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Electronic Environmental Health Facility, 1960
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4525754
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Electronic Environmental Health Facility, 1960
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Gerald R. Ford Congressional Papers
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The original documents are located in Box D15, folder ""Electronic Environmental Health
Facility, 1960" of the Ford Congressional Papers: Press Secretary and Speech File at the
Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.
Copyright Notice
The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of
photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. The Council donated to the United
States of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections.
Works prepared by U.S. Government employees as part of their official duties are in the public
domain. The copyrights to materials written by other individuals or organizations are presumed to
remain with them. If you think any of the information displayed in the PDF is subject to a valid
copyright claim, please contact the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.
Digitized from Box D15 of The Ford Congressional Papers: Press Secretary and Speech File at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
Post 1959-Julj
ELECTRONIC ENVIRONMENTAL TEST FACILITY
GENTLEMEN:
For many years the Army has required newly developed equipment to
be subjected to extensive tests in the form of engineering tests con-
ducted at our laboratories and proving grounds and then subjected to
user tests conducted by the Army's Test Boards supervised by the
U. S. Continental Army Command. In addition, the Army has regularly
assembled its electronic and communications systems in field exercises
which simulate battlefield conditions as closely as possible. However,
as the number and types of electronic devices have increased in recent
years, we have been experiencing compatibility problems during these
major exercises. We could not isolate the cause of these problems by
individual test or in the uncontrolled environment found in a field
exercise,
Therefore, the requirement for this facility has arisen from the
need of the Army for electronic environmental testing of communica-
tions-electronic equipment under controlled conditions. / We know
that
r
if we go to war today, an Army Corps will have about 23,000 electro-
magnetic emission devices in a square 60 miles on a side, whereas
there were something like 9,000 such devices in use in 1948 in the
same area.
This program will create a field laboratory which will determine
the incompatibility among existing equipments. It will acquire data
FORD & LIBRARY GERALD
on which to base specific recommendations for modification of equip-
ment to reduce interference. It will provide the basis for the
establishment of standards and specifications to limit interference
in future development; and will test frequency allocation plans and
operational concepts under controlled conditions. Newly developed
equipment will be tested in a realistic electromagnetic environment
prior to standardization. Also, it will provide a range for engineer-
ing and operational testing of surveillance devices and systems.
The environment, when in operation, will be a vital training
ground for signal, electronic warfare, and Army Security Agency units
for coping with the problems which combat troops will face in this
area on the future battlefield. Through this effort the battlefield
commander will be assured that his command control and surveillance
equipment will operate properly in any and all electromagnetic
situations.
It was determined that the problem was of such magnitude and
complexity that a major contractual effort would be necessary to
install and operate such a facility under the management, supervision
and control of the United States Army.
Accordingly, a meeting W&B held in Tueson, Arizona, in January
1959, to acquaint Industry with the Army's requirements. This meeting
was attended by approximately 400 individuals representing more than
2
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130 concerns. At this time the intent of the Army to solicit pro-
posals for this program was disclosed with the details as to the
requirement. A request for quotation was issued in July 1959 to
all concerns that had indicated an interest in submitting a proposal.
The solicitation went to 127 companies - of which 80 were large busi-
ness and 47 small business.
A pre-bidders conference was held 27 July 1959 in Tucson, Arizona,
to permit Industry to query the Army as to any points not clear. At
this time it was disclosed that this procurement would be made by means
of a two-phase method. The first phase would consist of the submission
of technical proposals without pricing and their evaluation to insure
that the proposals were technically acceptable. Bidders were advised
that the technical evaluation of their submissions would be utilized
to reduce the number of bidders to those concerns whose offers were
considered most advantageous to the Government from a technical stand-
point. Twelve technical proposals were received by 31 August 1959.
The concerns submitting these proposals were identified in the material
which has been forwarded to the Committee.
The 12 proposals were submitted by the contracting officer for
technical evaluation to an evaluation panel established by the Chief
Signal Officer of the Army. The evaluation by this panel resulted in
the conclusion that four proposals were considered sufficiently high
in technical quality to warrant consideration in Phase II. The
concerns which submitted these four proposals were also identified
3
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in the material forwarded to the Committee.
Full and free price negotiations were then conducted with these
four concerns and with their proposed subcontractors by military
teams representing the Chief Signal Officer to insure a complete under-
standing of each proposal. After thorough negotiations, cost and price
analyses, and reexamination of the technical aspects of these four
proposals, the recommendations of the Chief Signal Officer were for-
warded to the Army Staff for final processing and decision by the
Secretary of the Army.
This program is so designed that the contractor will not himself
evaluate equipment in the operation of this facility or determine the
equipment to be tested. The contractor will be charged with installing
testing equipment and the conduct of testing operations.
The equipment to be tested in the initial phases will be standard
items of equipment available in the Army inventory plus new items be-
ginning to emerge from the development program which are suitable for
the conduct of field engineering tests. During the course of the tests
the contractor, under supervision of the Army, will collect the necessary
data, reduce them to manageable proportions; and deliver them to the
military authorities at Fort Huschuca. The final analysis of the data,
the evaluation of the test, and the determination of the suitability of
the tested equipment for inclusion in the Army inventory will be the
responsibility of the Army and not the Contractor.
4
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The Army will direct and control the manner in which the
contractor prosecutes this contract. A team of military and civilian
personnel from the U. 5. Army Electronic Proving Ground will be directly
controlling, reviewing, directing and approving the performance of the
work.
This is not a management type contract; it requires skills for
devising, fabricating, installing and operating a test facility.
The Army feels that this facility is a most urgently needed prov-
ing device which will obviate the development and introduction of
equipment into a battlefield environment where it may not function,
and which will save critcally short Research and Development funds
needed for the Defense Effort. It has the full support of the
Director of Research and Engineering in the Office of the Secretary
of Defense.
5
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