August 14, 2020 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security
NAVY
BAE Systems San Diego Ship Repair, San Diego, California, is awarded a $103,590,841 firm-fixed-price contract to prepare for and accomplish repair and alteration requirements for USS Preble (DDG 88) Chief of Naval Operations scheduled depot maintenance period. This contract includes options, which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this contract to $117,754,630. The purpose is to maintain, modernize, and repair the USS Preble. The USS Preble will receive comprehensive modernization for DDG-51 class ships to ensure a mission relevant service life. This is a “long-term” availability and was solicited on a coast-wide (West Coast) basis without limiting the place of performance to the vessel's homeport. BAE Systems will provide the facilities and human resources capable of completing, coordinating, and integrating multiple areas of ship maintenance, repair, and modernization for USS Preble. Work will be performed in San Diego, California, and is expected to be complete by February 2022. Fiscal 2020 other procurement (Navy) (89.8%); and operations and maintenance (Navy) (10.2%) funding in the amount of $103,590,841 will be obligated at time of award, of which $10,553,208 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured using full and open competition via the Federal Business Opportunities website with two competitive proposals received in response to Solicitation No. N00024-20-R-4400. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity (N00024-20-C-4400).
Ribcraft USA LLC,* Marblehead, Massachusetts, is awarded a $38,608,278 firm-fixed price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, single award contract for construction of 132 seven-meter (7M) Rigid Hull Inflatable Boats (RHIBs). The total contract is for the construction and delivery of up to 278 7M RHIBs. The base contract also included options for associated support efforts related to the construction and delivery for engineering and industrial services, and provisioned items orders. At the time of contract award, 48 7M RHIBs are being purchased. Work under the first order will be performed in Marblehead, Massachusetts, and is expected to be complete by March 2023. This contract includes options which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this contract to $78,241,197. Fiscal 2020 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) (69%); and other procurement (Navy) (31%) funding in the amount of $12,649,937 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was procured as a small business set-aside. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity (N00024-20-D-2210).
RQ Construction LLC, Carlsbad, California, is awarded a $33,602,000 firm-fixed-price contract for 5th Battalion, 10th Marines High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) located at the Marine Corps Base in Camp Lejeune. Work will be performed in Camp Lejeune, North Carolina and is expected to be completed by March 2023. The construction project will result in an operations complex for the activation of 5th Battalion, 10th Marines HIMARS. The work to be performed provides for construction of a battalion/company headquarters, automotive vehicle maintenance shop, humidity-controlled warehouse, electronics communications maintenance shop, combat vehicle maintenance shop, armory addition, and a high-explosive magazine to comply with UFC 4-420-01 ammunitions and explosives storage magazines. All structures will be low-rise steel frame with reinforced concrete masonry unit with reinforced masonry walls, brick veneer, reinforced concrete floors, and standing seam metal roof. The battalion/company headquarters facility includes the necessary administrative space to conduct the day-to-day operations of both the battalion and its companies. The automotive vehicle maintenance shop includes administrative and support space, work bays for inspection, maintenance and repair of transportation equipment, classrooms, and storage areas for parts and supplies. The humidity-controlled warehouse will be a high bay facility that will house a 10-ton capacity overhead crane. The facility includes administrative and support space, storage bays, secured storage, and shipping/receiving area. The electronics communication maintenance shop includes administrative and support space, equipment maintenance and training areas, and storage areas for parts and supplies. The combat vehicle maintenance shop includes administrative and support space, work bays for inspection, maintenance and repair of transportation equipment, classrooms, and storage areas for parts and supplies. The armory addition includes administrative and support space for armorers/custodians, secure space for storing and maintaining weapons and a covered outdoor weapons cleaning area. The magazine will be used for the storage and handling of reduced range practice rounds to support live-fire HIMARS training. Fiscal 2020 military construction, (Navy) contract funds in the amount of $33,602,000 are obligated on this award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via the Government Point of Entry Contract Opportunities on beta.SAM.com with 10 proposals received. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Mid-Atlantic, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity (N40085-20-C-0145).
Pacific Maritime Industries Corp.,* San Diego, California (N00189-20-D-0021); Tri-Way Industries Inc.,* Auburn, Washington (N00189-20-D-0022); and Spec-Built Systems Inc.,* San Diego, California (N00189-20-D-0023), are awarded an estimated $25,938,325 multiple award, firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract that will include terms and conditions for the placement of firm-fixed-price task orders to provide a means to purchase of light weight modular berths and related materials in support of the Shipboard Habitability Improvement Program at competitive prices in accordance with the delivery schedules listed on the statement of work. The contracts will run concurrently and will include a 60-month base ordering period with an additional six-month ordering period option pursuant of Federal Acquisition Regulation 52.217-8, which if exercised, will bring the total value of this contract to $28,996,501. The base ordering period is expected to be completed by August 2025; if the option is exercised, the ordering period will be completed by February 2026. Specific requirements for habitability support cannot be predicted at this time; therefore, the various locations of where the supplies will be delivered cannot be determined at this time. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance (Navy) funds in the amount of $7,500 ($2,500 on each of the three contracts) will be obligated to fund the contracts' minimum amounts, and funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Individual task orders will be subsequently funded with appropriate fiscal year appropriations at the time of their issuance. This contract was competitively procured with the solicitation posted on beta.sam.gov as a small business set-aside, with four offers received. Naval Supply Systems Command Fleet Logistics Center Norfolk, Contracting Department Norfolk Office, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity.
PTC Inc., Boston, Massachusetts, is awarded a $17,131,314 firm-fixed-price contract modification to previously awarded contract N00024-20-C-6121 to exercise and fund an option for integration and development efforts in support of Model Based Production Support. This option exercises and funds an option for Model Based Production Support integration and development support. Work will be performed in Boston, Massachusetts, and is expected to be complete by June 2025. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance (Navy) funding in the amount of $370,949 will be obligated at the time of award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C. is the contracting activity.
Boston Ship Repair LLC, Boston, Massachusetts, is awarded a $16,567,594 firm-fixed-price contract (N3220520C4002) for a 64-calendar day shipyard availability for the mid-term availability of the fleet replenishment oiler USNS Walter S. Diehl (T-AO 193). The $16,567,594 consists of the amounts listed in the following areas: Category “A” work item cost, additional government requirement, other direct costs and the general and administrative costs. Work will include main and emergency switchboard cleaning; lifeboat and rescue boat davit maintenance and testing; 6,000-hour overhaul of port and starboard main engine exhaust valves, port and starboard main engine fuel injection pumps; annual firefighting inspection and certification; inspection and overhaul of shaft brakes; preparation and paint saltwater ballast tanks 10 port and starboard; preparation and paint fore peak tank; preparation and paint distillate fuel marine cargo tank seven port; preparation and paint jet propellant 5 contaminated tank; preparation and paint distillate fuel marine contaminated tank; tank deck non-slip renewal frames 20 through 40; miscellaneous steel repairs; miscellaneous valve and actuator repairs; tank deck overhead preservation; bi-annual gauge calibration; blast and paint 02 Level lifeboats; pump room bilge preservation; number one and two constant tension winch overhaul; refrigeration plant room; tank deck sprinkler system flush; inspection and painting of the distillate fuel marine piping; sea valve and waster piece overhaul; replace anti-slip on 05, 06 and 07 Levels, various pump overhauls; underway replenishment station permanent repairs to Stations Three, Four and Eight; various steel deck renewals; miscellaneous pipe repair; and underway replenishment gear maintenance. The contract includes options, which, if exercised, would bring the total contract value to $17,860,194. Funds will be obligated Aug. 12, 2020. Contract completion will be Dec. 4, 2020. Work will be performed in Boston, Massachusetts, and is expected to begin Oct. 1, 2020. Contract funds in the amount of $16,567,594, excluding options, are obligated for fiscal 2021 using working capital funds (Navy). This contract was competitively procured, with proposals solicited via the beta.sam.gov website and three offers were received. The U. S. Navy's Military Sealift Command, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity (N3220520C4002).
GM/Bulltrack JV LLC,* Clackamas, Oregon, is awarded firm-fixed-price task order N6247820F4221 at $9,165,646 under a multiple award construction contract for Wharf 2 structural repairs at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam. The work to be performed includes performing spall and crack repairs to concrete pile caps, beams, curtain wall, utility vault, deck (above and below), deck curbs, and mooring foundations; replacing timber deck curbing with concrete; repairing concrete piles by installing epoxy-filled fiberglass jackets; installing a cathodic protection system for the steel sheet piles; replacing timber fender piles with precast concrete fender piles with rub strips; replacing timber wales and chocks at the deck level and timber framing near the waterline with plastic lumber; refurbishing steel cleats and connection hardware; replacing potable water piping and deteriorated utility hangers. Work will be performed in Oahu, Hawaii and is expected to be completed by September 2021. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance (Navy) contract funds in the amount of $9,165,646 are obligated on this award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Four proposals were received for this task order. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Hawaii, Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, is the contracting activity (N62478-18-D-4027).
Katmai Integrated Solutions LLC, Anchorage, Alaska, is awarded an $8,004,940 hybrid firm-fixed-price, time and materials, and cost reimbursement contract for a wide range of experimentation, business, and operational support services in support of the U.S. Marine Corps Combat Development Command Warfighting Laboratory. This contract includes a 12-month base period, four 12-month option periods, and one six-month option period which, if exercised, could bring the cumulative value of this contract to $59,492,149. Work will be performed in Quantico, Virginia (92%); and with the Marine Corps Expeditionary Forces (8%). Work is expected to be completed Aug. 14, 2021. If all options are exercised, work will continue through Feb. 14, 2026. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance (Marine Corps); and research and development (Navy) funds will be utilized to award this contract. The contract will be incrementally funded at award with $670,000 in fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance (Marine Corps) funds; and $2,291,661 in fiscal 2020 research and development (Navy) funds, for a total of $2,925,825. This amount will be obligated at the time of award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively solicited via beta.SAM.gov, with 10 proposals received. The Marine Corps Installations National Capital Region-Regional Contracting Office, Quantico, Virginia, is the contracting activity (M00264-20-C-0006).
ARMY
Power and Instrumentation Service Inc.,* Vega Baja, Puerto Rico, was awarded a $45,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract for numerous rapid-response temporary roofing projects in the U.S. Virgin Islands in the event of an emergency. Bids were solicited via the internet with five received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of March 31, 2027. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha, Nebraska, is the contracting activity (W9128F-20-D-0044).
KBRwyle Technology Solutions LLC, Columbia, Maryland, was awarded a $23,727,971 modification (000274) to contract W52P1J-12-G-0061 for maintenance, supply, transportation and other logistics functions for the Army Prepositioned Stock-3 Charleston Afloat Program. Work will be performed in Goose Lake, South Carolina, with an estimated completion date of Feb. 14, 2021. Fiscal 2020 operation and maintenance, Army funds in the amount of $4,462,109 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois, is the contracting activity.
Native American Services Corp.,* Kellogg, Idaho, was awarded an $8,315,231 firm-fixed-price contract for construction of a standard design general purpose storage building. Bids were solicited via the internet with five received. Work will be performed at Fort Hood, Texas, with an estimated completion date of Aug. 21, 2020. Fiscal 2020 military construction, Army funds in the amount of $8,315,231 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Fort Worth, Texas, is the contracting activity (W9126G-20-C-0005).
Barnett Southern Corporation Inc.,* Washington, Georgia, was awarded a $7,775,643 firm-fixed-price contract for furnishing all plant, equipment, labor, transportation, fuel, lubricant, supplies and materials; and performing all operations in connection with raising dikes and berms, and installation of new spillway systems in the Atlantic Intercoastal Water Way in South Carolina. Bids were solicited via the internet with four received. Work will be performed in Charleston, South Carolina, with an estimated completion date of Oct. 29, 2022. Fiscal 2020 civil operation and maintenance funds in the amount of $7,775,643 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Charleston, South Carolina, is the contracting activity (W912HP-20-C-0005).
R&D Maintenance Services Inc.,* Tulsa, Oklahoma, was awarded a $7,146,969 hybrid (cost-plus-fixed-fee, firm-fixed-price) contract for operation and maintenance of government-owned facilities and equipment at Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway and Okatibbee Lake projects in Alabama and Mississippi. Bids were solicited via the internet with three received. Work will be performed in Columbus, Mississippi, with an estimated completion date of Nov. 30, 2025. Fiscal 2020 civil operation and maintenance funds in the amount of $364,430 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Mobile, Alabama, is the contracting activity (W91278-20-C-0018).
AIR FORCE
First RF Corp.,* Boulder, Colorado, has been awarded a maximum $24,900,000 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract with cost-plus-fixed-fee completion orders for radio frequency electronic antenna cancellation/beamforming technology software/hardware prototypes. This contract provides for research, development, testing, evaluating and deploying advanced radio frequency (RF) systems. These systems may support any of the various RF functions such as radar, communications, electronic warfare, signals intelligence, direction finding, etc. Work will be performed in Boulder, Colorado, and is expected to be completed Aug. 13, 2026. This award is the result of a sole-source acquisition. Fiscal 2019 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $300,000 are being obligated at the time of award on the first task order. Air Force Research Laboratory, Rome, New York, is the contracting activity (FA8750-20-D-0500).
*Small Business
https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2312498/source/GovDelivery/
June 10, 2024 | International, Land
On Wednesday, June 12, 2024, Peter Fragiskatos, Member of Parliament for London North Centre, and Arielle Kayabaga, Member of Parliament for London West, will provide an update on Canada’s military assistance to Ukraine on behalf of the Honourable Bill Blair, Minister of National Defence.
December 17, 2020 | International, C4ISR
Mark Pomerleau WASHINGTON — The Department of Defense must bolster its resilience in mission platforms in order to stay ahead of threats, a new think tank report says. With the military's shift toward great power competition, or conflict against nation states, its systems and platforms will be under greater stress than technological inferior adversaries battled during the counterterrorism fight of the last decade-plus. Systems and networks are expected to be contested, disrupted and even destroyed, meaning officials need to build redundancy and resilience in from the start to work through such challenges. In fact, top defense officials have been warning for several years that they are engaged in conflict that is taking place below the threshold of armed conflict in which adversaries are probing networks and systems daily for espionage or disruptive purposes. “Resilience is a key challenge for combat mission systems in the defense community as a result of accumulating technical debt, outdated procurement frameworks, and a recurring failure to prioritize learning over compliance. The result is brittle technology systems and organizations strained to the point of compromising basic mission functions in the face of changing technology and evolving threats,” said a new report out today by the Atlantic Council titled “How Do You Fix a Flying Computer? Seeking Resilience in Software-Intensive Mission Systems.” “Mission resilience must be a priority area of work for the defense community. Resilience offers a critical pathway to sustain the long-term utility of software-intensive mission systems, while avoiding organizational brittleness in technology use and resulting national security risks. The United States and its allies face an unprecedented defense landscape in the 2020s and beyond.” This resilience, is built upon three pillars, the authors write: robustness, which is the ability of a system to negate the impact of disruption; responsiveness, which is the ability of a system to provide feedback and incorporate changes on a disruption, and; adaptability, which is the ability to a system to change itself to continue operating despite a disruption. Systems, the report notes, are more than just the sum of its parts — hardware and software — but rather are much broader to include people, organizational processes and technologies. To date, DoD has struggled to manage complexity and develop robust and reliable mission systems, even in a relatively benign environment, the report bluntly asserts, citing problems with the F-35′s Autonomic Logistics Information System (ALIS) as one key example. “A conflict or more contested environment would only exacerbate these issues. The F-35 is not alone in a generation of combat systems so dependent on IT and software that failures in code are as critical as a malfunctioning munition or faulty engine — other examples include Navy ships and military satellites,” the authors write. “To ensure mission systems like the F-35 remain available, capable, and lethal in conflicts to come demands the United States and its allies prioritize the resilience of these systems. Not merely security against compromise, mission resilience is the ability of a mission system to prevent, respond to, and adapt to both anticipated and unanticipated disruptions, to optimize efficacy under uncertainty, and to maximize value over the long term. Adaptability is measured by the capacity to change — not only to modify lines of software code, but to overturn and replace the entire organization and the processes by which it performs the mission, if necessary. Any aspect that an organization cannot or will not change may turn out to be the weakest link, or at least a highly reliable target for an adversary.” The report offers four principles that defense organizations can undertake to me more resilient in future conflicts against sophisticated adversaries: Embrace failure: DoD must be more willing to take risks and embrace failure to stay ahead of the curve. Organizations can adopt concepts such as chaos engineering, experimenting on a system to build confidence in its ability to withstand turbulent conditions in production, and planning for loss of confidentiality in compromised systems. Improve speed: DoD must be faster at adapting and developing, which includes improving its antiquated acquisition policies and adopt agile methodologies of continuous integration and delivery. Of note, DoD has created a software acquisition pathway and is implementing agile methodologies of continuous integration and delivery, though on small scales. Always be learning: Defense organizations operate in a highly contested cyber environment, the report notes, and as the department grows more complex, how it learns and adapts to rapidly evolving threats grows in importance. Thus, it must embrace experimentation and continuous learning at all levels of systems as a tool to drive improvement. Manage trade-offs and complexity: DoD should improve mission system programs' understanding of the trade-offs between near-term functionality and long-term complexity to include their impact on systems' resilience. https://www.c4isrnet.com/cyber/2020/12/14/how-dod-can-improve-its-technology-resilience/
December 26, 2018 | International, C4ISR
By: Justin Lynch President Donald Trump announced in a Dec. 23 tweet that Patrick Shanahan will become acting secretary of defense Jan. 1, replacing outgoing Pentagon chief Jim Mattis two months early. While it is not clear how long Shanahan will remain in the job, he is on the short list of officials who could become the full-time Pentagon chief. Regardless of the length of his tenure, Shanahan, the Pentagon deputy since 2017, has been one of the Pentagon's top advocates for stronger contractor cybersecurity and IT acquisition and will lead the department months after it was given expansive and loosely defined authorities to conduct offensive cyber operations. How Shanahan will handle these greater cyber authorities, even on a temporary basis, remains an open question that will be tested immediately amid evolving challenges, such as an alleged hacking campaign from China. Unclear views on cyber operations In August, the secretary of defense was given the ability to conduct offensive cyber operations without informing the president as long as it does not interfere with the “national interest” of the United States, four current and former White House and intelligence officials have told Fifth Domain. A Pentagon official told Fifth Domain that while there is a general outline of what specific operations may affect the American “national interest,” some details are not explicitly defined. And a review of his public remarks show that Shanahan has not made significant comments about how America should conduct offensive cyber operations. He has shiedaway from giving detailed responses about U.S. Cyber Command. “There are two new war-fighting domains, cyber and space, for which we are developing doctrine and capabilities,” Shanahan said Sept. 19. A spokesperson for Shanahan did not respond to questions from Fifth Domain. Focus on defense contractors As deputy, Shanahan has focused on “re-wiring” the Pentagon. He has called good cybersecurity “foundational” to working with the department. “Cybersecurity is, you know, probably going to be what we call the ‘fourth critical measurement.' We've got quality, cost, schedule, but security is one of those measures that we need to hold people accountable for,” Shanahan said Sept. 19 during an Air Force Association conference. Shanahan's focus on contractor cybersecurity comes as China is believed to be targeting defense contractors, particularly those on the lower end of the supply chain, in an attempt to steal sensitive American secrets, according to intelligence officials and industry executives. Shanahan, however, has placed responsibility among the top defense firms. “I'm a real strong believer that the Tier 1 and Tier 2 leadership has a responsibility to manage the supply chain,” Shanahan said in the Sept. 19 speech. In October, Shanahan was put in charge of a new Pentagon task force to combat data exfiltration that focuses in part on these defense firms. “Together with our partners in industry, we will use every tool at our disposal to end the loss of intellectual property, technology and data critical to our national security,” Shanahan told Fifth Domain in October. A specific area of focus inside the department is finding out which companies are in the Pentagon's supply chain, according to officials involved in the process, but it is not clear if it is specifically part of Shanahan's task force. Inside the Pentagon, Shanahan has also emphasized the need for smarter IT acquisition. In an October. interview with Fifth Domain, Shanahan expressed frustration with the Pentagon's procurement process, but said to expect “a number of things that are foundational to being able to achieve enterprise solutions.” He hinted that those changes are focused on the “right platforms and the right level of integration” that can support high-end computing and artificial intelligence. “I'm super frustrated that we can't go faster on like basic things like the cloud,” Shanahan said. “Most of everything we do is software-driven.” Aaron Mehta contributed to this report. https://www.fifthdomain.com/dod/2018/12/24/how-the-new-acting-pentagon-chief-views-cybersecurity