. JLTV is a joint Army-Marine Corps program with the Army designated as the lead service. The Office of Naval Research Combat Tactical Vehicle Technology Demonstrator is tested on the unimproved roads of the Nevada Automotive Test Center, Nev. The conference came two weeks on the heels of the Army’s Feb. 5 release of a request for proposal (RFP), which invited suppliers, through a full and open competition process, to submit proposals for the development of a JLTV family of vehicles (FoV). The JLTV FoV and companion trailers can perform multiple mission roles. They will be designed to provide protected, sustained, networked mobility for people and payloads across the full range of military operations. JLTV provides a vehicle platform that will use, to the greatest degree possible, solutions and technology being developed in the Army's Future Combat Systems program; Tank Automotive Research Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC); Army Research Lab; and Office of Naval Research as well as commercial industry advances. The JLTV FoV will be used by all U.S. military services. Several foreign governments have already expressed a strong interest in joining the development of the JLTV vehicles. Presentations included the earned value management process that the JLTV program will use to control cost, stay on schedule and achieve performance objectives. The conference included many presenters from all program areas of expertise that gave industry detailed guidance on how to craft their proposal to address the four important evaluation factors: technical; logistics commonality; cost; and past performance-small business participation. The government also shared lessons learned from various research efforts and displayed vehicles developed under the Army’s Future Tactical Truck System Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration, and Office of Naval Research Combat Tactical Vehicle Technology Demonstrator. Despite a Midwest snowstorm and frigid temperatures in the teens, the conference was attended by more than 200 Industry representatives, along with international attendees. “Today was a great meeting at Selfridge, and we are excited to be part of this program,” said Kenneth G. Juergens, JLTV Program Director for the Northrop Grumman-Oshkosh Truck Corporation Team, who traveled to the conference from Oshkosh, Wis. Northrop Grumman and Oshkosh Corporation announced a teaming arrangement last fall. Several industry teaming efforts also have been formed to compete for JLTV contracts along with a few companies whose partnering plans are yet unannounced. They are: -- Northrop Grumman and Oshkosh Corp. -- General Tactical Vehicle, a Joint Venture between AM General & General Dynamics Land Systems (GDLS) -- Lockheed Martin and BAE (formerly Armor Holdings) -- BAE Systems and International Military and Government (IMG), LLC, an affiliate of Navistar International Corporation (International Military and Government LLC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of International Truck and Engine Corporation) -- Boeing, Textron and SAIC -- DRS Sustainment Systems Inc. and Force Protection Inc. “I got a lot out of this,” said Michael Franklin, a member of the BAE Systems Team, who traveled from just outside Los Angeles, Calif., to attend the conference. “You can only get so much information from a [Army’s JLTV] Web site. This forum allowed time for networking and just talking with others, which I found very helpful.” "This was an important investment of time for key industry representatives to come to Selfridge. They could fully understand the entire scope and direction of the JLTV effort and hear the government’s “lessons learned” during more than three years of precursor research and development efforts,” said Colonel John “Steve” Myers, Project Manager, Joint Combat Support Systems. Asked what’s next in the JLTV way ahead, Myers said the government will convene an evaluation board in April to review industry proposals to the JLTV RFP. “The board, comprised of subject matter experts from across the Department of Defense, will evaluate submitted proposals, and we expect to make three contract awards based on ‘best value’ to the government in July 2008,” Myers said. “This will then launch the planned contract performance of the Technology Development Phase wherein the JLTV prototypes will be developed and tested.” A system development demonstration phase is planned to get underway in 2011 for the JLTV. Two contractors will complete the design and development of the JLTV FoV and companion trailers and ultimately compete to produce and field multiple JLTV variants. “Pre-proposal conferences like this one are essential in ensuring we are as open and transparent as we possibly can be,” said Lieutenant Colonel Wolfgang Petermann, JLTV Army Product Manager. “Every large, medium and small business represented here goes away with the same amount of information, knowing it is a level playing field.” “It is exciting to see how far we have already come in this program,” said Lieutenant Colonel Ben Garza, Marine Corps JLTV Program Manager. “We have an achievable schedule, and the overwhelming turnout by industry shows how successful this program is going to be.”

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