March 18, 2019 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security, Other Defence
ARMY
Sevenson Environmental Services Inc.,* Niagara Falls, New York, was awarded a $99,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract for remedial action at the Raymark Superfund Site in Stamford, Connecticut. Bids were solicited via the internet with eight received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of March 15, 2024. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Concord, Massachusetts, is the contracting activity (W912WJ-19-D-0012).
Hensel Phelps Construction Co., Orlando, Florida, was awarded a $59,456,363 firm-fixed-price contract for construction of Advanced Munitions Technology complex. Bids were solicited via the internet with four received. Work will be performed in Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, with an estimated completion date of Aug. 11, 2021. Fiscal 2017 military construction funds in the amount of $59,456,363 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Mobile, Alabama, is the contracting activity (W91278-19-C-0006).
SourceAmerica, Vienna, Virginia, was awarded a $24,969,056 firm-fixed-price contract to re-purpose legacy body armor vests into the newly-designed Modular Scalable Vest configuration. One bid was solicited with one bid received. Work will be performed in Lansing, Michigan; Miami, Florida; and Austin, Texas, with an estimated completion date of June, 30, 2020. Fiscal 2019 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $24,969,056 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, is the contracting activity (W911QY-19-C-0043).
Wara Construction Company LLC, Tustin, California, was awarded a $22,206,641 firm-fixed-price contract for construction of unaccompanied officer's quarters for the Kuwait Ministry of Defense. Bids were solicited via the internet with nine received. Work will be performed in Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, with an estimated completion date of Dec. 9, 2021. Fiscal 2016 military construction funds in the amount of $22,206,641 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Winchester, Virginia, is the contracting activity (W912ER-19-C-0004).
California Department of Rehabilitation, Sacramento, California, was awarded a $19,865,600 firm-fixed-price contract for full food service operations at Fort Irwin, California. 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 March 31, 2024. U.S. Army Mission and Installation Contracting Command, Fort Sam Houston, Texas, is the contracting activity (W9124J-19-D-0006).
Anthony Allega Cement Contractor Inc., Cleveland, Ohio, was awarded a $13,770,342 firm-fixed-price contract for the repair of airfield paving, taxiways D & B2 and short runway at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. Bids were solicited via the internet with three received. Work will be performed in Fairborn, Ohio, with an estimated completion date of Dec. 3, 2020. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance, Army funds in the amount of $13,770,342 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Louisville, Kentucky, is the contracting activity (W912QR-19-C-0013).
Aerovironment,* Simi Valley, California, was awarded an $11,176,242 modification (P00014) to contract W31P4Q-17-C-0193 for All Up Rounds. Work will be performed in Simi Valley, California, with an estimated completion date of Sept. 30, 2019. Fiscal 2018 other procurement, Army funds in the amount of $11,176,242 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity.
NAVY
Sentient Digital Inc., doing business as Entrust Government Solutions,* of New Orleans, Louisiana, is being awarded a $49,000,000 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for information technology (IT) engineering support services. IT services in this contract will assist Military Sealift Command's (MSC) Command, Control, Communications, And Computer Systems (C4S) Division (N6) in providing and sustaining Department of Defense (DoD) and Department of the Navy (DoN) compliant technical C4S solutions. Additionally, this contract will satisfy emerging requirements, enhance and develop IT capabilities in support of MSC's mission, and assist in the development of governance to ensure IT capabilities align to MSC N6's strategic business support plan, MSC N6's technical architecture road maps, DoD, and DoN mandates. The solutions primarily satisfy emergent cyber security mandates and technical refreshes for end of life hardware and software. Work will be performed at Norfolk, Virginia, and is expected to be completed by April 2024. This contract includes a five-year ordering period. Fiscal 2019 Navy Working Capital funding in the amount of $10,000 will be obligated at the time of award. Funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was a small business set-aside, with more than 10 companies solicited via the Federal Business Opportunities website, and 10 offers received. The U.S. Navy's Military Sealift Command, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity (N3220519D1003).
Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Bethpage, New York, is being awarded a $45,529,117 cost-plus-fixed-fee and cost-only modification to a previously awarded contract (N00024-17-C-6311) for engineering services to support the Littoral Combat Ship Mission Modules Program. Engineering services will be provided to support the existing efforts of the Littoral Combat Ships Mission Modules Program. Incidental other direct cost items are also provided in support of said engineering services. Work will be performed Bethpage, New York (34 percent); Mayport, Florida (19 percent); San Diego, California (17 percent); Port Hueneme, California (14 percent); Pittsfield, Massachusetts (8 percent); Panama City, Florida (3 percent); Washington, District of Columbia (1 percent); Dahlgren, Virginia (1 percent); Newport, Rhode Island (1 percent); Baltimore, Maryland (1 percent); and various other locations less than one percent (1 percent), and is expected to be completed by March 2020. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance (Navy); fiscal 2019 other procurement (Navy); and fiscal 2019 research, development, test, and evaluation (Navy); and weapons procurement (Navy) funding in the amount of $24,194,392 will be obligated at time of award, and funds in the amount of $19,575,683 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity.
Ultra Electronics Ocean Systems, Braintree, Massachusetts, is being awarded a $27,978,119 cost-plus-fixed-fee and cost contract for the development and production of Next Generation Surface Search Radar qualification systems (NGSSR). The primary objective of NGSSR is to find a replacement for legacy systems due to current military threats and obsolescence issues. The contract aims to outline the requirements and approach for NGSSR development, production, integration, test, demonstration, product support, and systems engineering. The new NGSSR system will then replace all variants of the current AN/SPS-67, AN/SPS-73, BridgeMaster E series, and commercial-of-the-shelf radar systems. This contract includes options which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this contract to $34,563,961. The primary objective of NGSSR is to find a replacement for legacy systems due to current military threats and obsolescence issues. The contract aims to outline the requirements and approach for NGSSR development, production, integration, test, demonstration, product support, and systems engineering. The new NGSSR system will then replace all variants of the current AN/SPS-67, AN/SPS-73, BridgeMaster E series, and commercial-of-the-shelf RADAR systems. Work will be performed in Chantilly, Virginia (58 percent); Wake Forest, North Carolina (39 percent); Braintree, Massachusetts (3 percent); and is expected to be complete by July 2021. Fiscal 2018 other procurement (Navy) funding in the amount of $5,500,000 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured in accordance with 15 U.S. Code 638(r)(4) (under the SBIR Phase III program/2018 National Defense Authorization Act). The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Port Hueneme Division, Port Hueneme, California, is the contracting activity (N6339419C0007).
Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Linthicum Heights, Maryland, is being awarded an $8,542,569 modification to the cost-plus-fixed-fee portion of a previously awarded contract (M67854-16-C-0211) for software release and advanced electronic protection required to support ongoing Ground/Air Task Oriented Radar (G/ATOR) Gallium Nitride (GaN) efforts in support of Program Executive Office Land Systems, Quantico, Virginia. Work will be performed in Linthicum Heights, Maryland (65 percent); East Syracuse, New York (20 percent); Farmingdale, New York. (14 percent); and New Brighton, Minnesota (one percent), and is expected to be completed by April 22, 2021. Fiscal 2019 research, development, test and evaluation (Marine Corps) funds in the amount of $6,124,095 will be obligated at the time of award and will not expire at the end of the current year. The contract was not competitively procured, in accordance with 10 U.S. Code 2304(c)(1)(B), with only one proposal solicited and one proposal received. The Marine Corps Systems Command, Quantico, Virginia, is the contracting activity.
DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY
Golden Manufacturing Inc.,* Golden, Mississippi, has been awarded a maximum $18,234,851 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for Army Combat Uniform coats and the Improved Hot Weather Combat Uniform. This was a competitive acquisition with nine responses received. This is a two-year contract with no option periods. Location of performance is Mississippi, with a Sept. 14, 2021, performance completion date. Using military services are Army and Air Force. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2019 through 2021 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE1C1-19-D-1138).
AIR FORCE
Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Information Systems, Chantilly, Virginia; and Redondo Beach, California, has been awarded a $16,271,270 cost-plus-incentive-fee modification (P00079) to previously awarded contract FA8808-13-C-0001 for post operational support for the Enhanced Polar System Control and Planning Segment. This modification provides for factory expertise/support to ongoing operations, support transition from development to sustainment activities, and the delivery and installation of two software updates. Work will be performed in Redondo Beach, California, and is expected to be complete by January 2020. Fiscal 2019 research, development, test, and evaluation funds in the full amount are being obligated at the time of award. This modification brings the total cumulative face value of the contract to $221,970,679. The Space and Missile Systems Center, Military Satellite Communications Directorate, Los Angeles Air Force Base, California, is the contracting activity. (Awarded Jan. 31, 2019).
DEFENSE HEALTH AGENCY
B.E.A.T. LLC., San Antonio, Texas, was competitively awarded a firm-fixed-price contract for a potential period of performance of 60 months and a total estimated value of $10,441,035 if all options are exercised. This award provides a non-personal services contract to provide Infrastructure Testing Center (ITC) management services and support for the day-to-day operations of all ITC infrastructure applications, networks, and environments. These services include systems management; system, application, and database administration; environment configuration, monitoring; management; and other support services. The place of performance is Joint Base San Antonio (Ft. Sam Houston), San Antonio, Texas. This contract is an acquisition under GSA's IT Schedule 70, obligating $1,027,347 in fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance funds at time of award. Six quotes were received in response to the solicitation. The Defense Health Agency, Health Information Technology-Contracting Division, San Antonio, Texas, is the contracting activity (HT0015-19-F- 0038).
DEFENSE INFORMATION SYSTEMS AGENCY
Siemens Government Technologies Inc., Arlington, Virginia (HC1028-19-C0006), was awarded a competitive, single award, firm-fixed-price contract on March 15, 2019 for commercially available off-the-shelf brand-name Siemens software licenses and support in support of the Navy. The face value (and total cumulative face value) of this action is $8,324,661 funded by fiscal 2019 research, development, test and evaluation funds. Performance will be at a Navy facility in Norfolk, Virginia. Proposals were solicited via Federal Business Opportunities, and two proposals were received. The period of performance is March 15, 2019, through March 14, 2020. The Defense Information Technology Contracting Organization, Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, is the contracting activity (HC1028-19-C0006).
DEFENSE ADVANCED RESEARCH PROJECTS AGENCY
Agile Defense Inc.,* Reston, Virginia, has been awarded a $7,157,890 modification (P00042) to previously awarded task order HR0011-15-F-0002 for unclassified information technology services. The modification brings the total cumulative face value of the task order to $139,054,004 from $131,896,114. Work will be performed in Arlington, Virginia, with an expected completion date of June 2019. Fiscal 2019 research and development funds in the amount of $7,157,890 are being obligated at time of award. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Arlington, Virginia, is the contracting activity.
*Small business
https://dod.defense.gov/News/Contracts/Contract-View/Article/1786958/source/GovDelivery/
December 13, 2021 | International, Naval
The Navy is beginning to modernize and optimize a shipyard built in 1800 ' and is learning some important lessons already that will shape the 20-year, $21 billion planned effort to overhaul all four naval shipyards.
June 5, 2020 | International, Naval
Genova, June 4, 2020 – Naviris, a 50/50 owned joint venture by Fincantieri and Naval Group, has signed its first contract regarding R&T with OCCAR, the European Joint Armaments Cooperation organisation. Naviris, as prime contractor, will coordinate technical activities managed by Fincantieri and Naval Group and will own the intellectual property of all the research findings. Naviris' R&T program is a cornerstone of a long-term cooperation between Fincantieri and Naval Group Claude Centofanti, CEO of Naviris, declared: “We are delighted that OCCAR has relied on us to participate to the Franco-Italian R&T program. This contract is the first step of more-to-come European projects, regarding not only joint research activities but also the upgrade of design and production process for the vessels destined to France, Italy and their export. We are enthusiastic to launch the activities of such a promising collaboration: the joint-venture Naviris will increasingly contribute to foster innovation and European leadership”. Pierre-Eric Pommellet, CEO of Naval Group, declared: “I am very proud of the kick off of Naviris activities. Thanks to France, Italy and OCCAR, our joint-venture is able to launch a very ambitious R&T program for the coming three and a half years. The extraordinary skills and experience of Fincantieri and Naval Group will contribute to the long term technological advantage of our vessels. This dynamic will sustain the economic recovery of both our countries, Italy and France, in the aftermath of Covid-19 and will contribute to increase our Navies superiority. This R&T program is the first of many more to come. In addition to research projects, Naviris' activities will soon encompass additional initiatives such as the Mid-Life Upgrade of the Horizon frigates”. Giuseppe Bono, CEO of Fincantieri, said: “Today we welcome the beginning of one of the most important projects we have worked on in recent years. We have long believed that the consolidation of the European naval industry represents one of the fundamental means, if not the main in terms of critical mass and synergies, to allow our continent not to be left on the sidelines and instead to play a pivotal role in the upcoming challenges worldwide”. Bono concluded: “On these grounds, we are grateful to the governments of our two countries for sharing the common vision and supporting the alliance between Naval Group and Fincantieri, which will mark the future of our sector”. This R&T program of Naviris encompasses five different projects all aiming at enhancing the performance of Fincantieri's and Naval Group's vessels This R&T program aims at improving the performance of Naval Group's and Fincantieri's vessels. The R&T program is divided into five different projects (see below): 1) Digital ship. This project will develop warship simulation capabilities throughout the whole ship's lifecycle in order to improve product performances assessment, while reducing the need of real testing, and optimize the use of Computer Aided Engineering to enhance both design definition (Hydrodynamics, Aerodynamics) and ship daily on-board operations (through the integrated approach of the Digital Twin Concept); 2) Energy consumption optimization. This project will identify new architectures and equipment useful to improve the global efficiency of the electrical network and monitoring electrical consumption on board Surface Vessels; 3) Fuel cells for surface vessels. This project will develop a modular Fuel Cell System (FCS) suitable for marine applications, capable of being fully integrated on board naval surface vessels; 4) Logistics of the future. This project will boost shipbuilding competitiveness by developing solutions able to increase production efficiency and effectiveness and to reduce costs during the entire product life cycle, ; providing new tools for inspection and maintenance purposes as well as on board management of components in a Naval Vessels working environment. 5) Winning a sea state. This project aims at developing methods, tools and engineering solutions to allow naval surface vessels to safely carry out daily operations (like launch and recovery of units) in worse environmental conditions than currently met. Three sites of Naval Group will be involved in the projects – Nantes-Indret, Ollioules and Lorient, as well as its subsidiary SIREHNA – while, for Fincantieri, the sites of Genova and Trieste will work on the project, along with the subsidiaries Cetena and Seastema. View source version on NAVIRIS: https://www.fincantieri.com/en/media/press-releases/2020/kick-off-naviris-activities/
July 9, 2020 | International, C4ISR, Security
Mark Pomerleau U.S. Cyber Command's new training platform is slated to deliver the second iteration this fall providing additional capabilities and user capacity, program officials said. The Persistent Cyber Training Environment (PCTE) is an online client that allows Cyber Command's warriors to log on from anywhere in the world to conduct individual or collective cyber training as well as mission rehearsal. The program is being run by the Army on behalf of the joint cyber force and Cyber Command. Officials delivered the first version of the program to Cyber Command in February and the environment was used for the first time in Cyber Command's premier annual tier 1 exercise Cyber Flag in June. The second version is expected to include additional capabilities, including allowing more users to conduct team or individual training. “Things like to be able to schedule, have a calendar to be able to auto-schedule things, to be able to allocate resources because right now it's you can get in and you can do it but how do you deconflict? If you're running a team based event across x number of services how does somebody else come in and do an individual training,” Amit Kapadia, chief engineer for the program, told C4ISRNET in an interview. “Do you have the right infrastructure underneath?” Kapadia added that during the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a surge in platform use due to the remote working, thus, by the end of this year, the program seeks to push additional compute and network capabilities. Leaders are targeting final testing in September and then a roll out in late fall for version 2.0. The program has also sought to deliver incremental capability along the way through what it calls cyber innovation challenges. These are competitions to awards and layer new technologies onto the platform. There was a notice informing industry of the fourth such innovation challenge released recently. Officials told C4ISRNET they expect to release a formal solicitation around August, with plans to award contracts by the end of the year or early next year. The officials noted that just like with the previous innovation challenges, there could be multiple vendors awarded and specifically non-traditional defense vendors. Moreover, they also anticipate to continue these challenges for the foreseeable future even when a vendor is selected to be the integrator for PCTE through what's known as the Cyber Training, Readiness, Integration, Delivery and Enterprise Technology (TRIDENT), a contract vehicle to offer a more streamlined approach for procuring the military's cyber training capabilities. The contract is valued at up to $957 million. This approach, officials said, prevents vendor lock and ensures the program is at the tip of the technological spear. The fourth cyber innovation challenge seeks to ask industry for assistance in traffic generation – which means emulating fake internet traffic on the platform – and assessment, which was a key requirement directly from Cyber Command. “I would say what we've been driven towards right now are high priorities coming down from [Cyber Command commander] Gen. [Paul] Nakasone and Cyber Command for things like CMF assessment,” Kapadia said. “They want to be able now ... all these reps and sets that are happening within PCTE, how am I assessing the performance of the individuals in my teams.” An integrated and agile approach Since the platform was delivered to Cyber Command in February, command leaders have officially taken the burden of running training exercises from the program office, freeing it up to focus on pursuing new technologies and fixes as well as the overall acquisition. In the past, the program office worked with specific units to conduct training events in order to stress the platform and gain valuable feedback. Now, Cyber Command has created what is called the Joint Cyber Training Enterprise, which is the non-material companion to the PCTE platform and seeks to operate and synchronize training hosted by PCTE for the joint force. “The JCTE is a lot like the combat training center ops group where they are managing the platform, they are running the platform, they are running the training,” Lt. Col. Thomas Monaghan, product manager of cyber resiliency and training at Program Executive Office Simulation, Training and Instrumentation, told C4ISRNET. “So we delivered the platform to them and they're using it I would probably say on a weekly basis. They're doing cyber training events that we don't manage that anymore. We don't stand them up. The platform is being used, we're able to concentrate on specific capability, platform enhancements.” JCTE has formalized the cyber training and use of the environment while also coordinating which cyber mission force units need to conduct which types of training, something the program office wasn't equipped to do. Monaghan said his office is in almost hourly, or at least daily, contact with JCTE to better understand what users like, don't like or needs to be fixed. “We've got the program office, we've got the user community, we've got the operational arm of the user community, which is JCTE, we've got the Army capability manager codifying the requirements all working together. We literally talk to each other at least daily,” Monaghan said. “That direct feedback loop is one continuous circle of information. That's the only way a program this robust can be successful.” Program officials said they gained valuable insights from the recently concluded Cyber Flag, which created roughly six months worth of data. They explained that while not every element worked exactly as planned, the nature of the program allows for incremental and ongoing adjustments to be made. By leveraging specific flexible acquisition tools, the program is not as rigid as other typical military platforms, such as tanks. “It's a perfect one for PCTE because it created that box basically saying in laymen's terms we have no idea what this specifically looks like but we have some eye level things that it should do,” Liz Bledsoe, deputy product manager, told C4SIRNET, regarding the types of acquisition mechanisms PCTE is being run under. Monaghan added: “That's the way the platform and the program were structured when the requirements were written, some of them were listed as evolving or threat based or capability ... They're ever evolving, ever enhancing based off the needs of the cyber mission force.” https://www.c4isrnet.com/cyber/2020/07/07/cyber-command-will-get-a-new-version-of-its-training-platform-this-fall/