PHILADELPHIA –
With a lighter weight, better fit and increased mobility, the modular scalable vest enhances servicemembers’ lethality in combat zones, said the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support Clothing and Textiles supply chain contracting officer who helped implement DLA’s sustainment contracts for the item.
“It’s part of the soldier protection system, torso and extremity protection system, for the soldier and over the last three years the item started transitioning to DLA for sustainment,” Maria Aguayo said.
Initially procured by the Army Contracting Command for Product Manager Soldier Protective Equipment, the MSV replaces the improved outer tactical vest as a soft body armor ensemble, Aguayo said. Used by every military service except for the Marine Corps, the MSV requires use of body armor plates to complete the full protection for service members and is available in smaller sizes than its predecessor.
Aguayo is a senior contracting officer providing support to C&T’s Individual Equipment Integrated Supplier team, led by Branch Chief Michael Rettano.
“The team put together a process to procure the MSV ensembles from the Army contract over the last few years while DLA’s contracts were being negotiated and awarded,” Rettano said. “So, there’s no cut-off providing the MSVs to the warfighter while the DLA contracts are awarded.”
DLA awarded three contracts for MSVs in April and May, with a total value, or ordering capacity of $450 million, over three years. The first deliveries are expected to customers in October.
“[As far as] innovation, Michael coordinated with the services to begin the support from the DLA perspective sooner by becoming an ordering activity on the Army contract, so it definitely is a positive from the logistics standpoint to put DLA forward with sustainment,” Aguayo said.
So far, DLA has provided 235,200 MSVs on the original Army contract since 2021.
“In previous cases there would be a time when DLA became the sustainment activity, and there would be a potential gap of a year or more in order for DLA to place contracts,” Rettano said. “So, the process with the MSV, we have continuous deliveries within that onboard timeline.”
This was the first time Rettano, and team used this procurement strategy and have since used it on other body armor acquisitions, he said.
Another unique strategy used to procure MSVs was setting the guaranteed minimum delivery requirement as the first article testing sample, Rettano said.
“Historically that’s been in the form of delivery quantities, that sometimes can be a large dollar-value, so in order to free-up funds for the supply chain, the previous Integrated Support Team Chief Catherine Dillon led the division into the practice of obligating the first article testing samples as the guaranteed minimum on the contract,” Rettano said.
DLA provides funding for first article testing, then production quantity and delivery orders are pending based on performance.
“[Vendors] want production quantities and to maintain their viability, so it’s a win for the government and the industry base as well,” Aguayo said.
The team first tested this strategy with smaller body armor contracts before implementing it with the MSV contracts.
“This has proven to be a successful approach,” Aguayo said. “But it also entices our industrial base partners and holds them accountable to performance.”
The MSV contracts also support the domestic clothing manufacturing industrial base as it takes a collective of vendors to complete the item, Aguayo said.
“What we see with industry is that they all partner,” Aguayo said. “The cut-and-sew manufacturers will partner with the ballistics suppliers. This program has a good mix of small businesses that it supports. It is truly a remarkable program and an example of partnering with both our industrial partners and the services to get the warfighter what they need.”
C&T works closely with vendors throughout the manufacturing process to ensure item quality.
“The MSV is a critical safety item and undergoes a lot of testing during the manufacturing process, starting with that first article testing and continuously through production with lot testing,” Rettano said. “Because these are worn by [servicemembers] and meant to protect against threats, we have to ensure the quality is maintained throughout the lifecycle of this multi-year contract.”
C&T also worked closely with customers to ensure manufactured items meet their requirements, and internally with its respective disciplines, including customer operations, quality assurance and planning.
“We really work with all the stakeholders internal to DLA to put together our plan and then also externally with the Army Engineering Support Activity to make sure we understand what the requirements are,” Rettano said. “It’s no small feat by all the teams, but specifically the contracting teams to build an acquisition strategy and then defend [it] with all the levels of review for procurement for this item.”
Rettano also used the MSV acquisition as an opportunity to build the bench or share skills across the team.
“Because this is a multi-year effort and lots of parties are involved, we also have new members of the team joining in to support the project and get experience working with body armor procurements,” Rettano said. “These programs employ our senior contracting specialists with institutional knowledge and then we also bridge in some new employees to broaden their skillsets.”
Casandra Rogers, an administrative contracting officer on Rettano’s team, is part of this skill sharing model.
“Rogers is expanding and developing her procurement skillset by taking on post-award administration duties for all three MSV contracts,” Rettano said.