Abrams Training Systems Sources Sought_20260225.pdf

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Abrams Training System Sources Sought

Executive Summary: Abrams Training Systems Modernization and Replacement

Project Manager (PM) Abrams is seeking information from capable and interested companies regarding the upgrade of existing Abrams Training Aids, Devices, Simulators, Simulations (TADSS) and/or the development of future replacement training systems. The focus of this initiative is to enhance the training and readiness of Abrams tank crews and maintainers.

The current TADSS portfolio includes five key systems that have present and/or future needs:

• Close Combat Tactical Trainer (CCTT): A collective training system that allows armor and mechanized infantry units to train in a combined arms environment using full-crew simulators. CCTT integrates various combat vehicle simulators, including the Abrams, and enables units to conduct training from the platoon to the battalion task force level.

• Advanced Gunnery Training System (AGTS): A simulator that provides an agile platform for training individuals, crews, platoons in precision gunnery skills. The AGTS provides the capability to master basic tank gunnery skills before live-fire exercises and allows for training in various scenarios and environmental conditions.

• Common Driver Trainer (CDT): A product line of reconfigurable and mobile simulators used to train military and civilian vehicle driver and crew skills. The CDT has a tank variant that simulates the M1A1 and M1A2 main battle tanks.

• Hands-On Turret Trainer (HOT): A full-fidelity maintenance trainer that provides a realistic training environment for evaluating and troubleshooting turret mechanics.

The HOT system allows for hands-on skill development in system operation, fault diagnosis, and repair tasks.

• Engine Diagnostic and Troubleshooting Trainer (EDTT): A full-scale engine and transmission management system designed to improve Soldiers' proficiency in maintaining the Full-Up Power Pack (FUPP).

PM Abrams is interested in exploring innovative solutions to modernize existing systems to meet evolving training requirements or provide a comprehensive replacement with next-generation capabilities.

Questionnaire:

1. Please describe your company’s experience with developing or supporting Live, Virtual, or Constructive Training Aids, Devices, Simulators, and Simulations

(TADSS).

a. Has your organization previously supported or developed TADSS for the Abrams platform?

2. Please describe any experience your company has with developing TADSS for any type of commercial or military system. Include the timeframe and scope of effort(s), the technology involved, and relevance to ground vehicle training systems.

3. Please describe any experience your company has with developing, operating, or sustaining Army ground vehicle platforms, and any experience with developing full-motion simulation trainers for those vehicles. Include the timeframe and scope of effort, the technology involved, and any teaming arrangements. Please include current personnel’s experience and expertise.

4. Please describe your company’s capabilities and experience with program management, hardware, software, and systems engineering, configuration management, cybersecurity, production, and sustainment, especially applicable to virtual and constructive training systems for military platforms.

5. Please describe the scope (in terms of quantities, cost, and schedule) and complexity of the most extensive project that your company has been involved with either as a prime contractor, or as a significant subcontractor. Please include any current and recent projects.

6. Please describe any innovative approaches or cutting-edge technologies that your company might propose to improve full-motion simulation training systems (including operational availability and sustainment).

7. Please describe any experience your company has with establishing, developing, or supporting product line solutions for military or commercial applications

8. Please describe approaches to teaming with Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) and other stakeholders to derive performance requirements down to detailed specifications to meet the user’s needs. Describe experience with tools used for automated requirements tracking.

9. Please describe your company's systems engineering process for translating user stories and stakeholder needs into detailed system requirements and design elements. In response, please address:

a. How do you decompose high-level user stories into specific, testable functional and non-functional requirements (e.g., performance, reliability, cybersecurity)?

b. Explain your methodology for translating those derived requirements into concrete physical and software design elements. What artifacts are produced during this phase (e.g., UI/UX mockups, architecture diagrams, interface control documents)?

c. What tools and processes do you use to maintain full lifecycle traceability, ensuring that every design element and line of code can be traced back to a specific user need?

10. Please describe your technical approach to developing networked training systems, addressing the distinct challenges of simulation data and voice communications.

a. Simulation Data and VOIP: Explain how you architect a system to handle both high-volume, low-latency simulation data and real-time Voice-Over-IP (VOIP) traffic concurrently. How do you ensure Quality of Service (QoS) for both data types?

b. Data Integrity and Redundancy: Detail your methodology for ensuring data integrity across the network. Furthermore, describe your strategy for system redundancy and fault tolerance to maximize uptime and prevent data loss during a training exercise.

c. Data Storage for AAR: Describe your approach to capturing and storing all relevant training data (simulation events, voice comms) for effective After- Action Review (AAR), including considerations for long-term storage and retrieval.

11. Describe your company's experience developing applications using modern graphics engines. Please specify which engines (e.g., Unreal, Unity, proprietary engines) you have the most expertise in.

12. If your company has experience with Unreal Engine 5, please describe up to three relevant projects. For each project, detail:

a. The scope and purpose of the application (e.g., training simulator, maintenance trainer, serious game).

b. The specific UE5 features utilized (e.g., Lumen for dynamic lighting, Nanite for high-detail models, Chaos Physics for realistic vehicle dynamics).

c. Your role in development (e.g., prime contractor, subcontractor, lead developer).

13. If your company has experience with an alternative graphics engine, please provide similar examples to the information in question #12.

14. Describe your approach to creating realistic and immersive virtual environments for training purposes. How do you balance performance requirements with the need for high-fidelity graphics and physics?

15. Describe your experience in developing and implementing complex scoring and grading algorithms for training systems. Please provide an example of a past project where you had to score a trainee's performance based on multiple variables, actions, and outcomes.

16. Detail your experience in creating After Action Review (AAR) systems. How do your systems capture, synchronize, and present performance data to instructors and trainees? Can you provide examples of AAR features you have developed, such as:

Event timelines and bookmarks. Multiple camera views (e.g., first-person, third-person, free-roam). Data visualization (e.g., charts, heatmaps).

17. Explain your methodology for translating raw performance data into actionable feedback for trainees. How do you ensure that the scoring is objective, consistent, and directly tied to training objectives?

18. Describe any projects where your company has utilized QR codes or similar technologies for data transfer, authentication, or linking to external data.

Specifically, describe your technical concept and experience for using QR codes to offload training or diagnostic data from a system (like a simulator) to a separate device (like a tablet or laptop) for review. Please address:

a. The type and amount of data you have successfully encoded or linked via this method.

b. Your approach to data compression and segmentation if the data exceeds the capacity of a single QR code.

c. The security measures you would implement to protect the data being transferred.

d. How do you ensure the integrity and successful transfer of data when using a QR code-based offloading method? Describe any error-checking or validation processes you have implemented.

19. Please describe future or present capability to handle large and heavy trainer designs – Floor area, safety, crane ability, truck loading (on/off) capabilities?

DESCRIPTION OF INTENT:

This is a Market Survey. No contract will be awarded from this announcement. This is not a Request for Proposal (RFP) or an announcement of a forthcoming solicitation, nor is it a request seeking contractors to be placed on a solicitation mailing list. Response to this market survey is voluntary and no reimbursement will be made for any costs associated with providing information in response to this market survey and any follow-on information requests. Data submitted in response to this market survey will not be returned. No solicitation document exists at this time, and calls requesting a solicitation will not be answered.

RESPONSES AND DUE DATE:

Each response to this market survey is requested to include Point(s) of Contact (POC) with associated contact information.

Responses to this market survey are due by 30APR2026. Please submit all responses and any questions prior to full response via email to thomas.j.monette6.civ@army.mil. Please format the subject line of the response email as follows: “[Organization Name] response to Market Survey – Abrams.” No telephone responses will be accepted.

If desired, the respondents may instead transmit responses to this request for information using DoD SAFE located at https://safe.apps.mil/ to Tom Monette at thomas.j.monette6.civ@army.mil and Audrey Whittaker audrey.b.whittaker.civ@army.mil. Please title contractor response as "Market Survey – Abrams " in the subject line in DoD SAFE. A separate email notification titled “[Organization Name] response to Market Survey – Abrams Training” shall be sent to the above https://safe.apps.mil/ mailto:thomas.j.monette6.civ@army.mil mailto:audrey.b.whittaker.civ@army.mil representative (absent the survey responses), immediately following the submission in DoD SAFE, stating the market survey was submitted via DoD SAFE. If you require a link to be able to submit your response via DoD SAFE, please send an email request to the above representative at least 3 working days in advance.

RESPONSE FORMAT (S):

Only electronic responses are requested. Please provide e-mail responses in PDF format to the Government POCs listed below. If you submit multiple e-mail messages, please make sure the subject lines include, for example, “message 1 of 3, 2 of 3, 3 of 3,” as well as [Organization Name]. All interested entities (e.g. companies, non-profit organizations, and academic institutes), regardless of size, are encouraged to respond to this request for information. All material submitted in response to this market survey must be unclassified and properly marked.

GENERAL INFORMATION:

The Government appreciates the time and effort taken to respond to this market survey.

The Government acknowledges its obligations under 18 U.S.C. §1905 to protect information qualifying as “confidential” under this statute. [To avoid possible confusion with the meaning of the term “confidential” in the context of Classified Information,” we will use the term “PROPRIETARY.”] Pursuant to this statute, the Government is willing to accept any PROPRIETARY (e.g., trade secret) restrictions placed on qualifying data forwarded in response to the survey questions and to protect it from unauthorized disclosure subject to the following:

1. Clearly and conspicuously mark qualifying data with the restrictive legend (all caps) “PROPRIETARY” with any explanatory text, so that the Government is clearly notified of what data needs to be appropriately protected.

2. In marking such data, please take care to mark only those portions of the data or materials that are truly proprietary (excessive breadth in marking inappropriate data as “PROPRIETARY” may diminish or eliminate the usefulness of your response - see item 6 below). Use circling, underscoring, highlighting, or any other appropriate means to indicate those portions of a single page which are protected.

3. The Government is not obligated to protect unmarked data. Additionally, marked data that is already in the public domain or in the possession of the Government or third parties, or is afterward placed into the public domain by the owner or another party through no fault of the Government will not be protected once in the public domain. Data already in the possession of the Government will be protected in accordance with the Government's rights in the data.

4. Proprietary data transmitted electronically, whether by physical media or not, whether by the respondent or by the government, shall contain the “PROPRIETARY” legend, with any explanatory text, on both the cover of the transmittal e-mail and at the beginning of the file itself. Where appropriate, when only portions of an electronic file are proprietary, use the restrictive legends ‘PROPRIETARY PORTION BEGINS:” and “PROPRIETARY PORTION ENDS.”

5. In any reproductions of technical data or any portions thereof subject to asserted restrictions, the government shall also reproduce the asserted restriction legend and any explanatory text.

6. The Government sometimes uses support contractors in evaluating responses.

Consequently, responses that contain proprietary information may receive only limited or no consideration since the Respondent’s marking of data as “PROPRIETARY” will preclude disclosure of same outside the Government and therefore will preclude disclosure to these support contractors assisting the evaluation effort. The Government will use its best efforts to evaluate those responses that contain proprietary information without using support contractors consistent with the resources available.

GOVERNMENT POINTS OF CONTACT:

Tom Monette, email: thomas.j.monette6.civ@army.mil, Audrey Whittaker, email:

audrey.b.whittaker.civ@army.mil mailto:thomas.j.monette6.civ@army.mil mailto:audrey.b.whittaker.civ@army.mil