Photo By Shawn Nesaw | CPE IEW&S looks at many factors to ensure the best, most forward thinking contract...... read more read more
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Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md. – Capability Program Executive - Intelligence, Electronic Warfare & Sensors (CPE-IEW&S) has recently released its first solicitation under the Army Open Solicitation (AOS) with the focus on integrating components and technologies to develop a modular, high-altitude Electronic Warfare (EW) payload and a vehicle mounted EW payload.
How AOS and CSO Works
Earlier this year, Department of Defense and Presidential Executive Order guidance directed acquisition organizations to streamline the acquisition process, reducing the time it takes to go from need to fielded capability. Aligned with that guidance, the AOS utilizes multiple solicitation authorities including Commercial Solutions Opening (CSO) authority.
Commercial Solutions Openings (DFARS 212.70) can be used for commercial and innovative solutions. CSO is a competitive solicitation process to obtain innovative commercial solutions that can be modified or tailored to meet Government needs.
The CSO approach allows the U.S. Government to partner with commercial entities to accelerate the procurement process and allow the Government to access innovative technology and solutions without going through traditional contracting methods.
The CSO authorizes the Army to effectively say -- We have a need. Is there a commercial solution or process that can be leveraged or modified to fit the need?
Soliciting industry this way is not traditional, admits Kim Nugent, Contract Planning Division Chief for CPE-IEW&S.
“Presenting industry with a problem, loose requirements and a basic budget and saying to them, ‘what do you have already built that fits this need?’ is very different,” Nugent said. “We’re trying to be less prescriptive in the solution and more receptive to industry ideas, letting industry tell us what they think right looks like.”
The process for CSO goes like this:
The result is an Other Transaction Agreement (OTA) or a FAR Part 12 contract built around the idea of flexibility, allowing the Army to take the selected industry option and modify it to requirements based on the need.
In the past, depending on the need, the Army would build capabilities using cost plus contracting from the ground up which could take years to field, was costly and had firm requirements which didn’t always align with what Soldiers needed upon delivery.
“It’s about getting gear into the hands of soldiers faster, and that means not always starting from scratch where a commercial solution or process is available. Getting faster means solutions won’t be outdated by the time we deliver them,” Nugent explained.
CPE-IEW&S has been using OTA’s for several years now and has found they work well for the type of acquisition the organization does.
“Early on we saw OTA’s as a useful contract tool for the type of work we do,” Nugent said. “Several of our Project Managers have found that OTA’s provided them the requirements flexibility they needed to develop advanced systems that meet Soldier needs.”
Flexibility is the key word in acquisition these days. Firm requirements for some systems will always be necessary, but as the Army endeavors to develop future capabilities to support Transformation in Contact, the flexibility of CSO’s makes sense.
The Solicitation
Titled Electromagnetic Warfare Rapid Integration System (ERIS) Technology Demonstration; the solicitation gets after what the Army believes is still a high priority need.
ERIS will be a phased OT or FAR part 12 contract award involving EW capabilities to protect Army forces against a wide range of radio frequency-controlled threats, software/firmware architecture to incorporate EW techniques, modular hardware scalable to accommodate different mission requirements, and interoperability with existing Army systems.
To view the ERIS solicitation, please visit https://www.vulcan-sof.com/login/ng2/auth/login?requestedUrl=%2Fhome
| Date Taken: | 11.20.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 11.20.2025 16:14 |
| Story ID: | 551946 |
| Location: | ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, MARYLAND, US |
| Web Views: | 246 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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