US Army's next series of NIEs focused on Heavy BCTs

The US Army has officially announced that it is seeking industry and government sources with "mature solutions" to participate in its Network Integration Evaluation in 2013 (NIE 13.2).

On 18 July the army's System of Systems Integration (SoSI) Directorate released a draft 'sources sought notice' to identify the capabilities that service officials wish to see participate in NIE 13.2, which is scheduled for May 2013 at Fort Bliss in Texas and White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.

Capabilities that industry or government shops offer for the event are first evaluated against a set of entrance criteria. The systems that are then chosen to participate in NIE 13.2 could, if deemed worthy, ultimately be purchased by the army as part of an integrated set of networking systems that would be fielded to brigades in 2014, known as Capability Set 2014.

In June the army concluded NIE 12.2, its largest so far, and in January 2012 issued a 'sources sought notice' for technology to participate in NIE 13.1, set for October and November. This event is intended specifically to evaluate potential industry solutions to help network Heavy Brigade Combat Teams (HBCTs), army spokesman Paul Mehney told IHS Jane's .