Army retains Orbis Operations to continue training in ‘Advanced Situational Awareness’

The officials in charge of training at the U.S. Army Infantry School and the U.S. Army Maneuver Center of Excellence at Fort Benning intend to award a follow-on contract to Orbis Operations, LLC, its incumbent training company, to continue to provide ”Advanced Situational Awareness” training.

This training is “imperative to the current war-fighting efforts,” explains an Army notice published on January 16, and particularly important to the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization, which has funded similar courses as part of its pre-deployment training for its own personnel.

Orbis Operations was awarded a contract worth just under $5 million in 2012 for a one-year training period, as well as a contract extension for an additional $732,000, says the Army’s document.

The Army Contracting Command now plans to award a sole-source three-month contract to Orbis Operations, plus a two-month option. “Award of a three-month contract provides continuity in crucial training for combat forces, as it provides additional time to determine if any other vendors can provide sufficient applicable expertise in the area of [Advanced Situational Awareness],” explains the Army.

In its “justification and approval” notice, the Army explained that its own market research had identified a handful of government agencies and commercial companies that offer somewhat similar training courses, but indicated how those specific courses fell short of the Army’s needs.

• The Federal Emergency Management Agency offers a course in Advanced Situational Awareness /Common Operating Picture, but it focuses on displaying operational information in order to facilitate collaborative planning in response to threats and hazards. “ASA focuses on developing an individual’s thinking, while the FEMA course focuses on group thinking skills that require active listening and conflict management,” observed the Army.
• The FBI offers a course at the FBI Academy available to U.S. military and intelligence officers that covers behavioral science for law enforcement. “The ASA course [offered by Orbis Operations] is more detailed than the Behavioral Science course in terms of its presentation of biometrics, proxemics, atmospherics, heuristics, geographics, and kinesics,” noted the Army.
• The Violent Crimes Institute, LLC, which has one presenter, Dr. Deborah Schurman-Kauflin, offers a course in behavioral science that is similar to the one offered at the FBI Academy. The program offered by the Violent Crimes Institute “focuses on using characteristics of a crime itself to profile the perpetrator,” observes the Army. “However, ASAT focuses exclusively on helping leaders analyze their environment in order to predict insurgent activity and make effective decisions to prevent their actions.”
• Active Analysis Consulting, a consulting firm, offers a course in “threat recognition and behavioral recognition,” says the Army, but that course is designed to train executive protection professionals and law enforcement officers.

Further information about this U.S. Army training contract is available from Anthony Dearman at 706-545-0350.