The marine corps third echelon test system (TETS): a new approach to ATS acquisition

In June of 1994, Secretary of Defense William Perry directed that DoD acquisition should make maximum use of commercial standards to meet automated test systems (ATS) performance specifications. In response, the Marine Corps began the process of re-evaluating the specifications to procure a ruggedized, forward-deployable test system based on commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) technology that would be able to withstand the demanding environment in which the tester would be deployed. This paper describes the approach taken by the Marine Corps in the TETS procurement process to specify the ATS at a requirements level, with a stringent adherence to open commercial standards. It focuses on a unique phase of the procurement and the bid sample period. As part of the procurement process, offerers for the TETS contract were asked to submit prototype units to the Marine Corps, prior to final contract award. The bid sample units were subjected to rigorous environmental testing, conducted by the Naval Research Labs (NRL) at Seal Beach, California, to ensure that the Marine Corps requirements could be met under worst-case conditions. This paper also describes the post-award field user test (FUT) field training and evaluation period, where TETS underwent field testing at Camp LeJeune in Jacksonville, North Carolina. In closing, the status of the TETS program is presented along with an outlook for key milestones over the next phases of the program.