Todays curious government bid requests.

[MGKrebs]

This isn't really a bid request because it's just a notice of a sole source procurement. It seems to be for a heads up display designed for use with military aircraft, with a motion tracking accessory. I can't tell how many units they intend to buy. So far so good. The odd thing is who is buying it. The Department of Interior Minerals Management Service is buying this on behalf of the Air Force. Go figure.

"The U. S. Department of the Interior, Minerals Management Service, on behalf of US AirForce, Hill AFB, intends to make a firm-fixed price, sole source award to Kaiser Electro-Optics a Rockwell Collins Company. Specifically, USAF one Kaiser EyeHUD HMD simulation Helmet with Intersense IS900 HTS system. "
http://www.fbo.gov/spg/DOI/MMS/GovWorks/0405AN43954/SynopsisP.html

http://www.rockwellcollins.com/ecat/gs/EyeHUD.html?smenu=102
(pretty cheesy website for a high tech company)



http://www.isense.com/

[noamnety]

1. My best guess

Is that there is already a contract set up between the company and the Dept of the Interior, and it's cheaper to tack the new work onto the existing contract than to do a whole new one from scratch.

We used to do stuff like that in the Army - look for an existing contract vehicle we could use to speed up the process.