Naval Information Warfare Centers (NIWC) Atlantic and Pacific held a Solicitation Industry Day outlining the third iteration of the Navy’s highly successful rapid prototyping initiative, Information Warfare Research Project (IWRP) 3, on Oct. 11.
This Industry Day was offered through an other transaction authority (OTA) program announcement requesting proposals from across industry, with a focus on non-traditional defense contractor and small business partners, for the opportunity to organize and operate IWRP 3 in the form of a consortium.
“This new version will be the same consortium-based effort as with former IWRP iterations but with an undefined ceiling this go around,” Fickling said. “Due to successes realized through IWRP 1 and 2, we anticipate former customers returning with more money to spend on developing IWRP prototype projects that could result in direct follow-ons for production.”
Leadership from across the Naval Information Warfare Systems Command (NAVWAR) enterprise provided command overviews as well as expectations of IWRP 3. Additionally, the event gave industry the opportunity for questions and answers and an avenue to offer feedback for areas of IWRP 3 consideration.
“It is our job to keep up at the forefront of the capabilities that the warfighters need to accomplish their mission and to deliver those solutions as quickly as possible,” said NIWC Atlantic Deputy Executive Director Kevin Charlow. “That’s where we have seen such tremendous value through IWRP to rapidly prototype and test concepts and iterate to a final product for the field.”
IWRP 1 had a $500M ceiling with a five-year period of performance, which officially ended this year. IWRP 2 also currently has a $500M ceiling and is the focus of current prototyping developments. IWRP 3 will have an undefined ceiling over a ten-year ordering period with prototype projects up to TOP SECRET/SCI level expected to be more common as the project progresses.
Since launching in 2018, the program has executed 164 prototype awards across all IWRP efforts.
IWRP3 is tentatively expected to award in the second quarter of fiscal year 2024.
More information about the IWRP3 Other Transaction solicitation and resources can be found on
SAM.gov, notice ID N6523623R0063.
All presentation material used, questions and answers submitted before, during and after the Industry Day were recorded and posted to NAVWAR E-Commerce under the OT program announcement (PA) in the solicitation section (
https://e-commerce.dc3n.navy.mil//).