Rapid Prototyping and Technology Initiative (RPTI)

The goal of this vehicle is to increase the Armament, Research, Development, and Engineering Center's (ARDEC's) responsiveness to meeting the soldier's immediate field requirements. In support of the Global War on Terror (GWOT), ARDECs mission, including lethality and counter-lethality, has expanded to include providing expedited developmental solutions to meet the customers needs at various stages of the lifecycle of a product.This procurement action is intended to be used as a vehicle to obtain materials and services necessary in support of the Global War on Terror (GWOT) and to meet ARDECs mission to rapidly respond to its customers need for armament related products and services.

ARDECs armament related products and services includes, but is not limited to, the cradle to grave activities associated with the research, development, engineering, prototyping, system improvements, and test support of ammunition, weapons, energetics (explosives, pyrotechnics, propellants), warheads, fire control, sensors and seekers, fuse products, novel weapon concepts, protection, assembly, packaging, demilitarization (disassembly, removal, recovery, reuse, destruction), and environmentally required waste treatments. Recent ARDEC activities in support of the GWOT (Special Operations Command, Field Assistance in Science and Technology, and others) have included engineering and prototyping activities developing improved gun mounts, protective shields for the Warfighter, IED detection and defeat mechanisms, 40mm nonlethal munitions, lightweight titanium mortar baseplate, 5.56mm ammunition links, new energetic materials, as well as acquisition of associated materials, equipment, and supplies essential to meeting the continually changing threat and rapidly emerging Warfighter requirements.