VANCOUVER, B.C. – Mission Ready Services Inc. (TSX-V: MRS) – Mission Ready Services Inc. (“Mission Ready” or “MRSI”) is pleased to announce that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Protect The Force, Inc. (“PTF” or “Protect The Force” or the “Company”), has been awarded a 14 month, $97,500 subcontract through prime contractor, North Carolina State University – Textile Protection and Comfort Center (“NC State-TPACC”), to develop an Advanced Multipurpose Base ensemble for Emergency Responders (“AMBER”) for the Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”).
Through a Cooperative Agreement from DHS’s Science and Technology Directorate to NC State’s Textile Protection and Comfort Center (“T-PACC”), PTF will collaborate with T-PACC and leverage its vast commercial textile industry network and cutting-edge technology portfolio to provide subject matter expertise in advanced protective materials selection including the identification of materials as they relate to functional design, prototyping, end-user functionality requirements, desired performance attributes, material availability, and manufacturer competence and readiness.
PTF’s team of product development experts based in the innovation district of Boston, MA, will support NC State-TPACC in the development of concepts for review and selection by DHS to be prototyped and then manufactured for limited user evaluations. The team is also exploring the integration of the No-Contact technology for further user evaluations.
PTF’s Chief Technology Officer, Francisco J. Martinez states, “We are critically involved in the innovation and development of next-generation body armor for the Marines, United States Army and, now, the development of next generation uniforms for the Department of Homeland Security. It is an honor to contribute at this level and provide support in an industry that is poised to be revolutionized by the ever-growing leaps in technology in advanced textiles as they relate to personal protective clothing and individual equipment. Working with the T-PACC team of experts is a dream come true and being selected to receive this funding is a compliment to the excellent team of product development experts within PTF and the reputation we have developed within the industry.”
Tags: Mission Ready
$100,000 to develop a product that the Government will then buy from you. Sounds legit. How about “Hey Industry, make it and we will buy a bunch of them.”
BTW, if SSD isn’t the place to discuss this issue I don’t know where a good place would be. I would love to hear others opinion on this. I have been involved in GOV funded research but only when it was to develop some obscure item or process (medical) that wouldn’t get done without the funding dollars (i.e. no economic upside to the product). In this case, it sounds like DHS will be buying a gazillion of the thing.
This is pretty typical for any product for the government. Typically what the gov wants has some specific tdp that makes the product require significantly more testing/design work that would go into a commercial product. This testing is not cheap and can run anywhere from 100000 to several million alone. A commercial product may only cost $10 but after all the money is spent qualifing it to the gov req it quadrouples in price. The only time I have seen zero NRE chraged was products that A. Have a large number project to be sold or can be sold commercially (with tweaks) after the gov contrqct is done.
I can tell you from practical experience that development of products such as are being discussed in this article is not cheap. And frankly it is not cost effective in most cases to develop something in house with the hope that it will be readily accepted when there are SO MANY alternatives available.
That is not to say that companies do not develop products on their own, but it has to be something that they feel is truly innovative.
I recently had the privilege of working with an agency to develop a product they wanted built to their specific needs. They were more than happy to absorb the cost of development and in the end (after several small revisions), they were given a product that is exactly what they wanted. It is currently in testing and evaluation and HOPEFULLY it will result in a very large purchase… But we are guaranteed nothing more than the satisfaction of being able to work with them on this project! There is never any guarantee that the funding will be available to make the purchase that was originally discussed.
I’m not real smart when it comes to such things, but aren’t uniforms available COTS? This isnt enough money for serious CRBNE or fire gear research. And as much as like our brethren and sistren to the North, WTF? A Canuckian company is going to outfit the US DHS?
I though 5.11 owned the fed clothing marketplace 😉
5.11?
For a handful of agencies in DHS it’s VF Solutions.
i was being facetious; It’s like a particular company that has tried to trademark every word it used in it’s product’s line-up – like “air.”
Protect The Force is a US company Bill. Our laboratory is based in Boston MA and most of us are former DoD.Mission Ready Services is our parent company.
Forgive my ignorance, but what agency are these uniforms for? DHS (as we all know) has a myriad of different agencies with varying missions under its umbrella.
I can’t imagine VF Imagewear wants to give up its stranglehold on the uniforms for CBP/BP, ICE, or TSA… Then again, not procuring uniforms from Mexico would a good thing.
I seem to remember a Berry Amendment type discussion for DHS not that long ago?
I am also curious as to what agency is getting these uniforms. What sort of “emergency responders” does the DHS employ?
There are a handful of little agencies as well as FEMA. I’m assuming this is CBRN personal protective equipment?
Primarily for emergency responders. Both EMT / EMS and fire house station wear. Both have synergies in form and function. Thanks SSD
Martinez, are these uniforms that Kappler was working on some sample sets for?
GG. ? Kappler, the best CB products ever, have nothing to do w NFPA 1975 uniforms.
I wish Federal agencies were required to comply with Berry.
Me too! SSD