Anniston Army Depot in Alabama has been shopping for a commercial-grade autonomous mower. A solicitation on SAM.gov, the U.S. government’s contracting site, asked small businesses to offer one autonomous mowing system for the depot. Offers were due on October 5, 2026, so the window has closed, but the published requirements are worth reading: they show what a federal buyer treats as the minimum safety and fleet-control features for autonomous mowing.
The Solicitation
The notice, titled “Autonomous Mower” under solicitation number W911KF26QA059, was issued by Army Contracting Command at Anniston Army Depot. It was first posted on September 17, 2026 and updated on September 29. Questions were due by September 24, and offers by 10 a.m. Central time on October 5. It is a total small-business set-aside under NAICS 333112 (lawn and garden equipment manufacturing). The archive date is October 16, 2026. As of October 8, no awardee was shown on SAM.gov.
The description is one sentence: “The acquisition of one (1) commercial-grade autonomous mowing system for Anniston Army Depot (ANAD).” Delivery is to 7 Frankford Ave, Building 4, Anniston, AL 36201.
What the Army Asked For
The statement of work is not attached to the SAM.gov notice. The notice’s four attachments are all links, including the entry for W911KF26QA059 in the Defense Department’s PIEE Solicitation Module, which requires vendor registration to read. AI Mower News could not open the original document. The procurement-data service Starbridge publishes extracts from it, and these are the requirements we can quote from that page:
- Cutting width: “The autonomous mower shall have a minimum 60″ cutting width.”
- Fleet emergency stop: a portable remote Emergency Stop (E-Stop) able to control up to three (3) mowers simultaneously at a minimum operational radius of 500 feet.
- Loss of signal: an automatic loss-of-signal failsafe that immediately halts vehicle motion and stops blade rotation.
- Collision avoidance: an active collision avoidance system to prevent impact with personnel, wildlife, and static or dynamic obstacles.
- Obstructions: the mower must immediately come to a complete stop, disengage the cutting blades, and safely resume autonomous operations once the obstruction is cleared.
Other summaries of the solicitation circulating online list further requirements, such as a rear-discharge deck, run-flat tires, phone-based control software, a rollover shutdown and stored mowing-area profiles. We have not seen those clauses in a document we could read, so they are not reported here as fact.
Why a Depot Needs This
Anniston is not a city park. The depot describes itself as a U.S. Army maintenance center and munitions storage site occupying more than 25 square miles, with more than 15,000 acres of woodland. It is the Defense Department’s Center of Industrial and Technical Excellence for tracked and wheeled ground combat vehicles (except the Bradley), towed and self-propelled artillery, assault bridging, small-caliber weapons and locomotives, and it repairs the M1 Abrams tank, the M88 Recovery Vehicle and the Stryker. It began in 1941 as a storage depot. Mowing on a site like that means cutting around vehicles, people and wildlife over large areas, which explains the emphasis on a shared remote stop and on stopping the blades the moment contact with the controller is lost.
Why It Matters
Manufacturers write their own safety claims. A buyer’s specification is the other side of the conversation. This one asks for a 60-inch cut, which rules out residential robots and points to the class of machine sold by commercial autonomous mower makers, and it treats a fleet-wide remote stop, a dead-link failsafe and active obstacle detection as entry requirements rather than options. Expect similar language in municipal and institutional tenders as they appear.
FAQ
Which Army site is buying an autonomous mower?
Anniston Army Depot in Anniston, Alabama, through Army Contracting Command, solicitation W911KF26QA059.
Can companies still bid?
No. Offers were due on October 5, 2026. The notice is scheduled to be archived on October 16.
Which mower won?
No award had been posted on SAM.gov as of October 8, 2026.
Sources: sam.gov/opp/0521c667fb034d2b85437fc3f3d81044/view · starbridge.ai/rfp/autonomous-mower-rfp · anad.army.mil/
Author: AI Mow
AI Mow is the AI-assisted news desk of AI Mower News. It monitors manufacturer announcements, trade shows and industry sources, and drafts stories in our editorial voice. Every article is checked against its original source before publication — our fact gate holds anything that claims testing we did not do or specs the source does not support — and is published under this byline for transparency. How we work: https://aimowernews.com/editorial-guidelines/ · The people behind it: https://aimowernews.com/our-team/
Sources & evidence
Each figure in this article is tied to where it came from. “Manufacturer claim” means the maker states it and AI Mower News has not tested it.
- VERIFIEDSAM.gov lists solicitation W911KF26QA059, titled Autonomous Mower, from Army Contracting Command at Anniston Army Depot, as a Combined Synopsis/Solicitation. — sam.gov
- VERIFIEDThe requirement is for one commercial-grade autonomous mowing system for Anniston Army Depot. — sam.gov
- VERIFIEDThe notice was first posted September 17, 2026 and updated September 29, 2026; questions were due September 24 and offers were due October 5, 2026 at 10 a.m. Central. — sam.gov
- VERIFIEDIt is a total small-business set-aside under NAICS 333112 and product service code 3750; the archive date is October 16, 2026. — sam.gov
- VERIFIEDDelivery is to Anniston Army Depot, 7 Frankford Ave Building 4, Anniston, AL 36201. — sam.gov
- VERIFIEDThe SAM.gov notice carries no attached statement of work; its four attachments are links, including the PIEE Solicitation Module entry for W911KF26QA059, which requires vendor registration. — sam.gov
- VERIFIEDAs of October 8, 2026 no awardee was shown on SAM.gov for this solicitation. — sam.gov
- REPORTEDStarbridge, a procurement-data service, quotes the statement of work as requiring a minimum 60-inch cutting width. — starbridge.ai
- REPORTEDStarbridge quotes a portable remote Emergency Stop able to control up to three mowers simultaneously at a minimum operational radius of 500 feet. — starbridge.ai
- REPORTEDStarbridge quotes an automatic loss-of-signal failsafe that immediately halts vehicle motion and stops blade rotation. — starbridge.ai
- REPORTEDStarbridge quotes an active collision avoidance system to prevent impact with personnel, wildlife, and static or dynamic obstacles. — starbridge.ai
- REPORTEDStarbridge quotes that on an obstruction the mower must stop, disengage the blades and resume once the obstruction is cleared. — starbridge.ai
- REPORTEDAnniston Army Depot describes itself as a U.S. Army maintenance center and munitions storage site occupying more than 25 square miles, with more than 15,000 acres of woodland. — anad.army.mil
- REPORTEDThe depot is the Defense Department's Center of Industrial and Technical Excellence for tracked and wheeled ground combat vehicles (minus Bradley), towed and self-propelled artillery, assault bridging, small-caliber weapons and locomotives, and maintains the M1 Abrams, M88 Recovery Vehicle and Stryker. — anad.army.mil
- VERIFIEDDates and counts named in the article: posted September 17, updated September 29, questions September 24, offers October 5, archive October 16, published October 8, 2026; one system; three mowers; 1941 origin. — sam.gov
Last checked October 8, 2026. Spot an error? Tell us.
