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May 7, 2024 | International, Land

How to further strengthen the Defense Production Act

Opinion: It is essential to keep DPA focused exclusively on defense and national security issues, in particular threats from our pacing competitor, China.

https://www.defensenews.com/opinion/2024/05/07/how-to-further-strengthen-the-defense-production-act/

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  • Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - April 21, 2020

    April 22, 2020 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security

    Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - April 21, 2020

    DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY US Foods, Los Angeles, California, has been awarded a maximum $478,020,000 fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for full-line food distribution. This was a competitive acquisition with three responses received. This is a five-year contract with no option periods. Locations of performance are Arizona and California, with an April 19, 2025, performance completion date. Using customers are Air Force, Army, Marine Corps, Coast Guard and federal civilian agencies. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2020 through 2025 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE300-20-D-3266). Shamrock Foods, Commerce City, Colorado, has been awarded a maximum $45,000,000 fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment, indefinite-quantity contract for full-line food distribution. This was a competitive acquisition with one response received. This is a five-year contract with no option periods. Locations of performance are Colorado and Wyoming, with an April 20, 2025, performance completion date. Using customers are Air Force, Army, Marine Corps and federal civilian agencies. Type of appropriation is fiscal year 2020 through 2025 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE300-20-D-3268). Cottonwood Inc., Lawrence, Kansas, has been awarded a maximum $8,428,000 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-quantity contract for aircraft cargo tie down straps. 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 base contract with four one-year option periods. Location of performance is Kansas, with a May 3, 2025, performance completion date. Using customers are Air Force, Army, Navy and Marine Corps. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2020 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Aviation, Richmond, Virginia (SPE4A7-20-D-0222). NAVY United Technologies Corp., Pratt and Whitney Engines, East Hartford, Connecticut, is awarded an $111,131,635 modification (P00019) to a previously-awarded fixed-price-incentive-firm, cost-plus-incentive-fee and cost reimbursable contract (N00019-18-C-1021). This modification exercises an option for the production and delivery of four Prat & Whitney (PW) F135-PW-600 propulsion systems for the Marine Corps to be installed in F-35B short take-off and vertical landing aircraft. Work will be performed in East Hartford, Connecticut (51.7%); Indianapolis, Indiana (38.8%); and Bristol, United Kingdom (9.5%), and is expected to be complete by July 2022. Fiscal 2020 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $111,131,635 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. General Electric Aviation Systems, Vandalia, Ohio, is awarded a $72,479,880 modification (P00009) to previously-awarded firm-fixed-price contract (N-00019-18-C-0004). This modification exercises options to procure 140 generator converter units (GCUs) G3 to G4 conversion kits, 260 G4 GCUs and 140 wiring harnesses in support of F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and E/A-18G Growler warfare aircraft electrical systems. Work will be performed in Vandalia, Ohio, and is expected to be complete by December 2022. Fiscal 2020 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $72,479,880 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. II Corps Consultants Inc.,* Fredericksburg, Virginia, is awarded a $68,650,500 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract (M-00264-20-D-0005) for the Center for Advanced Operational Culture Learning program. Work will be performed in Fredericksburg, Virginia (50%); Bahrain (25%); and Afghanistan (25%). The Center for Advanced Operational Culture Learning ensures Marines deploy with an operational understanding of the local military and partner cultures and regional dynamics relevant to the mission, with select Marines being language-enabled, in order to facilitate mission success. Work is expected to be complete by April 2025. This contract has a five-year ordering period with a maximum value of $68,650,500. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance (Marine Corps) in the amount of $1,997,452 will be obligated at the time of award for the first task order and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively solicited via the Federal Business Opportunity website, with one proposal received. The Marine Corps Installation National Capital Region - Regional Contracting Office, Quantico, Virginia, is the contracting activity. AIR FORCE AAR Manufacturing Inc., Cadillac, Michigan, has been awarded a $39,629,731 contract for 463L cargo pallets for the Support Equipment and Vehicles Division, Robins Air Force Base, Georgia. The contract provides for the production and repair of 20,000 new production units and 10,580 units for pallet repairs under the basic contract. Work will be performed in Cadillac, Michigan, and is expected to be completed April 20, 2022. This award is the result of a sole-source acquisition. As this is a requirements type contract, no funds are being obligated at contract award. Fiscal 2019 and 2020 procurement funds for new production units; and fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance funds for repair units will be obligated at the time of delivery order award. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, is the contracting activity (FA8534-20-D-0003). Cape Fox Facilities Services LLC, Manassas, Virginia, has been awarded a definitive contract for heating ventilation and air conditioning repair and replace construction services. This contract provides for the complete replacements and/or repair of air handling units at the Tinker Air Force Base Sustainment Center, Oklahoma. Work will be performed at Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma, and is expected to be complete by Aug. 30, 2021. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $27,419,359 are being obligated at the time of award. The 72nd Air Base Wing Civil Engineer Directorate, Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma, is the contracting activity (FA8137-20-C-0012). ARMY L3Harris Technologies, Palm Bay, Florida, was awarded a $27,363,117 cost-no-fee, cost-plus-fixed fee contract to provide sustainment and support for the fielded modernization of enterprise terminals and AN/GSC-52 medium satellite communications terminal modernization programs. Bids were solicited via the internet with one received. Work will be performed in Palm Bay, Florida, with an estimated completion date of April 21, 2025. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance, Army; and other procurement, Army funds in the amount of $27,363,117 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois, is the contracting activity (W52P1J-20-C-0014). P&W Construction Co. LLC,* Knoxville, Tennessee, was awarded an $8,417,700 firm-fixed-price contract for renovation of an existing dormitory facility. Bids were solicited via the internet with five received. Work will be performed in Louisville, Tennessee, with an estimated completion date of April 20, 2021. Fiscal 2020 Air National Guard sustainment, restoration and modernization funds in the amount of $8,417,700 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Property and Fiscal Office, Nashville, Tennessee, is the contracting activity (W50S98-20-C-7001). *Small business https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2158770/source/GovDelivery/

  • Contracts for May 14, 2021

    May 17, 2021 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security

    Contracts for May 14, 2021

    Today

  • Army to conduct thorough review of aviation fleet in FY23

    October 15, 2020 | International, Aerospace

    Army to conduct thorough review of aviation fleet in FY23

    Jen Judson WASHINGTON — As the Army looks to bring on two future helicopters by 2030, the service is planning to review its entire aviation fleet in fiscal 2023, Lt. Gen. James Pasquarette, the Army G-8, told Defense News in an Oct. 8 interview. Over the past several years, the Army has said it is at “an inflection point” when it comes to prioritizing modernization in order to ensure soldiers can fight in a multidomain environment against near-peer adversaries. Part of that is ensuring the Army is balanced properly when it comes to making sure the current fleet is ready while funding the ambitious development of two new aircraft along with a number of other enablers like a digital backbone, air-launched effects and a new engine, to name a few. In FY20, the Army took controversial steps to shift funding from the current fleet to the future one when it decided it would not buy Block II CH-47F Chinook cargo helicopters for the active force, opting to procure the variant just for special operations. Congress has pushed back on that decision in both its FY20 and FY21 defense bills, injecting funding into the program to keep the pump primed to build Block II Chinooks for the active component against the Army's wishes. So far the Army isn't planning on backing down on its decision to scale down and only buy the Block II variant for special operations. “The Army's position has not changed. I mean, our position is we don't have to make a decision,” Pasquarette said. “It's based on the age of the fleet and other factors,” Pasquarette said. “Our concern is that if Congress decides that we need to move down the Block II path here ... that starts to push out dollars against our modernization priorities that we're very concerned about.” The Army “must develop” both the Future Armed Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) and the Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA), he stressed. Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy also signaled during an Oct. 8 interview with Defense News that tough decisions on the aviation fleet would have to be made as the FLRAA and FARA aircraft begin to fly. The prototype aircraft for FARA are expected to start flying in the fourth quarter of FY22 and the engineering and manufacturing development phase is expected to begin in FY24. FLRAA prototypes will be delivered in roughly the summer of 2026. The last time the Army restructured its fleet was in 2013 to deal with impending budget cuts and reductions that would have been made through sequestration. The effort was a way to take control of what was cut rather than let every program across the board take salami-slice chops. As a result, the service decided to retire its OH-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopters and use AH-64E Apache attack helicopters paired with Shadow unmanned aircraft systems to fill the armed scout role until future aircraft could come online. https://www.defensenews.com/digital-show-dailies/ausa/2020/10/14/army-to-conduct-thorough-review-of-aviation-fleet-in-fy23/

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