The U.S. Army Futures Command (AFC) is in the planning stages of creating a software development wing of the Army that would reduce its reliance on vendor software. AFC put out a call for white papers on Dec. 28 which they will use to invite vendors to submit prototypes and, later, award a contract by March of this year, according to the Federal government’s beta.SAM.gov website.
The Army is looking to build the software development arm from scratch and is looking for infrastructure, policy and methodology advice in the white papers and prototypes it is soliciting.
“The Army needs the ability to self-sustain a repeatable and scalable process to dynamically develop software at the edges of the battlefield using only uniformed soldiers and Department of Army civilians. The future operating environment will include contested communications and the Army can no longer singularly rely on industry to provide software solutions,” the call for submissions said.
The goal is to build a self-sustaining software development program that has the infrastructure and knowledge to not only create government software but then train later developers to keep the program going.
The post said the government is only looking to award a single contract but reserves the right to later award multiple contracts or none at all. The Army is seeking submissions until Jan. 19, will submit feedback to vendors they want to apply between Jan. 26-27, and will also release invitations for proposals on Jan. 27. Those invited to submit proposals will have until Feb. 9 to do so.
