Q: What is "rapid equipping"
A: “Rapid equipping” means acting quickly to procure and deliver nonstandard equipment for a specific time, place and unit, to mitigate urgent capability shortfalls. REF’s goal is to fill a requirement in less than 180 days to meet unit deployment cycles.

Q: What is the difference between “equipping” and “fielding”?
A: “Equipping” means providing a timely solution to address the urgent operational needs of a specific unit. “Fielding” implies that the equipment is intended for the entire Army and has undergone a full doctrine, organization, training, material, leadership, personnel and facilities (DOTMLPF) assessment.

Q: What makes REF unique?
A: The REF combines three core authorities, requirement validation, acquisition and funding designated to support warfighter requirements into a single organization to address urgent requirements for specific units.

Q: Who is the REF customer?
A: The REF provides immediate commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) and government-off-the-shelf (GOTS) solutions to deployed and pre-deploying Army units.

Q: I am a Soldier with a capability gap. How do I get REF support?
A: Any Army unit can contact the REF operations center to request a 10-Liner, an approved HQDA requirements document. This simple form gathers information about the capability gap and operational intent for the solution. Start the process here