JHT Awarded Sole Source Navy Contract Through SBIR Grant

The Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division exercised a unique contracting option in awarding training work to Orlando based simulation firm JHT Incorporated.

JHT Incorporated announced today they were awarded a $6.9M sole source contract to support the Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division (NAWCTSD) NATO Sea Sparrow Missile System (NSSMS) Operations and Maintenance Training System Simulator project.

The recent award highlights the company’s strong historical partnership with the Navy. JHT was a support contractor for the first iteration of their Multipurpose Reconfigurable Training System (MRTS) in 2013. The MRTS technology was designed to instruct sailors on submarine maintenance and operator tasks, reduce overall training costs and increase student throughput. The actual sub environment was emulated in a classroom using touch screens housed in large commercial racks. The simulation allowed the user to manipulate 2D and 3D representations of knobs, switches and cables using common swipe, tap and pinch gestures.

The Navy invested further into the MRTS technology by sponsoring a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant to integrate a broader library of gestures. SBIR grants, segmented into three competitive and executable phases, aid small businesses in developing and commercializing new technologies with government support. JHT achieved all three phases of the SBIR grant resulting in the ability to receive sole source awards for any government contract with a multi-touch simulation requirement (as per the SBIR/STTR Reauthorization Act of 2011 and the Competition in Contracting Act (CICA) of 1984).

“This award, along with JHT’s previous SBIR Phase III awards, provides the Government with a streamlined contracting approach to acquire innovative technologies that they have already invested in through the SBIR program. Our customers are continually amazed by the amount of flexibility and agility that is afforded to them by the SBIR sole source contracting process,” said Matt Robinson, EVP of Business Development.