General, page-251

A sign that the DLA may be close to making a decision on the FRACU uniform?

A Request for Information (RFI) was issued early last month by the DLA seeking information about production capacity from prospective manufacturers of coats and trousers for the Army Combat Uniform, which is described in the RFI as being Flame Resistant, Permethrin Treated and Operational Camouflage Pattern. The estimated required annual quantity of unisex + female trousers is 1,018,007 and 863,120 for unisex + female coats.

Interim uniform pattern changes were said to have been made on January 16, 2019 and all ACU items are referred to as Type III, Class 2.

Class 2 means the fabric is permethrin treated. The fabric is Type III, “Flame Resistant Cloth Ripstop”, as opposed to Type I (50/50 NyCo Ripstop) or Type II ( 65/25/10 Rayon/Para-Aramid/Nylon Ripstop Flame Resistant – which is the fabric composition of Defender M).

In other words, this RFI concerns a new-design FRACU made from a new FR fabric, rather than the current Defender M fabric.

The composition of the FR Ripstop fabric is not disclosed. It could, for example, be Milliken’s ResQ military fabric, which is a ripstop fabric that uses 30% meta-aramid (Nomex), and hence is relatively expensive. Or it could, for example, be an FR treated version of Cordura’s NyCo Tactical fabric (also ripstop). Or it could be something else.

It is stated that the Government anticipates awarding multiple Firm-Fixed Price Indefinite Delivery-type contracts. The period of performance is a 12 month base period with 4 exercisable 12 month option terms.

A solicitation has not yet been issued but I would expect that will follow within a couple of months. Once manufacturers have been contracted, there is a 5 month production lead time for initial production quantities.