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October 30, 2018 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security

Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - October 29, 2018

DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY

Atlantic Diving Supply Inc., doing business as ADS,* Virginia Beach, Virginia (SPE8EH-19-D-0001); W.S. Darley & Co.,* Itasca, Illinois (SPE8EH-19-D-0002); Unifire Inc.,* Spokane, Washington (SPE8EH-19-D-0003); Mallory Safety and Supply,* Longview, Washington (SPE8EH-19-D-0004); Federal Resources Supply Co.,* Stevensville, Maryland (SPE8EH-19-D-0005); and L.N. Curtis & Sons,* Oakland, California (SPE8EH-19-D-0006), are sharing a maximum $78,000,000 bridge contract under solicitation SPM8EH-12-R-0009 for fire and emergency services equipment. These are firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, 120-day bridge contracts. These were sole-source acquisitions using justification 10 U.S. Code 2304 (c)(1), as stated in Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1. Locations of performance are California, Illinois, Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, with a Feb. 27, 2019, performance completion date. Using military services are Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and Coast Guard. Type of appropriation is fiscal year 2019 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Califon Systems LLC,** Dallas, Georgia, has been awarded a maximum $20,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract for medical equipment, maintenance of medical equipment, and/or spare parts for medical equipment. This is a five-year contract with no option periods. This was a competitive acquisition with 59 responses received. Location of performance is Georgia, with an Oct. 28, 2023, performance completion date. Using customers are Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and federal civilian agencies. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2019 through 2023 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE2D1-19-D-0003).

General Dynamics Land Systems, Sterling Heights, Michigan, has been awarded a $14,334,060 firm-fixed-price contract for distribution boxes. This is a one-year contract with one one-year option. This was a sole-source acquisition using justification 10 U.S. Code 2304(c)(1), as stated in Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1. Locations of performance are Michigan and Florida, with a Jan. 31, 2020, performance completion date. Using military service is Army. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2019 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Land and Maritime, Warren, Michigan (SPRDL1-19-C-0009).

Honeywell International Inc., Torrance, California, has been awarded a maximum $10,028,200 firm-fixed-price delivery order (SPRPA1-19-F-LH07) against a five-year basic ordering agreement (SPRPA1-14-G-001Y) for heat exchangers. This is a two-year, six-month contract with no option periods. This was a sole-source acquisition using justification 10 U.S. Code 2304 (c)(1), as stated in Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1. Location of performance is California, with an April 29, 2022, performance completion date. Using military service is Navy. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2019 through 2022 Navy working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Aviation, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

ARMY

The Boeing Co., Mesa, Arizona, was awarded a $46,051,155 modification (P00097) to contract W58RGZ-15-C-0017 to complete negotiations on, and take delivery of, undelivered items as well as continue investments in both supply chain management performance and reliability improvements. Work will be performed in Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, with an estimated completion date of April 30, 2019. Fiscal 2019 Army working capital funds in the amount of $46,051,155 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity.

NAVY

JLL-Midnight Sun IFMS, LLC,* Kotzebue, Alaska, is awarded a $30,408,548 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for base operations support services at Naval Air Station Jacksonville and outlying areas. The work to be performed provides for base operations support services to include facility investment, other (training pools), utilities management, electrical, wastewater, steam, water, compressed air, base support vehicles and equipment, environmental, and other related services. The maximum dollar value including the base period and seven option years is $236,917,489. Work will be performed in Jacksonville, Florida (99 percent); and outlying areas (1 percent), and is expected to be completed by December 2019. No funds will be obligated at time of award. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance (Navy and Marine Corps Reserve); fiscal 2019 Navy working capital funds; fiscal 2019 Defense Health Program; and fiscal 2019 family housing operations and maintenance (Navy) contract funds in the amount of $24,099,510 for recurring work will be obligated on individual task orders issued during the base period. This contract was competitively procured via the Navy Electronic Commerce Online website with five proposals received. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Southeast, Jacksonville, Florida, is the contracting activity (N69450-19-D-1750).

Reid Middleton Inc.,* San Diego, California, is awarded a maximum amount $30,000,000 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, architect-engineering contract for structural engineering services in the Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Southwest area of responsibility (AOR). The work to be performed provides for preparation of fully designed plans and specifications for design-bid-build construction projects; preparation of request for proposal packages for design-build projects; structural and/or seismic investigations, studies, evaluations and recommendations for upgrades to existing facilities; anti-terrorism design related to analysis of blast effects and design to prevent progressive collapse; innovative structural system design; technical reviews of government-prepared designs and design-build packages; post construction award services; cost estimating; and coordination of various technical disciplines. No task orders are being issued at this time. Work will be performed at various Navy and Marine Corps facilities and other government facilities within the NAVFAC Southwest AOR including, but not limited to California (87 percent); Arizona (5 percent); Nevada (5 percent); Colorado (1 percent); New Mexico (1 percent); and Utah (1 percent), and is expected to be completed by October 2023. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance (Navy) contract funds in the amount of $5,000 are obligated on this award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Future task orders will be primarily funded by operations and maintenance (Navy and Marine Corps). This contract was competitively procured via the Navy Electronic Commerce Online website, with six proposals received. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Southwest, San Diego, California, is the contracting activity (N62473-19-D-2414).

DEFENSE ADVANCED RESEARCH PROJECTS AGENCY

HRL Laboratories LLC, Malibu, California, was awarded a $9,155,987 cost-plus-fixed-fee completion contract for a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) millimeter-wave GaN maturation project. Work will be performed in Malibu, California (97 percent); and Huntington Beach, California (3 percent), with an expected completion date of April 2020. Fiscal 2018 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $1,208,000 are being obligated at time of award. This contract was a competitive acquisition off the Microsystems Technology Office office-wide broad agency announcement HR001116S0001, with 138 offers received. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Arlington, Virginia, is the contracting activity (HR0011-19-C-0006).

*Small Business

**Veteran-owned small business

https://dod.defense.gov/News/Contracts/Contract-View/Article/1675408//

On the same subject

  • Britain to restart competition for fleet solid support ships, but who’s allowed to bid?

    May 8, 2020 | International, Naval

    Britain to restart competition for fleet solid support ships, but who’s allowed to bid?

    By: Andrew Chuter LONDON — Britain is set to restart a competition later this year to build up to three large logistics ships to support deployment of the Royal Navy's new aircraft carrier fleet, having suspended the procurement effort last year. Ministry of Defence officials are refusing to give an exact date for the restart, despite Defence Secretary Ben Wallace recently telling the parliamentary Defence Committee that he thought it would take place in September. “It will be, I think, in September, but I can correct that if I am wrong. We are hopefully going to reissue the competition sooner rather than later,” he told lawmakers. A Defence Committee spokeswomen said the panel is still waiting on a concrete date from the MoD. “Following the session with the secretary of state for defense, Ben Wallace, the committee wrote to the department asking for clarification on a number of issues, including the timing of the Fleet Solid Support program. The committee has not yet heard back from the Ministry of Defence,” she said. The competition to build up to three 40,000-ton vessels in a requirement known locally as the Fleet Solid Support program was expected to have been worth as much as £1.5 billion (U.S. $1.9 billion) at the time the competition was unexpectedly terminated Nov. 5. The MoD said at the time that it took the action due to a failure to find a value-for-money solution in negotiations with shipbuilders. In his evidence to the committee, Wallace described the program as “ effectively delinquent.” The warships, which will be operated by the Royal Navy's logistics supplier, the Royal Fleet Auxiliary, are a key element of Britain's plan to replace aging Fort-class ships with modern support ships to supply ammunition, dry stores and spares to aircraft carrier strike groups and other maritime task groups. The program had been mired in controversy since the Conservative government opted to open the design to international competition, rather that adopt a “Buy British” policy. The move caused an outcry from politicians, industry and unions who believed naval logistics vessels should be included in the list of warships, like frigates and destroyers, that are off limits to foreign shipbuilders. Ministers and procurement officials argued they had no choice but to follow European Union competition rules, which say logistics ships are not warships and are therefore subject to regulations requiring open competition. Critics pointed out that other European Union member states have previously blocked foreign bids for similar ships. Industry executives suspected the the cash-strapped MoD was running an open competition to keep the procurement cost to a minimum, following in the example of its purchase of four new fleet oilers for the Royal Fleet Auxiliary built by South Korea's Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering. The U.K. has now left the European Union but is in a transitory period where trade rules still apply. That period is currently set to end Dec. 31. The MoD declined to answer Defense News' question on whether the new competition will be held under EU rules, or whether the U.K. will exempt itself from the rule, opening up the possibility for a British-only bid. Defence Procurement Minister James Heappey told Parliament this year that the MoD is reviewing the procurement strategy, the requirements and the schedule ahead of the competition restart. MoD officials said this week that the review is still underway. Defense consultant Howard Wheeldon of Wheeldon Strategic Advisory said with the new coronavirus taking its toll on the country's economy, there should be no question that the procurement is limited to local business. “Having pulled the plug on the original plan, and with potential new U.K. players back in the fray, such as Harland and Wolff, the MoD would risk a very damaging backlash if it tried to do another foreign deal — and rightly so,” he said. “Buying on the basis of lowest cost is rarely the right solution for defense equipment procurement. The new world order that I see emerging elsewhere allows freedom to put national interests first. Thus for the U.K., the right decision on future solid support ships is that these vessels should be British-designed and -built.” What about the original competition? The MoD brought the original competition to a close on the eve of the Conservative government calling a general election for Dec. 12, 2019. Campaigners took that as a sign the government was moving toward a “Buy British” policy. Their position was reinforced last autumn when the MoD published an updated, independent review of the nation's national shipbuilding strategy, which advocated for a policy change that would see logistics ships and other types of vessels added to the list warships closed to foreign bids. The review, conducted by former shipbuilding chief executive John Parker, said Britain was not currently adopting “the right strategic approach” in allowing ships like the fleet solid support vessels to be built overseas. By the time the MoD suspended the competition, two of the five short-listed bidders remained: Navantia of Spain; and Team UK, a consortium of BAE Systems, Babcock International, Cammell Laird and Rolls-Royce. A BAE Systems spokesperson told Defense News on Wednesday that the company is waiting for the MoD to show its hand on the procurement process, and in the meantime remains focused on its commitment to build Type 26 frigates for the Royal Navy. “We are engaged with our U.K. partners and await guidance from the MoD on next steps in the procurement process for the Fleet Solid Support program. We have a long-term commitment to shipbuilding in the U.K. with continuity of production in Glasgow through into the 2030s, and we are focused on delivering our existing commitments,” the spokesperson said. https://www.defensenews.com/naval/2020/05/07/britain-to-restart-competition-for-fleet-solid-support-ships-but-whos-allowed-to-bid/

  • U.S. military seeking international innovators specializing in advanced manufacturing and materials

    January 31, 2023 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land

    U.S. military seeking international innovators specializing in advanced manufacturing and materials

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  • US Army floats the option of fielding high-altitude balloons

    November 10, 2020 | International, Aerospace

    US Army floats the option of fielding high-altitude balloons

    By: Jen Judson WASHINGTON — The U.S. Army is now carving out a path to field high-altitude balloons to provide an additional but less expensive layer of communications, connectivity, range extension and surveillance capabilities, adding resiliency to the service's existing architecture of space assets and aircraft supporting multidomain operations. Recent tests and experiments with high-altitude balloons at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, left an impression on the head of the Army's Space and Missile Defense Command. “It's just phenomenal what we're able to do with high-altitude balloons,” Lt. Gen. Daniel Karbler told Defense News in an interview ahead of the Association of the U.S. Army's annual conference, which took place virtually Oct. 13-16. “I don't have the cost analysis but, in my mind, pennies on the dollar with respect to doing it. If I had to do it via a [low-Earth orbit] or some satellite constellation, what we are able to provide with high-altitude balloons, it's tactically responsive support to the war fighter,” he added. Karbler said he sees the balloons supporting the Army's Multidomain Task Force in the future. “Conceptually, with the types of missions that the Multidomain Task Force is working, the high-altitude balloons would be a key capability enabler,” Brent Fraser, concept development division chief at SMDC's Space and Missile Defense Center of Excellence, told Defense News in an Oct. 29 interview. “[The balloons would] be able to provide some beyond-line-of-sight capability, whether it's communications, extended distances, to be able to provide the ability to enable sensing of targets deep in the adversary's areas, to be able to reinforce and complement existing sensing systems other than the aerial layer as well as the space layer,” Fraser added. In terms of war games and experiments conducted with high-altitude balloons, “as we look at a number of emerging concepts and capabilities and formations,” he explained, “I think we still have a ways to go, but I think we're on a positive path to continue.” SMDC has been working on high-altitude balloons — basically dirigibles that can camp out roughly 60,000-90,000 feet in the air — for a long time, but recently the technology has improved, particularly through the commercial market. Google, for instance, used high-altitude balloons to help Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria to help establish internet connectivity. Duration is one of the areas that has greatly improved. High-altitude balloons can now stay aloft for weeks, if not months, rather than just hours or days. Users can also command and navigate the balloons better than before, and the platforms can more easily be recovered after missions. “The technology readiness levels have really come a long way,” Fraser said. SMDC has partnered with Army Futures Command to advance the technology, particularly involving the latter's Assured-Positioning, Navigation and Timing cross-functional Team as well as Training and Doctrine Command, the Army Intelligence Center, and cyber and special operations personnel. Several years ago, the Army developed a high-altitude concept that established a foundation on which to build, Col. Tim Dalton, Army capability manager for space and high altitude within the SMDC's center of excellence, said in the same interview. After integrating the concept into a variety of war games with Futures Command and other entities, the Army is starting to develop requirements. “We're in the initial stages of defining what those requirements would be,” Dalton said. “There's kind of two aspects to the high-altitude piece: the high-altitude platform, so it's the balloon, and then whatever it's carrying on there for a payload.” The Army has created initial documents for staffing through Futures Command, and over the next couple of years the service will run those requirements through the Joint Capabilities and Integration and Development System process, which will lead to review by the Army Requirements Oversight Council. The service is in the early stages of figuring out what a program of record would look like, but it has some options, Dalton said. “What we're kind of hoping to do over the next couple of years as part of our campaign of learning is to help define what that looks like and the best way to resource those requirements for the Army.” https://www.defensenews.com/digital-show-dailies/ausa/2020/11/09/us-army-floats-the-option-of-fielding-high-altitude-balloons/

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