This was posted in FEDBIZOPS on MOnday of this week:
"The purpose of this solicitation is to achieve price savings over the current .223 Rem duty ammunition. The Government reserves the right to cancel this solicitation in its entirety if it feels this price savings cannot be reasonably achieved. Resulting award will be used for training/qualification only, not for duty use, and will be used as a direct substitution in lieu of procuring like quantities of duty ammunition. The requirement will result in an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (ID/IQ) contract against which individual delivery orders will be placed. Estimated quantity is approximately 12,600,000 (12.6 million) rounds of .223 Rem training ammunition per year, totaling 62,500,000 (62.5 million) over the life of the contract. Key criteria for the training ammunition includes, but is not limited to: being easily distinguishable from duty ammunition (both in packaging and cartridge appearance), and meeting ballistic criteria to insure officer competency requirements are achievable.
All items will be in accordance with the statement of work (SOW) and RFP that will be provided at time of solicitation issuance. The awarded contract will be for a period of five (5) years from date of award"
Maybe I'm just paranoid, but 62.5 million rounds for training? Seems to be a bit excessive. Or is it to dry up supplies, although with they buying that has occurred over the last few years, there is more than enough ammo in the hands of those that want it.