Award of the Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training and Instrumentation (PEO STRI) Consortium Management Firm (CMF) for the Training and Readiness Accelerator II (TReX II) Other Transaction

On 02 November 2022, in accordance with 10 U.S. Code - 4022, the Army Contracting Command - Orlando has awarded the Consortium Management Firm (CMF) for the Training and Readiness Accelerator II (TReXII) Other Transaction Agreement (OTA). A Request for White Paper for these efforts was issued through the SAM.gov website on 25 April 2022, which resulted in the submittal of 3 responses. As a result of the competition, the CMF for TReXII was awarded to Advanced Technology International (ATI). located in Summerville, SC as the performing vendor. The total value of the base OTA is $0.00. The Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training and Instrumentation (PEO STRI) and Army Contracting Command-Orlando (ACC-Orlando) are headquartered in Orlando, Florida. PEO STRI is the Army's Training, Testing, Modeling and Simulation PEO; providing cutting edge training solutions for U.S. and partner nation militaries. ACC-Orlando is the Contracting Center for Army test and training systems and test and training services. ACC-Orlando, in concert with PEO STRI, implements flexible and efficient contract vehicles to support needs for the Army. PEO STRI is required by regulation, policy and guidance to support the Army's requirements for training. In November 2017, PEO STRI and ACC-Orlando awarded the Training and Readiness Accelerator (TReX) Consortium Management Firm (CMF) Other Transaction (OT). The TReX performance period ends in November 2022 and the TReX II OT will replace TReX. ACC and PEO STRI will incorporate lessons learned from TReX in the design and execution of TReX II. Like TReX, TReX II OT is a flexible and expedient tool to improve Warfighter readiness via modeling, simulation, education/training, experimental validation, and military readiness focused projects. PEO STRI desired to seek interested parties capable and interested in serving as an authorized agent, also referred to as a Consortium Management Firm (CMF), for a Modeling and Simulation (M&S) Other Transaction Agreement (OTA) framework in accordance with 10 U.S. Code - 4022. The Consortium Management Firm (CMF) for TReX II will be responsible for managing a consortium whose members will develop modeling, simulation and training related prototypes directly relevant to enhancing the mission effectiveness of military personnel and the supporting platforms, systems, components, or materials proposed to be acquired or developed by the DoD, or to improvement of platforms, systems, components, or materials in use by the armed forces. The CMF will foster meaningful collaboration between Government, Industry, and Academia to identify and develop enabling technologies necessary to broaden the modeling, simulation, and training domain and to ensure the highest level of readiness for our nation's Warfighters. TReX II will provide the Government an agile mechanism to iteratively refine critical technologies in order to inform future materiel procurement requirements through structured operational user feedback. The CMF shall act as the liaison between the Government and the Member(s) of the consortium. The agreement between the Member and the CMF shall be established to facilitate payments to the consortium members for the specific projects funded by the Government. Members, under no circumstance, can be considered a subcontractor to the CMF nor shall the value/cost of the project be considered as an incurred cost of the CMF. When a member of the consortium is awarded a project, the CMF shall provide payments as a direct pass through for the CMF to the Member with no indirect cost or fee being applied, unless the Government previously agreed to a fee. A prototype project can generally be described as a preliminary pilot, test, evaluation, demonstration, or agile development activity used to evaluate the technical or manufacturing feasibility or military utility of a particular technology, process, concept, end item, effect, or other discrete feature. Prototype projects may include systems, subsystems, components, materials, methodology, technology, or processes. By way of illustration, a prototype project may involve: a proof of concept, a pilot, a novel application of commercial technologies for defense purposes; a creation, design, development, validation, demonstration of technical or operational utility; or combinations of the foregoing, related to a prototype. The quantity should generally be limited to that needed to prove technical or manufacturing feasibility or evaluate military utility. Each prototype request will be evaluated to verify that it is within scope of the overarching CMF agreement and will be approved by the TReX II Program Office and ACC-Orlando. Individual project-level agreements issued under the resulting OT Agreement must be limited to prototype projects that are directly relevant to enhancing the mission effectiveness of military personnel and the supporting platforms, systems, components, or materials proposed to be acquired or developed by the Department of Defense, or improvements to the platforms, systems, components, or materials in use by the armed forces. To the maximum extent practicable, the individual prototype projects shall be awarded on a competitive basis, in order to provide for the opportunity to award a follow-on prototype agreement or follow-on production contract or transaction to the participants in the individual prototype projects. Further, the individual prototype projects may provide for prototypes or follow-on production items to be provided to another vendor as Government-furnished equipment. The use of the term successful completion in this context is in reference to the statutory requirement to allow for the award of a follow-on production contract or transaction - not completion of all activities within the project itself. This is necessary in order to meet the statutory requirement in 10 U.S.C. - 4022(f). Each individual prototype Statement of Work will state successful completion will occur when the prototypes have been validated and are accepted by the Government. Section 10 U.S. Code - 4022 authorizes DoD to structure OTs for prototype projects that may provide for the award of a single follow-on production contract or transaction (to the participants in the transaction for the prototype project) without the use of competitive procedures. However, this follow-on production authority requires two criteria to be satisfied: 1) competitive procedures were used to select the parties to participate in the prototype project; and 2) the participants in the transaction successfully completed the prototype project provided for in the transaction. Further, the Government reserves the right to determine part or all of the prototype project is successfully completed if the vendor shows a particularly favorable or unexpected result justifying the transition to production. Note: Should the selected vendor fail to demonstrate progress or be unsuccessful in the accomplishment of the goals of this effort, the Government reserves the right to return to the results of this competition and award additional Other Transaction Agreement to one or more of the vendors that responded to the initial Request for Solutions, as appropriate within the scope and evaluated results of the competition.