SPAWAR launches huge buy for handheld battlefield radios
By
Bob Brewin
Procurement of nearly 200,000 radios and accessories could be worth billions of dollars.
The Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center kicked off a massive procurement on April 19 for 197,500 handheld battlefield radios. The contract's potential value measures in the billions of dollars.
The procurement, run by SPAWAR for the Joint Tactical Radio System Joint Program Executive Office, will be open to all military and civilian agencies.
The solicitation for bids calls for radios that can operate in multiple VHF and UHF frequency bands at a range of 30 MHz to 512 MHz. They also must adhere to the digital radio standard for state and local agency radios.
The indefinite delivery-indefinite quantity contract, which SPAWAR plans to award to multiple bidders, includes accessories such as vehicle adapter kits, microphones and antennas. The contract period is two years, with three one-year options, and bids are due May 20.
The procurement is a follow-on to SPAWAR's $2.7 billion Consolidated Single-Channel Handheld Radio contract awarded to Harris Corp. and Thales Communications Inc. in June 2007.
Harris and Thales declined to say whether they planned to bid on the new contract.
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