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Innovative contract method speeds up weapons procurement

  • Published
  • By Air Force Lifecycle Management Center’s Armament Directorate

The Armament Directorate’s Agile Weapons Division has a new innovative contracting method called the Eglin Wide Agile Acquisition Contract.

“Eglin’s Armament Enterprise took a monumental step forward toward advancing agile force-multiplier weapon capabilities,” said Brig. Gen. Heath Collins, AF Program Executive Officer for Weapons and Armament Directorate director.

The EWAAC is a multiple award, indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract focused on digital acquisitions, agile processes, open system architecture, and enterprise analytics.

The contract has a high-ceiling of up to $46 billion and a 10-year period of performance.  It is designed to be broad in scope, flexible in funding and agile for maximum use.

“Through EWAAC, the entire weapons portfolio now has access to a multifaceted contract instrument to award and subsequently deliver capabilities faster than ever,” Collins said.

The entire Eglin armament enterprise can use EWACC to reduce the time it takes to obtain solutions to emerging capability gaps or support to any armament-related activity. 

“The Armament Directorate motto is ‘Go Fast, Think Big’ and EWAAC is a clear example of the way our Airmen rise up to meet that challenge every day,” said Collins.

Conveying that motto, the EWAAC team issued the initial request for proposals in July 2021 and awarded the first contracts in less than two months to promote immediate task or delivery orders. 

The team matched EWAAC’s innovative approach by using digital, streamlined products and processes for efficiency and speed, and conducted technical evaluation using the virtual platform, Microsoft TEAMS. 

Team members evaluated proposals against the present-day benchmarks for digital engineering design, but allowed industry partners to self-identify capability gaps and submit processes to grow their digital fluency.

The Armament Directorate handed out 55 contracts to a diverse pool of large and small contractors, which the entire Eglin Armament Enterprise now has access to through the use of Federal Acquisition Regulations 16.5 agile contracting tools. 

 “In today’s competitive environment, we can’t bring new capabilities to bear fast enough,” Collins said. “With this contract in place, we’re poised to re-vector and pivot our weapons enterprise to the fast, agile and lethal enterprise our nation requires.”

To showcase plans for future on-ramp opportunities and widen the vendor pool, the team launched AirForceWeapons.com. The site is designed to target more specialized expertise and help the AF address the warfighter’s needs in innovative ways.  Contractors looking to for EWAAC opportunities can visit sam.gov.