259 million dollars to Tapestry Solution (Boeing) for the Weapons Planning Suite

(To Alessandro Rugolo)
03/06/19

Tapestry Solution, a company of the Boeing group, has been awarded a ten-year contract by the American DoD for the development, evolution and support of the US Air Force's "Weapons Planning Suite" (WPS) software. WPS is a component of the more complex "Joint Mission Planning Software" (JMPS).
The company awarded the contract will have to commit to the next 10 years for everything related to software (design, development, architecture, migration, integration, improvements, upgrades, tests and documentation) using a flexible methodology (such as Agile sprint / release process).

The award of the contract took place through a competition open to American companies, while participation in foreign companies was explicitly prohibited.

But what is WPS for?

The WPS allows the collaborative planning of missions and the sharing of capacitive data between military services, with particular regard to the precision guided ammunition employed by the military aircraft A-10, B-1, B-52, F-15E, F-16, F-22, F / A-18 and F-35.

Some brief considerations:

- interesting to note that participation in the tender was explicitly forbidden to foreign companies. Not surprisingly, considering the need for the US government to have the maximum possible control over both the contracted company and the staff working there. The development of a military planning software needs in fact the deep knowledge of the operating procedures but also the knowledge of the systems of the platforms with which it must interact, we speak therefore of systems certainly classified. In a second time the possibility was granted to participate in the tender also to the companies registered in the "Joint Certification Program" while the American companies in the FOCI category (Foreign Ownership, Control or Influence) could not participate. This does not mean that this procedure is also an indication of American protectionism. I think about the rule of reciprocity normally used in the diplomatic and economic world ...

- the contract provides for the supply of all software-related activities. This procedure is the only one possible in an operating environment where any misunderstanding can cause unacceptable delays. Similarly, the methodology chosen is the "agile" one, considered the fastest for software development and continuous correction.

Sources:

- https://defence-point.com/2019/05/29/u-s-air-force-selects-boeing-to-pro...
https://www.defenseworld.net/news/24851/USAF_Awards_Boeing__259M_Contrac...
https://www.govcb.com/government-bids/WEAPON-PLANNING-SOFTWARE-WPS-NBD00...
https://www.avatarpartners.com/solutions/software-development
https://www.epicos.com/tender/FA8681-18-R-0006
https://www.dla.mil/HQ/LogisticsOperations/Services/JCP/DD2345Instructions/

Photo: Boeing