Prototype OTA for XVIII Airborne Corps 5G Center of Gravity Testbed

The 419th Contracting Support Brigade, on behalf of the XVIII Airborne Corps, has awarded a sole-source Prototype Other Transaction Agreement (OTA) under the authority of 10 U.S.C. § 4022 to Dell Federal Systems L.P. and its primary partner, T-Mobile USA, Inc. The purpose of this Prototype OTA is to establish an experimental, secure, and resilient 100-square-mile 5G Center of Gravity Testbed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

This research and development effort will integrate proprietary commercial carrier capabilities (T-Mobile's 5G Standalone Core) with a highly secure, experimental Private Land Mobile Network (PLMN) utilizing Dell tactical edge-compute infrastructure.

The prototype focuses on validating the operational feasibility of 5G technology-as-a-service (TaaS) to support advanced mission applications for the Immediate Reaction Force (IRF), including Counter-UAS (C-UAS), real-time ISR video feeds via mandatory network slicing, and secure logistical tracking.

This award was executed as a sole-source action to leverage over $31.9 million in prior joint public-private investment made under a six-year USSOCOM Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA), thereby avoiding substantial duplication of cost to the Government and preventing unacceptable operational schedule delays.