Since November I’ve been watching a rather interesting drama play itself out on Fed Biz Opps, the US Government’s website used to communicate procurement opportunities with the public. Aimed at industry, these postings spell out what the Government is buying. Normally, this isn’t a big issue. But in this instance it involves a constant flip flop over camouflage patterns.
Specifically, the Army wants to purchase 15,000 yards of Permethrin treated 50/50 NYCO fabric. It’s generally used to manufacture the Army Combat Uniform. The Permethrin treatment has been added to the fabric over the past few years as an insect repellant. That isn’t the issue. The issue has been whether to purchase the fabric in the Army’s current standard issue Universal Camouflage Pattern or in the Operational Camouflage Pattern known commercially as MultiCam by Crye Precision.
Originally posted 20 November, 2103, Army Contracting Command at Natick Soldier Systems Center posted a presolicitation, used to give industry a heads up, entitled “To purchase a minimum of 15,000 yards of Permethrin treated 50:50 Cotton/Nylon fabric from an EPA approved vendor” for “an acquisition requirement to purchase a minimum of 15,000 yards of Permethrin treated 50:50 Cotton Nylon (CoNy) fabric from an EPA approved Vendor. Fabric will be in the Operational Camouflage pattern…” Pretty cut and dried right?
But then, January 13th came and the actual solicitation was released and they asked for “50:50 Nylon:Cotton fabric in accordance with MIL-DTL-44436B Class 8; Universal Camouflage Pattern (UCP) (emphasis added) treated with permethrin meeting the requirements of GL/PD 07-13D Type I, Class 2 and GL/PD 07-14D Type I, Class 2, as described in the Statement of Work, Section C, of this solicitation.”
Naturally, the head scratching began. The purchase of the fabric in OCP was right on track with the “soft launch” transition to OCP from UCP and here the Army is, asking for the old stuff. What was going on? The Army even went so far as to address the issue in a Q&A update to the solicitation. Their statement sounds like it put the issue to bed. But did it?
Flipping isn’t any good unless there’s some flopping to go along with it right? Well this story has got some for you. On 06 February, 2014, an update to the solicitation reverted back to the original requirement, “Natick Soldier Research Development and Engineering Center’s (NSRDEC) has an acquisition requirement to purchase a minimum of 15,000 yards of Permethrin treated 50:50 Cotton Nylon (CoNy) fabric from an EPA approved Vendor. Fabric will be in the Operational Camouflage pattern…” Maybe it’s an administrative error, and maybe it’s schizophrenia, but either way, it’s painful to watch. UCP? OCP? Whatever works.
At this point I don’t even bother to ask the Army what they are up to as they have stopped communicating with me regarding camouflage as well as my colleagues at other websites. All any of us can do is watch what the Army does and report on its actions. In this case, ‘schizophrenia’ is the best word I can come up with to describe those actions. Yes, we’ve downloaded the documents and will post them here on SSD if the Army once again decides to alter the public record by deleting solicitation documents.
Hopefully, the Army will choose a single course of action regarding camouflage and make it work. The Soldier, industry and SSD are waiting.
