The Government intends to procure this requirement on a restricted procurement partial set-aside with 33% awarded to Small Business using the procedures at Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) part 15. Protect The Force Inc. is a small business under FAR part 15 and intends to respond to both the restricted and unrestricted portions of the resulting solicitation. Protect The Force Inc. has been working on the development, evaluation and testing of a ballistic combat shirt resulting in an end product that will help provide soldiers better protection and mobility.
The Ballistic Combat Shirt is intended to function as an armored Army Combat Shirt. The non-ballistic materials used in the torso and sleeves are equal to the Army Combat Shirt in weight and functional characteristics, including flame resistance and moisture wicking. The deltoid and upper thoracic portions of the BCS contain soft armor that provides protection from fragmenting munitions as well as handgun threats. The deltoid portion of the BCS utilizes three separate ballistic inserts that are layered to form an articulating shoulder that does not impede the normal upward motion of the arm at the shoulder joint.
To meet this immediate requirement, the Government intends to award up to three firm fixed price, Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity contracts via a competitive acquisition on a Lowest Price Technically Acceptable basis with one award being set-aside for small business. Delivery orders will be competed in accordance with the fair opportunity procedures under FAR. The contract minimum includes First Article Testing and Environmental quantities to be delivered forty-five days after award and Live Fire Testing/Initial Operational Testing quantities to be delivered thirty days after First Article Testing Approval or no later than January 13, 2016. The contract maximum will be for a combined total of up to 72,414 systems across all resulting awards.
Protect The Force Inc. through its Mission Ready Technologies division based in Boston MA has been working on the development, evaluation and testing of a ballistic combat shirt since 2011 under a Broad Agency Announcement for the Army Next Generation Body Armor with the Natick Soldier Research Development and Engineering Center.
Francisco Martinez, CTO states “We are excited to see the culmination of this work over the past three and half years result in a patent pending revolutionary breakthrough that has seen unsurpassed high acceptability during user evaluations. We aim to provide Soldiers with better protection, lower weight, higher comfort and better mobility. The BCS is the result of a successful joint effort between Government and Industry and we are excited to be moving it forward”.