US Defense Logistics Agency Awards First Competitive Contract for 3D Printed Parts

The US Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), the lead logistics support agency for the Department of Defense (DoD), has awarded its first competitive contract for a component made with additive manufacturing (AM). DLA awarded an undisclosed vendor a contract to 3D print pylon bumpers for the F-15 Strike Eagle aircraft.

Tinker Air Force Base’s (AFB’s) Reverse Engineering and Critical Tooling (REACT) Lab — a critical link in the US military’s AM ecosystem — originally manufactured the pylon bumper, a component used to prevent structural damage to the F-15 engine. However, in order to prevent the part from taking up too much of the Air Force depot’s AM capacity, Tinker AFB called on DLA to find private sector partners to print the pylon bumper.

DLA AM program manager Tony Delgado. Image courtesy of DLA

Within six months, DLA was able to source the part via competitive bidding. According to DLA, the fact that Air Force was able to provide contractors with the relevant data package made competitive bidding a viable option in this case. Additionally, the relatively large order size — 1,300 parts — likely made the contract particularly attractive to prospective vendors.

In a press release, the DLA’s AM program manager, Tony Delgado, said, “Now we’ve demonstrated that we can also procure parts that are additively manufactured through open sources. That’s the best [solution] because it inspires competition among vendors and gives us more options.

“The variables go on and on [with AM], and there are different printing and manufacturing environments. That’s why it takes engineers so long to lock in all the parameters and approve the process. We’re here to help release the burdens of contracting from [the service branches]. That’s why DLA exists — we can manage consumable repair parts for all the military services.”

An F-15E Strike Eagle assigned to the 492nd Fighter Squadron flies over Royal Air Force Lakenheath, England, May 10. The 492nd trains regularly to ensure RAF Lakenheath brings unique air combat capabilities to the fight. (U.S. Air Force photo/ Tech. Sgt. Matthew Plew)

Competitive bidding for 3D printed parts in the US defense industrial base could be a quantum leap for the AM industry, and this is all the more likely because of the specific involvement of DLA. In February 2023, DLA announced that it was developing a set of common standards and methods for procurement of 3D printed parts across the whole DoD.

The agency’s interest in 3D printing goes back at least as far as 2019, when DLA worked with private sector partners to develop the DoD’s “largest repository” of 3D part files. With the precedent now established for offering competitive bidding contracts to vendors who can 3D print those parts, DLA could rather quickly get to the point where it’s offering similar contracts for hundreds of more parts in the DoD repository.

This would not only make it far easier for the service branches to buy 3D printed parts, and far easier for suppliers to sell them: soon enough, it would also almost certainly play a major role in lowering the cost of 3D printed parts for all of US industry. Further, because DLA already has the capability to provide goods and services to the rest of the US government in situations such as disaster relief, the process could realistically spread to other agencies of the US federal government, as well.