October 23, 2020 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security
NAVY
Leidos Inc., Reston, Virginia, is awarded a $149,238,311 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract containing cost-plus-fixed-fee, cost reimbursement and firm-fixed-price provisions. This contract provides services and supplies for the operation of the Naval Array Technical Support Center facility. Work will be performed in Newport, Rhode Island (99%); and Reston, Virginia; and Virginia Beach, Virginia (each location less than 1%), and is expected to be completed in November 2025. Service Cost Center funding (a type of overhead funding that is not authorized/appropriated in a particular fiscal year) in the amount of $13,837,718 will be obligated on the first task order and will not 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 four offers received in response to solicitation no. N66604-19-R-0182. The Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division, Newport, Rhode Island, is the contracting activity (N66604-21-D-A000).
Raytheon Co., Tewksbury, Massachusetts, is awarded a $12,699,161 ceiling increase and a 21-day period of performance extension modification to previously awarded, cost-plus-fixed-fee contract N65236-18-C-8009 for Cross Domain Maritime Surveillance and Targeting. Work will be performed in Tewksbury, Massachusetts (53%); Cambridge, Massachusetts (24%); San Diego, California (10%); Woburn, Massachusetts (7%); Portsmouth, Rhode Island (5%); and Arlington, Virginia (1%), and is expected to be completed by November 2021. This modification brings the total cumulative value of the contract to $53,456,317. Fiscal 2020 research, development, testing, and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $2,527,793 will be obligated at time of award. Funds will not expire at the end of the fiscal year. The Naval Information Warfare Center, Atlantic, Charleston, South Carolina, is the contracting activity.
DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY
WGL Energy Services Inc., Vienna, Virginia (SPE604-21-D-7500, $35,243,557); Direct Energy Business Marketing LLC, Iselin, New Jersey (SPE604-21-D-7505, $22,671,935); Enspire Energy LLC, Chesapeake, Virginia (SPE604-21-D-7504, $16,476,727); and UGI Energy Services Inc., Wyomissing, Pennsylvania (SPE604-21-D-7502, $12,570,456), have each been awarded a fixed‐price with economic‐price-adjustment contract under solicitation SPE604-20-R-0407 for natural gas. These were competitive acquisitions with seven offers received. These are two-year contracts with no option periods. Locations of performance are Delaware; Maryland; Washington, D.C.; Virginia; Massachusetts; New York; New Jersey; Pennsylvania; and Maryland, with a March 31, 2023, performance completion date. Using customers are Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, National Guard, Coast Guard and federal civilian agencies. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2021 through 2023 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency, Energy, Fort Belvoir, Virginia.
Honeywell International Inc. Aerospace, Tucson, Arizona, has been awarded a maximum $15,851,900 firm-fixed-price delivery order (SPRPA1-21-F-Q800) against five-year basic ordering agreement SPE4A1-17-G-0016 for V-22 spare parts. 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 one-year contract with no option periods. Location of performance is Arizona, with an Oct. 31, 2021, performance completion date. Using military service is Navy. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2021 through 2022 Navy aircraft procurement funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency, Aviation, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
National Industries for the Blind,* Alexandria, Virginia, has been awarded a maximum $13,676,269 modification (P00014) exercising the fourth one-year option period of a one-year base contract (SPE1C1-17-D-B003) with four one-year option periods for advanced combat helmet pad suspension systems. This is a firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract. Locations of performance are Virginia, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina, with an Oct. 26, 2021, ordering period end date. Using military service is Army. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2021 through 2022 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
CORRECTION: The contract announced on Sept. 30, 2020, for Boeing Co., Mesa, Arizona, for $30,322,385, was announced with an incorrect award date and incorrect contract number. The correct award date is Oct. 22, 2020, and the correct contract number is SPRRA1-21-C-0002.
AIR FORCE
L3 Technologies Inc., Salt Lake City, Utah, has been awarded a $23,836,458 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to perform survivable super high frequency (SSHF) upgrades to the E-4B platform. The SSHF upgrade seeks to build new capabilities that form the foundation for maintaining the E-4B as an effective nuclear command, control and communications platform. Work will be performed in Salt Lake City, Utah; and Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, and is expected to be completed by April 18, 2022. This award is the result of a competitive acquisition and 67 offers were received. Fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $20,000,000 will be obligated at the time of award. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (FA8612-21-C-5007).
Palantir USG Inc., Palo Alto, California, has been awarded a $9,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract for the Palantir Gotham platform for the COVID-19 response at Los Angeles Air Force Base, California. The contract modification is for the procurement and utilization of the Palantir Gotham Platform, which is a commercial software that will be accessed by the Air Force to facilitate the critical efforts necessary to coordinate decisions in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Work will be performed in Palo Alto, California, and is expected to be completed April 30, 2021. Fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the full amount are being obligated at the time of award. U. S. Space Force Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles Air Force Base, California, is the contracting activity (FA8806-21-C-0002).
SPACE DEVELOPMENT AGENCY
Perspecta Engineering Inc., Chantilly, Virginia, is awarded a $17,890,322 task order on an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract to provide mission system engineering and integration support for the Space Development Agency's Tranche 0 capabilities. The awardee will provide overall technical leadership for integrating Tranche 0 elements and executing on-orbit tests and experiments, culminating in a Capstone event which demonstrates potential capabilities to the warfighter. Work will be performed in Chantilly, Virginia; Valley Forge, Pennsylvania; Blossom Point, Maryland; Colorado Springs, Colorado; El Segundo, California; Huntsville, Alabama; Melbourne, Florida; and Space Development Agency, Washington, D.C. This award was made based on specifications in the Tranche 0 Mission Systems Engineering and Integration request for proposal HQ0850-20-R-0004. Funds obligated at the time of award are defense-wide fiscal 2021 research, development, test and evaluation funds. Space Development Agency, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity (HQ0850-21-F-0001).
DEFENSE ADVANCED RESEARCH PROJECTS AGENCY
General Dynamics Mission Systems Inc., San Antonio, Texas, has been awarded a $7,869,884 modification (P00053) to previously awarded contract HR0011-16-C-0001 for classified information technology services. The modification brings the total cumulative face value of the contract to $167,187,910 from $159,318,026. Work will be performed in Arlington, Virginia, with an expected completion date of February 2021. Fiscal 2020 research and development funds in the amount of $7,428,876 are being obligated at time of award. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Arlington, Virginia, is the contracting activity.
*Mandatory source
https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2391498/source/GovDelivery/
September 28, 2021 | International, Aerospace
A federal jury found that a helicopter maker backed by financier Lynn Tilton defrauded the U.S. military, awarding $36 million in damages to the government and whistleblowers, an amount that could be tripled under a federal law.
July 14, 2020 | International, Aerospace
The U.S. Air Force is to add a dozen weapons systems to its Enhanced Reliability Centered Maintenance (ERCM) model that employs artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML) for predictive maintenance. Those systems are the Boeing [BA] F-15 fighter, B-52 bomber, RC-135 reconnaissance plane, C-17 transport, and A-10 Thunderbolt II close air support aircraft, the Lockheed Martin [LMT] AC/MC-130 gunships, F-16 fighter, and HH-60 helicopter, the Bell [TXT] and Boeing CV-22 tiltrotor, the Northrop Grumman [NOC] RQ-4 Global Hawk and the General Atomics‘ MQ-9 Reaper. “We have a couple of different initiatives under what we would call the umbrella of predictive maintenance,” Air Force Lt. Gen. Warren Berry, the service's deputy chief of staff for logistics, engineering and force protection, said during a July 9 Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies' Aerospace Nation virtual discussion. “One is Condition Based Maintenance Plus [CBM+]. We have three weapons systems in there right now: the C-5, the KC-135, and the B-1. They've been doing it for about 18 to 24 months now, and we're starting to get some real return on what it is that the CBM+ is offering us. The other element is called Enhanced Reliability Centered Maintenance [ERCM], which is really laying that artificial intelligence and machine learning on top of the maintenance information system data that we have today and understanding failure rates and understanding mission characteristics of the aircraft and how they fail, and then laying that into the algorithms that then tell us when parts are likely to fail based on failure rates and the algorithms we plug in.” “We're in the process of adding another 12 weapons systems under the ERCM umbrella this calendar year,” Berry said. Defense Daily has asked Air Force Materiel Command (AFMC) for the names of the 12 systems. AI/ML is to assume a significant role in predictive maintenance for the 11 combatant commands (COCOMs). In April last year, the Pentagon said that the new Joint Artificial Intelligence Center (JAIC) had delivered its first product, a predictive Engine Health Model (EHM) maintenance tool for Sikorsky [LMT] Black Hawk helicopters, to U.S. Special Operations Command's 160th Special Operations Regiment (SOAR) for use with SOAR's MH-60 helicopters. JAIC said that its Joint Logistics Mission Initiative (MI), one of six JAIC AI projects, is working “to develop a repeatable, end-to-end AI ecosystem” to bring EHM to scale across the Black Hawk fleet. EHM, developed in partnership with Carnegie Mellon University, “predicts the probability of an engine hot start so decision-makers can consider next steps,” including replacing the engine or holding it back for training missions instead of deployments in high-risk missions, Army Col. Kenneth Kliethermes, JAIC's Joint Logistics MI lead, said in a recent JAIC blog post. Another JAIC mission initiative, the Joint Warfighting MI, “is working with several COCOMs to build, test, and expand its Smart Sensor, a video processing AI prototype that rides on unmanned aerial vehicles and is trained to identify threats and immediately transmit the video of those threats back to manned computer stations for real-time analysis,” according to the JAIC blog post. Army Col. Bradley Boyd, the lead for the Joint Warfighting MI, said that the Smart Sensor could lead to “a dramatic reduction in the amount of data that has to be pushed back for a human to cull through.” “Instead of staring at one video feed and hours and hours of trees and rocks and nothing happening, that person can instead be monitoring 10 video feeds because they are only seeing the stuff that really matters,” Boyd said in the JAIC blog post. https://www.defensedaily.com/air-force-add-12-weapons-systems-ai-ml-informed-predictive-maintenance-year/army/
August 19, 2020 | International, Aerospace
by Gareth Jennings The US Army has issued a request for information (RFI) for the ‘depopulation' of its remaining Boeing AH-64D Apache Longbow attack helicopters. Announced by the US Army Program Executive Office – Aviation on 17 August, the Apache AH-64D Attack Helicopter Depopulation RFI seeks to identify potential sources that possess the expertise, capabilities, and experience to meet the requirements necessary to depopulate (disassemble) hundreds of the service's remaining helicopters. “This RFI is to obtain qualified vendors to provide plans, procedures, production information, and reports addressing the depopulation of three to seven AH-64D aircraft per month. Additional work scope includes minor repairs in order to maximise reuse of components for production of the AH-64E [Apache Guardian]. The period of performance for this work is from January 2022 through December 2027 with the first delivery required in June 2023 and the last delivery required in March 2027,” the US Army stated on the beta.sam.gov government procurement website. https://www.janes.com/defence-news/news-detail/us-army-seeks-vendor-to-disassemble-remaining-ah-64d-attack-helos