TROY – The US Army last week signed a three-year contract renewal of up to $10 million for the Alley to study military equipment for which components or materials are limited or unavailable, as well as to reverse-engineer and create technical specifications for manufacturers to build replacements.
The Army Tank-Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center in Warren, which helped the Alley secure the new contract, also will coordinate with the local technology business association on some task orders.
The first directive under the new contract will be to complete a sustainment engineering risk assessment for the Army’s fleet of Bradley Fighting Vehicles, an assessment that will cost about $300,000.
The assessments tell the Army which components or materials were built by companies that are out of business or were made with materials that no longer are available on the market or for which no current design specifications or blueprints can be found.
Automation Alley also can, with help from various companies, reverse-engineer and re-create those technical specifications using material analysis, 3D image scanning and computer-aided design modules.
The organization then submits a complete data technical package, and sometimes a replacement prototype for those components or systems, that the U.S. Department of Defense can use to seek replacement-part production bids from manufacturers.
Under the contract, Automation Alley also expects to recommend alternative sources or parts for the Army using its VisCom database tool, which lists tens of thousands of manufacturers and suppliers and their capabilities nationwide.
The organization also will design and engineer specific hardware and software as needed and sometimes complete limited production runs for crucial parts on an emergency-response basis. Army production awards generally will go out for bids through FedBizOpps.com and other channels under the government’s Diminishing Manufacturing Sources and Material Shortages acquisition procedures.
