After 1999, when Poland became a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, there was a need for new firearms for the Polish Armed Forces compatible with NATO standards. Starting in the early 2000s, at the Mechanical Equipment Research and Developing Centre ("Ośrodek Badawczo Rozwojowy Sprzętu Mechanicznego" – OBR SM) in Tarnów, engineer Aleksander Leżucha started his work on a new standard sniper rifle. The work on the Alex had financial backing of the Polish Science Research and Information Technology Ministry in a joint venture construction with the manufacturer OBR SM Tarnów. It is intended that this sniper rifle will ultimately replace all precision rifles of this caliber in Polish service (currently (2009) mostly SVD).