{"id":18839,"date":"2021-04-15T22:51:05","date_gmt":"2021-04-15T22:51:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2021\/04\/15\/pencils-up-bids-are-due-for-armys-bradley-replacement-and-its-only-the-beginning\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T21:47:41","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T21:47:41","slug":"pencils-up-bids-are-due-for-armys-bradley-replacement-and-its-only-the-beginning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/land\/2021\/04\/15\/pencils-up-bids-are-due-for-armys-bradley-replacement-and-its-only-the-beginning\/","title":{"rendered":"Pencils up: Bids are due for Army\u2019s Bradley replacement and it\u2019s only the beginning"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

UPDATE <\/i>\u2014 This story has been updated to include that Mettle Ops has submitted a bid and a comment from its founder.<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 The deadline to submit a preliminary design<\/a> for the Army\u2019s Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle (OMFV) is April 16, but the cutoff marks not the time for industry officials to put pencils down, but rather the time to pick them up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among the companies that have announced bid submissions or intentions to compete are prime defense contractors General Dynamics Land Systems, BAE Systems and a Rheinmetall North America-led team to include Raytheon, Textron and L3Harris.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oshkosh Defense has also submitted a bid as a prime contractor and is partnering with leading South Korean defense company Hanwha, sources familiar with the effort have confirmed to Defense News.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also according to several other sources, Michigan-based Mettle Ops has submitted a bid. The company \u201cspecializes in research, development, reverse engineering, program management, ground vehicle design, test and evaluation experience, system integration capabilities, and facilitates manufacturing and fabrication,\u201d according to its website. It is owned by Katie and Mark Bigelow, a husband and wife team who both served in the Army.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are pushing hard toward autonomy, hybrid electric, and robotics. We know we are the underdog, but that\u2019s not going stop us,\u201d Katie Bigelow, Mettle Ops president and founder, told Defense News. The company has one subcontract in autonomy and is in the process of finalizing an award for an autonomous, hybrid electric vehicle design as well, she added. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other bid announcements could surface as the deadline looms \u2014 likely from small and non-traditional businesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A year and a half ago, the Army received just one physical bid sample from GDLS by its set deadline in October 2019<\/a>. Defense News broke the news <\/a>that the only other entry \u2014 the Lynx 41 from a Rheinmetall and Raytheon team \u2014 was disqualified because it wasn\u2019t delivered to Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, on time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the writing was already on the wall that the OMFV\u2019s development schedule and requirements had doomed the program when BAE Systems, which manufactures the Bradley, bowed out of the competition months before the deadline<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead of moving forward with just one option, the Army canceled its OMFV c<\/a>ompetition, and took a step back to come up with a plan that would better foster a robust competition over a more reasonable timeline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Army not only dropped the plan to require a physical bid sample at the outset, it instead mapped out a five-phased effort<\/a> that begins with an initial design phase then moves into a detailed design phase, followed by prototyping, testing and production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those designs will inform the Abbreviated-Concept Development Document (A-CDD) expected to be published in the first quarter of fiscal 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne of the neat elements of this initial phase of the program is that the Army isn\u2019t asking us for the answer,\u201d Don Kotchman, GDLS\u2019 general manager, told Defense News in an April 15 interview.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Army is asking us how are we going to approach developing the answer,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whoever is selected, Kotchman added, will be chosen because the Army likes the approach for its \u201cadaptability, flexibility, robustness.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The service will choose five prime contractor teams to design rough digital prototypes. The Army will then award up to three contracts for a detailed design and prototype phase that will include options for low-rate initial production. The service will select one vendor to go into production.<\/p>\n\n\n\t