ROCK ISLAND ARSENAL, Illinois (May 21, 2025) - Anna Whitcomb, contracting officer, and Amanda Carlson, contract specialist, from Army Contracting Command - Rock Island's Munitions Directorate, collaborated with the Joint Program Executive Office Armaments & Ammunition Project Lead Joint Services and Joint Munitions Command to lead three separate industry days in support of the Radford Army Ammunition Plant program. Radford Army Ammunition Plant is a government-owned, contractor-operated facility whose mission is to provide the warfighter with superior performing propellants, energetics, and munitions. Earlier this fiscal year, ACC-RI kicked off market research and acquisition planning activities for a future acquisition to operate, maintain, and produce propellants at Radford.

The first industry day was held from Oct. 22-23, 2024, at Radford Army Ammunition Plant in Radford, Virginia. Whitcomb, Carlson, and branch chief Jaclyn Senneff were all in attendance. The second industry day was held in February, which was attended by Carlson, and the final industry day occurred March 17-18, which was held in-person and virtually at Picatinny Arsenal; ACC-RI personnel attended virtually.

These industry days consisted of facility tours of the BioPlant, Boiling Tub House 4th Roll, and Rocket Center, as well as Project Lead Joint Services and ACC-RI hosting one-on-one engagement sessions with industry to discuss acquisition strategy, performance work statements, solvent design/build request for information responses, and the extension/transition of the requirements package. There was also an opportunity for the government to ask industry questions in response to their whitepaper submittals and requests for information.

Whitcomb stated that around 17 companies participated in these industry days, and she believed that these companies were very motivated in providing modernization ideas and strategies on how to make it worthwhile for the contractor to invest by making the contract period longer or the base period longer.

"That seemed to be a common theme across all vendors, that they needed time to make it an incentive for them to invest," said Whitcomb.

Another big topic that Whitcomb mentioned was the Performance Work Statements (PWS).

"A lot of the vendors would prefer that they be direct funded instead of indirect funded," said Whitcomb. "Indirect funding is when the cost of the PWS is rolled up into the unit price of the product being produced, whereas direct funded is where the government funds the PWS in its entirety, separately from the product price."

Whitcomb and Carlson are trying to engage with industry more than what has been done in the past by getting industry insights into the PWSs, contract structure, and evaluation criteria, as requirements for Radford are so complex. The goal with the increased industry engagement is to build stronger partnerships and look beyond the status quo to develop a more effective, efficient, and optimized strategy for the future of Radford.

"The team is dedicated to continuously collaborating with industry to foster innovative solutions," said Carlson. "Radford was built in the 1940s. Tapping into industry's insight on modernization and advanced production technologies is significantly beneficial to the government to bridge knowledge gaps, implement enhanced capabilities and ultimately deliver better services and solutions for the DoD and the warfighter."

During the industry days, companies provided information on how they specialize in modernization, specifically on how they can team up with multiple vendors, and complimented the government very highly on the approach it is taking to engage industry more.

"There have been many times that industry has vocalized, 'thank you for including us, thank you for taking our opinions, our white papers'," said Whitcomb. "I think we're building a really good relationship with industry on this competition thus far."

Carlson stated that in addition to the increased engagement with industry partners, all of the government stakeholders, including pricing, legal, the Source Selection Support Center of Excellence Team, and the requiring activities have prioritized enhanced communication and collaboration to utilize all of the input received from industry to strategize and develop the acquisition planning process.

Source: U.S.Army