Enable breadcrumbs token at /includes/pageheader.html.twig

Navy Prepares for Round Two of Information Warfare Consortium Projects

Industry day for IWRP 2 is December 15; NIWC and NAVWAR select ATI as consortium manager.

Building on the success of the first round of prototype awards of the Information Warfare Research Project (IWRP), the Naval Information Warfare Center Atlantic and the Naval Information Warfare Systems Command (NAVWAR) will be pursuing up to $500 million of projects under IWRP round two. Credit: NAVWAR Illustration by Wendy M. Jamieson

The Naval Information Warfare Center Atlantic, on behalf of the Naval Information Warfare Systems Command, announced on December 7 that it had awarded an other transaction agreement to Advanced Technology International (ATI) to manage its second Information Warfare Research Project, or IWRP 2. Based in Summerville, South Carolina, ATI will perform consortium management for the IWRP, handling research funding up to $500 million under a five-year period of performance.

“We are proud to continue supporting NAVWAR [Naval Information Warfare Systems Command] and IWRP consortium members in their collaborative efforts to develop and deliver innovative technology solutions to the most demanding information warfare challenges,” said Chris Van Metre, president and CEO of ATI. “The award of the IWRP 2 OTA [other transaction authority] sets the stage for this highly successful government-industry-academia collaboration to build on the achievements of IWRP’s first three years. ATI is ecstatic to be part of this team.”

The IWRP consortium began in 2018 with an initial $100 million funding ceiling and a performance period running through summer 2021. By June 2020, the IWRP team had allocated 100 percent of the ceiling—demonstrating the success of the new information warfare consortium. In July 2020, the ceiling was increased by $400 million with Navy approval and received a two-year extension, resulting in a total of $500 million ceiling limit and a five-year period of performance.

“The IWRP concept has proven to be an effective way to rapidly prototype information warfare solutions and get capabilities into our warfighters' hands,” said Peter Reddy, Naval Information Warfare Center Atlantic (NIWC Atlantic) executive director. “Technology is continually evolving, and to stay ahead of the adversary, we need to be agile and fast. Using IWRP 2 to collaborate with traditional and nontraditional industry partners will ensure we can continue to empower innovation and the advancement of technology at the speed of relevance. The possibilities will be endless.”

As part of its consortium management for the second round of the IWRP’s activities, ATI will provide NAVWAR the mechanism to reach a wide range of both traditional and nontraditional defense contractors across a variety of information warfare technology areas to address specific information technology challenges through prototype development. ATI will ensure that the consortium facilitates competition for individual prototypes projects initiated by NAVWAR that align to its technology needs, in addition to providing the ability to move their technology ideas from concept to prototype in rapid succession to support the needs of sailors and Marines, according to NAVWAR.

“We intend to build upon the success of IWRP and leverage collaboration with traditional and nontraditional partnerships in order to drive innovation and solve challenging problems the warfighter faces,” said Jee Youn Fickling, IWRP program manager, NIWC Atlantic. “IWRP 2 continues to promote rapid prototyping for information warfare technology focus areas to strategically align with the critical needs of the fleet.”

NAVWAR indicated that IWRP 2 will include “all of the major scope areas” related to information warfare, including: cyber warfare, cloud computing, data science and analytic technologies, assured communications, enterprise resource tools, autonomy, mobility, assured command and control, integrated fires, battlespace awareness, model-based systems engineering, on-demand manufacturing, development, security and operations, artificial intelligence/machine learning, and elegant design and user experience, the last two being new technology focus areas to meet the demand and interest.

“IWRP 2 will encourage a two-way exchange of information and ideas between consortium members and the government to bring the best solutions to the fleet,” said Kevin Charlow, NIWC Atlantic deputy executive director. “This collaboration of innovation will be invaluable to give sailors and Marines the advantage.”

NAVWAR and NIWC Atlantic are hosting an IWRP Industry Day on December 15 at 10:00 a.m.—with Bradley Goodrich, deputy director of NavalX, as the keynote speaker. The event will include four Request for Prototype Projects, two Pre-Solicitation Collaborations and one Technical Collaboration Exchange.

“This virtual industry day will be the first to include Request for Prototype Projects under IWRP 2,” NAVWAR indicated.

For more information about IWRP 2 or the upcoming virtual industry day, please visit www.theiwrp.org. NAVWAR and NIWC Atlantic encourage industry as well as government organizations to reach out.