Contractors battle over $237M Army protective equipment award
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By
Nick Wakeman
Two companies challenge Amentum's win of a gear improvement program covering boots, uniforms, and sniper camouflage.
A protest battle is unfolding over a $237.1 million Army task order to support efforts to improve protective equipment worn by soldiers.
DCS Corp. was the incumbent contractor and won the work in 2019. But Amentum won the recompete and DCS has filed a bid protest, as has fellow competitor MAG Aerospace.
Both protests were filed Aug. 12. DCS and MAG are arguing that the Army misevaluated proposals and reached an incorrect best-value tradeoff decision. The original DCS contract was worth up to $160 million, according to GovTribe data.
The Product Manager Soldier Clothing and Individual Equipment task order falls under the RS3 vehicle. The goal is to support soldiers in all environments and improve survivability, protection, mobility and sustainability.
Equipment being studied includes boots, combat uniforms, and the Ghillie suit accessory kit. A Ghillie suit is camouflage that snipers often wear. The accessory kit can include items such as netting, straps, face paint and attachment hardware a soldier can use to customize their suit to different environments.
The winner of the task order will provide engineering, quality assurance and test support, acquisition support, business management support, logistics and fielding support, operations support, and administrative support.
A Government Accountability Office decision is due by Nov. 20.