DOD states expectations for directed-energy group in updated solicitation

The Defense Department will task a new industry group aimed at accelerating directed energy with more than a dozen projects per year, per an updated solicitation released Friday.

The $450 million total cost estimate across five years for the Joint Directed Energy Consortium (JDEC) will cover coalition management -- which will include about 15 to 30 project agreements and up to three test and demonstration events with international partners and joint force members annually.

The department says that $450 million is not a hard cap, though.

“The $450 Million is not a ceiling and is an estimate,” DOD says in the solicitation.

Hopeful participants are also required to have existing Top Secret and Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS/SCI) security clearances to work on-site in a classified facility. Entities without that clearance can work with a pre-existing integration partner to meet the requirement, according to the updated notice.

The updates come just over two weeks after the initial solicitation, in which the department announced it would establish a group of nontraditional defense contractors, research and academic institutions to spur faster access to the commercial sector and support the rapid development of directed energy capabilities for military use.