Detroit Arsenal, Mich. (Dec. 9, 2020) - Today, the U.S. Army conducted a virtual Industry Day for the Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle (OMFV) program to provide an overview of the program’s acquisition approach and strategy, discuss the requirements approach, and gain additional industry feedback prior to the release of the final Request for Proposal (RFP) for the Concept Design phase later this month.
“As we enter Phase 2, the Concept Design phase, for OMFV, inclusive feedback and innovative thinking from industry remains key,” said Brig. Gen. Glenn Dean, the program executive officer for Ground Combat Systems. “We received tremendous feedback from Industry on the draft RFP released in July, and we have made significant changes as a result of that feedback.”
The Phase 2 Concept Design RFP and the events in the phase reflect the Army’s best effort to structure a program which incentivizes Industry innovation, provides the analytical underpinnings for the development of an Abbreviated Capability Development Document (A-CDD), and begin the design maturation process.
“The RFP for the Concept Design phase reflects a reduction in scope and deliverables commensurate w/ the maturity of requirements at the outset, and lays the foundation for subsequent phases with respect to open architecture and modern engineering practices,” said Dean.
The OMFV approach for the upcoming Concept Design phase is novel in the way it maximizes industry innovation while also reducing the burden and cost to industry for participation.
“We do this by starting the phase with a single requirement document, the OMFV Characteristics of Need, which is a prioritized list of nine broad desired characteristics,” said Brig. Gen. Ross Coffman, director of the Next Generation Combat Vehicles Cross Functional Team.
This initial phase provides for industry to develop digital designs while requirements mature, before prototypes are required in the following phase.
“The digital design will inform the first formal OMFV requirements document, known as the A-CDD, which will be published in the first quarter of Fiscal Year 2022,” said Coffman. “The A-CDD allows us to make future decisions on the design without overly constricting vendor efforts to innovate.”
The final RFP for the Concept Design phase is planned to be released later this month, and it is anticipated to result in the award of up to five contracts in 2021 under a full and open competition.
In parallel to Phase 2 (Concept Design), the Government is developing an open architecture for OMFV that is critical to the success of OMFV. The Government is planning a voluntary consortium beginning in Jan 2021. This consortium will include representation from Industry, Government, and Academia to develop the Government Architecture.
The overarching five phase strategy for the program remains the same – a five-phased approach to design, prototype, test, and produce the OMFV. This approach focuses on encouraging innovation, maximizing competition throughout the entire program, and producing a transformational Infantry fighting Vehicle (IFV) that will dominate maneuver in Multi-Domain Operations (MDO).
The charts presented during Industry Day can be found at: https://beta.sam.gov/opp/1b4fd66f7f9f43968c3d41312b8ad5a8/view
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