India unveils new defense budget aimed at promoting a self-reliant industry

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  March 15, 2019 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security, Other Defence

  Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - March 13, 2019

  ARMY Northrop Grumman, Huntsville, Alabama, was awarded a $349,377,402 firm-fixed-price, Foreign Military Sales (Poland) contract for the procurement of two complete battery sets of Integrated Air and Missile Defense Battle Command System production hardware and software. One bid was solicited with one bid received. Work will be performed in Huntsville, Alabama, with an estimated completion date of June 30, 2026. Fiscal 2019 foreign military sales funds in the amount of $349,377,402 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity (W31P4Q-19-C-0003). Intuitive Research and Technology Corp.,* Huntsville, Alabama, was awarded a $36,479,628 modification (0014 45) to Foreign Military Sales (Taiwan) contract W31P4Q-09-A-0016 to provide rapid response and cost effective hardware solutions. Bids were solicited via the internet with six received. Work will be performed in Huntsville, Alabama, with an estimated completion date of March 12, 2020. Fiscal 2019 foreign military sales; research, development, test and evaluation; operations and maintenance, Army; and other procurement, Army funds in the amount of $36,479,628 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity. Manson Construction Co., Seattle, Washington, was awarded an $18,122,000 firm-fixed-price contract for dredging. Bids were solicited via the internet with three received. Work will be performed in Portland, Oregon; and San Francisco, California, with an estimated completion date of Sept. 26, 2019. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance, Army funds in the amount of $18,122,000 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Portland, Oregon, is the contracting activity (W9127N-19-C-0011). Zodiac-Poettker HBZ JV LLC,* St. Louis, Missouri, was awarded a $7,330,000 firm-fixed-price contract for Department of Energy Interpretive Center. Bids were solicited via the internet with two received. Work will be performed in St. Charles, Missouri, with an estimated completion date of Aug. 7, 2020. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance, Army funds in the amount of $7,330,000 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Louis, Missouri, is the contracting activity (W912P9-19-C-0002). AIR FORCE The Boeing Co., Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, has been awarded a $250,000,000 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for Long Range Stand-Off Cruise Missile weapon system integration. This contract provides for aircraft and missile carriage equipment development and modification, engineering, testing, software development, training, facilities, and support necessary to fully integrate the Long Range Stand-Off Cruise Missile on the B-52H bomber platform. Work will be performed in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and is expected to be complete by Dec. 31, 2024. This award is the result of a sole-source acquisition. Fiscal 2019 research and development funds in the amount of $6,343,893 are being obligated at the time of award. Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center, Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, is the contracting activity (FA2103-19-D-3000). Schuyler Line Navigation Company LLC, Annapolis, Maryland, has been awarded a not-to-exceed $23,042,991, indefinite‐delivery/indefinite‐quantity contract for the Thule Base Air Base Sea Lift Support contract. This contract provides for all management, labor and services to accomplish the functions and responsibilities of receiving cargo from vendors, providing in‐transit origin storage, loading/offloading and transporting U.S. government and U.S. government-sponsored cargo to and from Denmark and Thule Air Base, Greenland. Work is expected to be complete by Sept. 30, 2023. This award is the result of a competitive acquisition and three offers were received. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $846,000 are being obligated on the first task order at the time of award. The 21st Contracting Squadron, Detachment 1, Copenhagen, Denmark, is the contracting activity (FA2523‐19‐D‐0001). The Raytheon Co., Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, has been awarded a $21,186,712 firm-fixed-price, cost-plus-fixed-fee, and time-and-materials contract to retrofit the F-15 fleet. This contract provides for retrofitting the F-15 fleets current Identify Friend of Foe units, which provides Mode 5 capability for the APX-114 and APX-119 on the F-15 models C/D/E via a hardware retrofit and software upgrade. These units also provide National Security Agency approved cryptography and robust anti-jam interrogation and reply encryption capabilities. Work will be performed at Aberdeen Proving Grounds, Maryland; and Largo, Florida, and is expected to be complete by August 2022. Fiscal 2018 and 2019 procurement funds in the full amount are being obligated at the time of award. This award is the result of a sole-source acquisition. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (FA8634-19-C-2700). NAVY Omega Aerial Refueling Services Inc., Alexandria, Virginia, is awarded $92,370,920 for modification P00024 to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price, cost-type contract (N00019-13-D-0010). This modification provides for additional aerial refueling services in support of the Department of the Navy, other Department of Defense agencies, and Foreign Military Sales customers during missions ranging from basic training to multi-national exercises. Work will be performed in Riverside, California (50 percent); Brunswick, Georgia (40 percent); and various locations outside the continental U.S. (10 percent), and is expected to be completed in March 2020. No funds are being obligated at time of award, funds will be obligated on individual delivery orders as they are issued. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. United Technologies Corp., Pratt & Whitney Engines, East Hartford, Connecticut, is awarded $71,407,381 for firm-fixed-price-incentive-fee, cost-plus-fixed-fee task order N0001919F0001 against a previously issued basic ordering agreement (N00019-17-G-0005) in support of the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Aircraft for the Navy, Air Force; non- Department of Defense (DoD) participants and Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customers. This order provides for supplies or services for non-recurring engineering for the identification and correction of service safety and durability deficiencies, maintains specification performance, and matures the propulsion system in advance of service operational use. Work will be performed in East Hartford, Connecticut (92 percent); and Indianapolis, Indiana (8 percent), and is expected to be completed in December 2023. Fiscal 2019 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy and Air Force); non-DoD participant; and FMS funds in the amount of $64,600,166 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the fiscal year. This order combines purchases for the Navy ($25,363,518; 36 percent); Air Force ($24,943,370; 35 percent); non-DoD Participants ($12,930,389; 18 percent); and FMS customers ($8,170,105; 11 percent). The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. Space Ground Systems Solutions LLC, West Melbourne, Florida, is awarded a $19,729,508 modification for task order N00173-17-F-6203 under previously awarded indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract N00173-15-D-2015 for spacecraft engineering, software, research and development services to the Naval Center for Space Technology. Work will be performed at the Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, District of Columbia (50 percent); and Space Ground Systems Solutions LLC, Melbourne, Florida (50 percent), and is expected to be competed July 1, 2020. Fiscal 2019 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $1,796,029 will be obligated at the time of award. These funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity. Ocean Ships Inc., Houston, Texas, is awarded a $13,097,120 modification under previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract N3220517C3001 to exercise the first one-year option period for operation and maintenance of two USNS Gordon Class Surge Large, Medium-Speed Roll-On/Roll-Off vessels and two USNS Shughart Class Surge Large, Medium-Speed Roll-On/Roll-Off vessels. With all options exercised, it would bring the cumulative value of this contract to $220,028,462. Work will be performed at sea worldwide and is expected to be completed March 2020. If all options are exercised, work will continue through March 2023. Fiscal 2019 and availability of 2020 working capital contract funds in the amount of $13,097,120, and will not expire at the end of the fiscal years. The U.S. Navy's Military Sealift Command, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity. *Small business https://dod.defense.gov/News/Contracts/Contract-View/Article/1784315/

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  May 23, 2019 | International, Other Defence

  DoD Awards Contract To Break Its Security Clearance Logjam

  By BARRY ROSENBERG Can artificial intelligence, machine learning, and agile development help clear the massive backlog? WASHINGTON: The Pentagon hopes that a newly announced $75 million, 24-month contract will clear up its chronically backlogged security clearance system. The plan: develop prototype software that uses artificial intelligence to analyze routine data instead of humans running laborious background checks, freeing investigators to concentrate on the genuinely critical cases. How big is the mess? Hundreds of thousands of would-be federal employees and defense contractors wait an average of 221 days for a Secret clearance and 534 days for a Top Secret clearance, according to the National Background Investigations Bureau. The clearance backlog makes a day in line at the DMV look fast. It's a problem that costs the government millions of dollars and, in many ways, wastes the talent of countless individuals who give up and seek employment elsewhere. “The bottom line is we need to get cleared people to work in their job faster; we're not doing that job well,” said Terry Carpenter, the Program Executive Officer for the National Background Investigation Service, part of the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA). “Whether you're in an agency, the federal government, or an industry partner .... we need to make sure those companies and agencies can get those people to work because they have their clearance.” The DoD's Defense Security Service (DSS), which runs the clearance process, and DISA, which runs much of the military's networks, jointly awarded the contract to Perspecta Enterprise Solutions of Herndon, VA, using the Other Transaction Authority process to bypass much of the traditional acquisition bureaucracy. Perspecta was formed in 2018 through the merger of the public sector business of DXC Technology, Vencore, and KeyPoint Government Solutions. Over the next 24 months, Perspecta will create a prototype “architecture” that can be scaled up to a full-sized security-check system, with two main features: Data ingestion and analytics using techniques like machine learning and natural language processing, which are both subsets of artificial intelligence; and A “software factory” to develop new vetting capabilities as needed. This will employ a software methodology called DevSecOps (Development-Security-Operations) that quickly delivers functionality that is then constantly improved through user feedback, while injecting security into all interactive phases of development, so usable software is delivered in weeks instead of months or years. Software development will be guided by a framework known as SAFe, which is an online knowledge base made available by an organization called Scaled Agile. The “factory” will continually develop, test, secure, and deploy new software in a government-run cloud, using what's called continuous authority to operate so its products can be used immediately, without a laborious certification process. The new architecture is being designed to transform three mission areas in the clearance process: initiation, investigation, and adjudication. Explained Carpenter: “There are several activities around the initiation part. [For example], you're a new employee coming in or a transfer coming in from a different agency. The initiation process engages with the subject and collects their information in a standard form that feeds the process. Then there's the investigation process. Under the old process, a full investigative package was prepared, which took a lot of time and labor. That was handed over for adjudication to an appropriate business function with the credentials to do the adjudication, and they would make the decision on that clearance. “What we are looking at today is continuous vetting as a way to use data to minimize the amount of labor force that has to knock on doors to get information. The more we can get done with data, the more effective we are at delivering the capability of a clearance, the more confidence we have in it, and the less it costs.” Data analytics will also facilitate continuous vetting throughout the work life of cleared individuals to address possible insider threats. “With this data-driven model, we can get into a continuous evaluation model rather than the current model, which is periodic investigation that looks at somebody every 5 or 10 years,” said Patricia Stokes, director, Defense Vetting Service, DSS. “We can utilize technology available today to initiate processes and capabilities to (gather) information on a real-time basis (to determine) your need for access and your risk.” https://breakingdefense.com/2019/05/dod-awards-contract-to-break-its-security-clearance-logjam

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  January 22, 2019 | International, Land

  Rheinmetall and BAE Systems to create a UK based Land Systems Joint Venture

  Rheinmetall and BAE Systems today announced that they have signed an agreement to create a joint UK based military vehicle design, manufacturing and support business. The new Joint Venture will be headquartered at BAE Systems' facility in Telford, England and will sustain over 400 jobs in the UK, as well as preserve key technology and engineering skills. Rheinmetall will purchase a 55% stake in the existing BAE Systems UK based combat vehicles business, with BAE Systems retaining 45%. The establishment of the new Joint Venture is subject to regulatory approvals which are anticipated to be completed in the first half of 2019. Once the approvals have been completed, the Joint Venture will be known as Rheinmetall BAE Systems Land (RBSL). In addition to managing and growing the existing combat vehicle support business, the intent is for the new Joint Venture to play a major role in the delivery of the British Army's new Mechanised Infantry Vehicle (MIV) and other strategic combat vehicles programmes. The combination of Rheinmetall's military vehicles technology and products with the additional capabilities and products brought to the Joint Venture by BAE Systems, such as Trojan, Terrier, Warrior, military bridging and the AS90 self-propelled artillery system will create a European market leader in the military vehicle sector. RBSL will have the potential to create hundreds of additional UK jobs, both in Telford and the wider supply chain. While initially focused on these major UK programmes, RBSL will also form an integral part of Rheinmetall's Vehicle Systems Division and will participate in and contribute to various global military vehicle pursuits and contracts. Jennifer Osbaldestin, Managing Director of BAE Systems Land UK business, said: “We are committed to evolving our combat vehicles business so that we better serve our customers' future interests. Joining forces with Rheinmetall in the UK provides renewed purpose for our vehicles business and allows us to deliver products, services and technology that help land forces excel in their vital roles. We look forward to working together to ensure the Joint Venture is a trusted supplier to the British Army and our international customers.” Ben Hudson, Global Head of Rheinmetall's Vehicle Systems Division, said: “We are excited about the potential the new Joint Venture holds for Rheinmetall, BAE Systems and ultimately our customers. The combined capabilities of our two great companies will offer our customers a comprehensive portfolio of military vehicles and associated technologies both now and into the future. We are proud to invest in the UK and expect to substantially grow the current business and the Telford manufacturing facility over the coming years.” https://www.baesystems.com/en/article/rheinmetall-and-bae-systems-to-create-a-uk-based-land-systems-joint-venture