Will Award More Than $10 Million In Contracts In The Coming Fiscal Year

The Navy’s Avionics Component Improvement Program (AvCIP) is accepting proposals from Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) program offices to award more than $10 million in funding toward fiscal 2018 projects, officials announced in December.

Established in 2006 by the Office of Secretary of Defense Business Initiatives Council and funded by the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations (OPNAV), AvCIP provides funds to address current avionics system problems, including decreased reliability and readiness degraders, impending obsolescence issues that threaten to stop sustainability, and high sustainment cost drivers.

NAVAIR’s Air Combat Electronics Program Office (PMA-209) manages the proposal process for OPNAV.  Over the past 10 years, the AvCIP program has realized a return on investment of over $287 million.

“Just about every platform has problematic systems that are either failing to meet reliability objectives or are facing obsolescence issues,” said Candace “Candy” Chesser, PMA-209 program manager.  “Both cases usually present excessive sustainment or correction costs and present risk to user readiness.  AvCIP resources enable acquisition managers to address these issues with near-term funds, rather than waiting for out-year Program Objective Memorandum money to arrive, or sacrificing existing internal funds that were planned for other uses.”

Nomination forms are due Jan. 27. This single page submission allows candidate projects to be assessed as a good fit for AvCIP program objectives and limitations. Those that meet AvCIP criteria will then be requested to submit a full project proposal by Feb. 24. In May 2017, submitters will brief their proposals to a working group comprised of representatives from NAVAIR, Marine Corps Avionics Officers, Navy Resource Sponsors, Naval Supply Center Logistics managers and programmatic and acquisition subject matter experts.

The working group reviews proposals and recommends the strongest candidate projects for selection to PMA-209’s program manager. Selections are made based on cost, availability of proper funding types, extent of benefits, urgency, criticality and ability to successfully execute the project.

Last year, 10 out of the 14 proposals reviewed by the working group received funding. Some of the projects included:

Airborne Targets Electronic Attack E/F-Band Digital Radio Frequency Memory obsolescence correction
EA-18G Airborne Electronic Attack Fiber Optic Harness reliability enhancement
MH-60 Multi-Spectral Targeting System Forward Looking Infrared Laser reliability improvement
T-57 Very High Frequency Area Navigation and Tactical Airborne Navigation receivers obsolescence redesign
Miniature Airborne GPS Receiver 2000 Non-Volatile Memory correction to eliminate A799 Aviation Depot Level Repair costs
Projects will be selected by the end of May and can start executing as soon as October.

(Image provided with NAVAIR news release)

FMI: www.navair.navy.mil