Army not sold on new approach to radio acquisition

On the same subject

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  May 28, 2020 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security

  Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - May 27, 2020

  NAVY Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, is awarded a $393,846,014 modification (P00008) to previously awarded firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract N00019-19-D-0015. This modification increases the ceiling to produce and deliver Ancillary Mission Equipment (AME)/Pilot Flight Equipment (PFE) and associated AME/PFE initial spares in support of F-35 Lot 14 aircraft deliveries for the Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, non-Department of Defense participants and Foreign Military Sales customer's operational aircraft. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas, and is expected to be complete by September 2023. No funds are obligated at time of award and funds will be obligated on individual orders as they are issued. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. BAE Systems Technology Solutions and Services, Rockville, Maryland, is awarded a $10,536,004 modification (P00006) to previously awarded cost-plus-fixed-fee contract N00421-20-C-0003. This modification exercises options to provide engineering and technical services for integrated communications and information systems radio communications on Navy ships in support of the Ship and Air Integration Warfare Division, Naval Air Warfare Center, Webster Outlying Field, Maryland. Work will be performed in Saint Inigoes, Maryland (60%); California, Maryland (30%); Bath, Maine (5%); and Pascagoula, Mississippi (5%), and is expected to be complete by June 2025. Fiscal 2020 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funds for $2,000,000 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc., Poway, California, is awarded a $7,432,050 modification (P00006) to previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract N00019-18-C-1063. This modification provides for Group 5 unmanned air system intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance services. These services are in support of outside the continental U.S. (OCONUS) Task Force Southwest and Marine Corps operations utilizing contractor-owned/contractor-operated MQ-9 unmanned air systems. Work will be performed in Yuma, Arizona (35%); Poway, California (15%); and various OCONUS locations (50%), and is expected to be complete by July 2020. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance (Navy) funds in the amount of $7,432,050 will be obligated at time of award, all of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. ARMY Lockheed Martin Missile and Fire Control, Grand Prairie, Texas, was awarded a $106,282,221 hybrid (cost-plus-fixed-fee, firm-fixed-price) contract for industrial engineering services for programs supporting international contractor logistics services related to the Multiple Launch Rocket System. Bids were solicited via the internet with one received. Work will be performed in Grand Prairie, Texas, with an estimated completion date of May 26, 2023. Fiscal 2020 other procurement (Army) funds in the amount of $ 9,553,209 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity (W31P4Q-20-C-0032). EXP Federal, Chicago, Illinois, was awarded a $25,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract for architect and engineering services for construction and renovation projects in the Republic of Korea. Bids were solicited via the internet with four received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Nov. 24, 2023. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Far East District, is the contracting activity (W912UM-20-D-0001). Lockheed Martin Corp., Orlando, Florida, was awarded a $13,210,610 hybrid (cost-plus-fixed-fee, firm-fixed-price) contract for modernized target acquisition sight/pilot night vision sensor refurbishment. Bids were solicited via the internet with one received. Work will be performed in Orlando, Florida, with an estimated completion date of May 31, 2022. Fiscal 2010, 2018 and 2019 aircraft procurement (Army); and 2010 Foreign Military Sales (United Kingdom) funds in the amount of $13,210,610 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity (W58RGZ-20-F-0413). General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc., Poway, California, was awarded a $13,181,067 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for Gray Eagle post-production software support. Bids were solicited via the internet with one received. Work will be performed in Poway, California, with an estimated completion date of May 27, 2021. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance (Army) funds in the amount of $13,181,067 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity (W31P4Q-20-F-0250). The Boeing Co., Mesa, Arizona, was awarded a $7,578,872 modification (P00057) to contract W58RGZ-16-C-0023 to provide generator feeder fault protection for the Apache helicopter. Work will be performed in Mesa, Arizona, with an estimated completion date of Dec. 31, 2024. Fiscal 2019 aircraft procurement (Army) funds in the amount of $3,713,646 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity. Tasso Inc.,* Seattle, Washington, was awarded a $7,500,000 firm-fixed-price contract for serology kits. Bids were solicited via the internet with one received. Work will be performed in San Diego, California, with an estimated completion date of Jan. 15, 2021. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance (Army) funds in the amount of $7,500,000 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, is the contracting activity (W911QY-20-P-0158). (Awarded May 1, 2020) DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY Raytheon Co., Andover, Massachusetts, has been awarded a maximum $14,494,050 firm-fixed-price delivery order (SPRRA2-20-F-0087) against a seven-year basic ordering agreement (SPRBL1-15-D-0017) for antenna elements. This was a sole-source acquisition using justification 10 U.S. Code 2304 (c)(1), as stated in Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1. This is a two-year, five-month contract with no option periods. Location of performance is Massachusetts, with a Sept. 30, 2022, performance completion date. Using military service is Army. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2020 through 2022 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Aviation, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama. Puerto Rico Apparel Manufacturing Corp.,** Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, has been awarded a maximum $11,173,437 modification (P00010) exercising the first one-year option period of a one-year base contract (SPE1C1-19-D-1151) with four one-year option periods for various types of coats and trousers. This is a firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract. Location of performance is Puerto Rico, with a Nov. 29, 2021, estimated performance completion date. Using military services are Army and Air Force. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2020 through 2021 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Awarded May 21, 2020) AIR FORCE Ophir Corp., Littleton, Colorado, has been awarded an $11,281,000 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for repair of the B-2 pilot alert assembly and laser energy monitor. Work will be performed in Littleton, Colorado, and is expected to be completed May 25, 2025. This award is the result of a non-competitive acquisition. Fiscal 2019 repair funds in the amount of $1,500,000 are being obligated at the time of award. Air Force Sustainment Center, Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma, is the contracting activity (FA8119-20-D0004). LinQuest Corp., Los Angeles, has been awarded an $11,008,552 firm-fixed-price modification (P00047) to contract FA8819-15-F-0001 for the Space and Missile Systems Center technical support follow-on task order bridge extension. This modification provides continued technical support services for the Special Programs Directorate, Los Angeles Air Force Base, California. Work will be performed at Los Angeles AFB, California, and is expected to be completed May 31, 2021. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $856,651; and fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $3,000,000 are obligated at the time of award. The U.S. Space Force, Space and Missile Systems Center, Special Programs Directorate, Los Angeles AFB, California, is the contracting activity. *Small business **Economically disadvantaged women-owned small business in historically underutilized business zones https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2199430/source/GovDelivery/

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  February 8, 2021 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security

  German Defence Ministry punts key US defense-cooperation projects to the next government

  By: Sebastian Sprenger COLOGNE, Germany — The German Defence Ministry will leave planned air defense investments and other high-profile programs involving U.S. vendors unresolved in the final months of the Merkel government, officials have told lawmakers. A Feb. 3 list of “important” but unfunded programs, as officials wrote, includes several trans-Atlantic defense efforts that have been simmering for some time. As a result, American contractor behemoths Lockheed Martin and Boeing are left to wait until a new government re-litigates Germany's defense acquisition posture sometime after the Sept. 26 election. Lockheed Martin, along with MBDA Deutschland, has been gunning for a contract on the TLVS missile defense program following more than a year of negotiations and several years of German-American co-development. The program's prospects turned dimmer last fall, as new requirements drove up costs. Unsurprisingly, TLVS now officially appears on the to-do list for the next chancellor. Notably, a project aimed at defending against short-range aerial threats, like drones or mortar fire, is also lacking a budget, defense officials wrote to lawmakers. Defence Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer late last year reframed Germany's air defense requirements as needing greater focus on drone threats, as evidenced by the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. She said a wholesale evaluation of the entire weapons portfolio would determine the way ahead, including what systems the Bundeswehr needs to counter threats of different sizes from various distances. Whatever happened with the review, it appears it did not spur an appetite to start something new soon. That leaves Germany's fleet of Patriot systems, along with a limited order of counter-drone systems made by Kongsberg and Hensoldt aimed at fulfilling Germany's commitment to NATO for 2023, as the baseline equipment for the time being. Lockheed also must wait for what happens next in the Bundeswehr's heavy transport helicopter program, which is meant to replace the fleet of CH-53G models. The Defence Ministry effectively halted the acquisition process last fall after Lockheed and Boeing went over budget with their custom offers of the CH-53K King Stallion and the CH-47 Chinook, respectively. German defense officials recently requested information from the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency about buying more standard, and presumably cheaper, versions of the desired aircraft instead. In response, Lockheed launched a formal protest, which is now on the docket of the Federal Cartel Office, as newspaper Die Welt first reported. Company officials said they want to get a ruling of whether Berlin walking away from the purchase altogether was in line with fair-competition rules. German acquisition laws make it difficult for companies to protest when the government chooses not to award any contract at the end of a competition, said Christian Scherer, a public procurement expert with the law firm CMS Germany in Cologne. “Generally speaking, you can't force the government to buy anything,” he said. “But bidders might have compensation claims.” Judging offers as economically unfeasible, for example, could qualify as a valid reason for the government to withdraw, Scherer told Defense News. At the same time, there is a legal path if companies suspect abusive implementation of the rules, especially if the government's requirements remain the same, he added. Those rules exist to protect offerers against favoritism and other forms of manipulation. “You can't go ahead and compete the same thing with the intention to award the contract to your preferred bidder.” Finally, Germany's long-term campaign of replacing its fleet of Tornado combat aircraft will remain untouched during the final months of the Merkel era, according to the Defence Ministry. Defense officials last spring settled on a mixed fleet of mostly Eurofighters plus a smaller number of Boeing-made Super Hornets for electronic warfare and nuclear missions. The decision has morphed into something more akin to a mere recommendation that would require years to play out, leading Eurofighter maker Airbus to hold out hope that U.S. manufacturers can be entirely kept out of the business when all is said and done. Tobias Lindner, a Green Party member of the Budget and Appropriations committees in the Bundestag, said the list of unfunded programs is “almost more interesting” than the acquisitions considered doable by the time the Bundestag session ends in late June. With so many big-ticket programs in limbo (15 overall), Kramp-Karrenbauer could move to set priorities and cut needless projects. “Unrealistic announcements and promises weaken trust within the armed forces and with our allies,” Lindner said. https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2021/02/05/german-defense-ministry-punts-key-us-defense-cooperation-projects-to-the-next-government/

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  August 8, 2019 | International, Security

  The Air Force sends good guys in to hack its cloud

  By: Andrew Eversden The Air Force invited ethical hackers into its IT networks again this spring, allowing good guys the chance to infiltrate its enterprise-wide Air Force Common Computing Environment in search of vulnerabilities, the white hat hacking company Bugcrowd announced Aug. 6. The bug bounty program, done in a partnership with Bugcrowd and the Air Force's CCE program office, found 54 vulnerabilities. Bug bounties work under the assumption that the customer, in this case the Air Force, will now close the loopholes the hackers found, making the system more secure. The CCE cloud uses Amazon Web Services and Microsoft's Azure commercial cloud. The service plans to migrate more than 100 applications to that cloud environment, Bugcrowd executives said. The largest payout from the bug bounty totaled $20,000. The event ran from March 18 to June 21 at Hanscom Air Force Base in Massachusetts. Casey Ellis, Bugcrowd founder and CTO, said it was the first time Bugcrowd has worked with the Air Force. The Air Force has completed several other white hat hacking events with the firm HackerOne. Ellis said that moving to the cloud from on-premise environment represents a “paradigm shift” for many organizations. Penetration testing is an important part of keeping that environment secure, he said. Bugcrowd conducted such tests in six phases: source code analysis, AWS environment testing, Azure environment testing, black box network authentication assessment, social engineering engagement and Air Force portal testing. Bugcrowd declined to discuss how many vulnerabilities were found throughout each stage of the process. According to a news release from the Air Force from April, the CCE currently houses 21 Air Force applications and "has room for countess more.” The computing environment allows the Air Force to have a cloud to host its applications that reside on its Global Combat Support System, which is a centralized, cohesive enterprise resource planning system. The Air Force said in the April release that each migration costs $446,000 and that the service has spent more than $136 million on the program since 2016. https://www.fifthdomain.com/dod/air-force/2019/08/06/the-air-force-sends-good-guys-in-to-hack-its-cloud/