Picatinny Arsenal Releases Modular Handgun RFP… And It’s A Trainwreck

By Bob Owens

The U.S. Army’s Contracting Command-New Jersey (ACC-NJ) at Picatinny Arsenal posted their Request for Proposal (RFP) for the XM17 Modular Handgun System (MHS) Program on Friday, August 28, 2015.

The 351-page document (PDF) strongly suggests that servicemen and taxpayers are getting the proverbial shaft to benefit large defense contractors, yet again.

The RFP (which you’re invited to download and review at your leisure at the link above) appears to be for a bundled or “packaged deal” contract. I called the program’s primary point of contact, Vincent F. Turco, in an attempt to verify that reading of the RFP.

Unfortunately, Mr. Turco is not allowed to discuss even such broad and important questions.

The contract appears to require that competing companies to submit an RFP containing all of the following:

• service-grade full-size pistols
• service-grade compact pistols
• fancy “general officer” pistols both full-size and compact
• cutaway and demonstration models of each pistol
• blank conversion kits
• various kinds of test barrels
• man marker round conversion kits to be compatible with the M1041 9mm UTM round
• standard and extended magazines
• bore brushes
• suppressor kits (full-size and compact)
• prototype ball ammunition for the pistols (referred to as XM1152)
• prototype hollowpoint ammunition (referred to as the XM1153 special purpose cartridge)
• dummy cartridges
• cutaway and demonstration models of each cartridge
• profile and alignment …read more

  Source:: Bearing Arms