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August 17, 2020 | International, C4ISR

Pentagon wins brief waiver from government’s Huawei ban

WASHINGTON ― The Trump administration is granting the Pentagon a temporary waiver of government-wide ban on contractors using Huawei and other Chinese-made telecommunications equipment, according to a memo obtained by Defense News.

The move offers a weeks-long reprieve, until Sept. 30, for firms doing business with the Department of Defense. The firms are among those still reeling from the economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic and who lobbied for more time to comply with new far-reaching regulations.

The original provision was to take effect Aug. 13. The administration had been finalizing regulations that would prohibit government contracting with companies whose supply chains contain products from five Chinese companies including Huawei, as mandated under of Section 889 of the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act.

The administration, confronting China on trade and a host of issues, has deemed Huawei an espionage threat.

Citing U.S. national security interests, Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe granted the Pentagon a temporary waiver to further assess a broader waiver request from DoD. The action came in a memo to Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment Ellen Lord.<

The temporary waiver Lord sought was so DoD could continue to execute procurement actions that would, in part, equip and feed troops.

“You stated that DoD's statutory requirement to provide for the military forces needed to deter war and protect the security of out country is critically important to national security,” Ratcliffe said. “Therefore, the procurement of goods and services in support of DoD's statutory mission is also in the national security interests of the United States.”

While considering the broader waiver, Ratcliffe asked Lord share more information about potential increased risks, mitigation measures and a plan to contract with alternatives to the banned Chinese companies.

Contractors had been confused over an interim acquisition rule, agencies cannot award new contracts, task orders or modify existing contracts to any vendor who doesn't self-certify that they are not using products from Chinese companies like ZTE and Huawei, the Federal News Network reported this week.

Ratcliffe's memo is a win, albeit a temporary one, for defense contractors and trade associations representing them. They had hoped for a legislative fix in a new pandemic relief package ― but larger bipartisan talks had broken down.

The leaders of the National Defense Industrial Association and the Professional Services Council had called for the deadline for 889 implementation to move. They argued the focus should be on recovering from the fallout caused by the COVID-19 crisis. And citing the far-reaching implications of the government's rules, NDIA said companies should get a yearlong extension.

In May, Lord told lawmakers that contractors needed more time to comply with the government-wide ban or risk throwing the defense industrial base into disarray.

“The thought that somebody in six or seven levels down in the supply chain could have one camera in a parking lot and that would invalidate one of our major primes being able to do business with us gives us a bit of pause,” Lord testified at a House Armed Services Committee hearing.

https://www.defensenews.com/congress/2020/08/14/pentagon-wins-brief-waiver-from-governments-huawei-ban/

On the same subject

  • Switzerland names contenders in $8 billion ‘Air 2030’ program

    April 5, 2018 | International, Aerospace

    Switzerland names contenders in $8 billion ‘Air 2030’ program

    By: Sebastian Sprenger COLOGNE, Germany &mdash; Swiss officials have unveiled details of their envisioned reboot of the country's air-defense complex, setting the stage for purchases of aircraft and ground-based missiles totaling more than $8 billion. The head of Switzerland's defense and civilian protection department, Guy Parmelin, on Friday unveiled a list of requirements for the &ldquo;Air 2030&rdquo; program that the neutral country wants to begin fulfilling in the mid-2020s to defend its skies and repel intruders. The existing fleet of decades-old F/A-18 and F-5 jets is considered too outdated for the task. New aircraft under consideration include the Airbus Eurofighter, Dassault's Rafale, Saab's Gripen, the F/A-18 Super Hornet from Boeing and Lockheed Martin's F-35A, according to the March 23 list of requirements published by the defense department. Ground-based weapons on the short list are the Eurosam consortium's SAMP/T system; the David's Sling missile shield from Israel; and Raytheon's Patriot system. Swiss officials want to protect an area of 15,000 square kilometers with ground-based weapons, which is more than one-third of the country. They also seek to intercept targets up to 12 kilometers high and 50 kilometers away. The envisioned concept of operations dictates that a fleet of roughly 40 aircraft will intercept those targets outside of the ground weapons' range. Officials want enough capacity to have four planes in the air at any given time during crises. Request for proposals for an acquisition program are expected to be published in the summer, Renato Kalbermatten, a spokesman for the defense department, told Defense News in an email Tuesday. Before a referendum is held about the project in the first half of 2020, ministry officials want to finish qualification of all potential vendors. That includes studying the data from a first round of proposals and collecting final offers from those still in the running at that time, according to Kalbermatten. Referendums are a key tool of the Swiss political process. Asked by a Swiss news agency this month if the country would still have an air force if the population voted against spending money on Air 2030, Parmelin responded dryly: &ldquo;That's policymaking in Switzerland.&rdquo; The Swiss won't be asked which type of aircraft the country should buy, only about the program as a whole. Government analysts would then decide which system is best suited for the task, Parmelin said. A 2014 plebiscite saw the acquisition of Sweden's Gripen defeated, a rare outcome for a referendum on security policy matters, Swiss national broadcaster SRF commented at the time. Notably, Germany's future TLVS air and missile defense system, a development based on the trinational Medium Extended Air Defense System, is missing from the lineup of candidate ground-based weapons. That is because the Swiss consider that system suitable only for short and medium ranges, according to Kalbermatten. &ldquo;As Switzerland has not had a defense system for long ranges since 1999, the first goal is buying a long-range system,&rdquo; he wrote. Exactly how much money will go to aircraft purchases and how much to ground weapons will depend on the interplay between the two program components ultimately picked, according to officials. However, previous estimates assume that $6 billion or $7 billion would be spent on planes. Winning bidders must agree to arrange for 100 percent of the program cost to flow back into the Swiss economy through so-called offset agreements. Those can be negotiated after final contracts are signed, according to the defense department. The government is looking for aircraft and missile hardware as is, meaning few to no &ldquo;Helvetizations,&rdquo; or Swiss-specific tweaks, would be made to the weapons, the new requirements document states. The ministry wants to purchase a single plane type under a &ldquo;one-fleet policy.&rdquo; https://www.defensenews.com/land/2018/03/27/switzerland-names-contenders-in-8-billion-air-2030-program/

  • Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - August 03, 2020

    August 4, 2020 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security

    Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - August 03, 2020

    U.S. SPECIAL OPERATIONS COMMAND GATR Technologies, Huntsville, Alabama, a subsidiary of Cubic Corp., was awarded a $172,000,000 maximum ceiling, single-award, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quality, firm-fixed-price contract (H92401-20-D-0003) with five one-year ordering periods for the procurement of 1.2 meter and 2.4 meter Ground Antenna Transmit and Receive (GATR) inflatable satellite communications terminals and ancillary equipment in support of U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM). Fiscal 2020 procurements funds in the amount of $5,000 are being obligated at the time of award. The contract will be funded with operations and maintenance funds, as well as procurement funds, from multiple fiscal years over the life of the contract. The majority of the work will be performed in Huntsville and is expected to be completed by August 2025. The contract is a Phase III Small Business Innovation Research award authorized under Title 10, U.S. Code 2304(b)(2) or Title 41, U.S. Code 253(b)(2). USSOCOM, Tampa, Florida, is the contracting activity. ARMY Grand River Aseptic Manufacturing Inc.,* Grand Rapids, Michigan, was awarded a $160,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract for domestic aseptic fill and finish manufacturing capacity for critical vaccines and therapeutics in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Bids were solicited via the internet with one received. Work will be performed in Grand Rapids, Michigan, with an estimated completion date of Aug. 2, 2021. Fiscal 2020 Health and Human Services funds in the amount of $160,000,000 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, is the contracting activity (W911QY-20-C-0086). Aspen Construction Co.,* Hackensack, Minnesota, was awarded an $8,354,252 contract for Phase II redevelopment site construction in Martin, Kentucky. Bids were solicited via the internet with four received. Work will be performed in Martin, Kentucky, with an estimated completion date of March 3, 2023. Fiscal 2020 civil construction funds in the amount of $8,354,252 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Huntington, West Virginia is the contracting activity (W91237-20-C-0007). NAVY Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Melbourne, Florida, is awarded a $34,712,366 cost-plus-fixed-fee order (N00019-20-F-0088) against previously-issued basic ordering agreement N00019-20-G-0005. This order provides non-recurring engineering for requirements development and systems engineering technical reviews and certification planning; initial requirements change requests; procurement strategy source selection package; performance based navigation certification plan; initial system safety; cyber; program protection and exportability analysis; integrated master schedule; and other associated technical deliverables in support of the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye cockpit redesign. Work will be performed in Melbourne, Florida (99.76%); and Patuxent River, Maryland (0.24%), and is expected to be completed by January 2022. Fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $5,785,394 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. Koman Construction LLC,* Anchorage, Alaska, is awarded a $10,000,000 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract with firm-fixed priced task orders that will be issued for the construction and repairs at the U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland. The total cumulative contract value is not to exceed $10,000,000 over the duration of the contract. Work will be performed in Annapolis, Maryland, and the contract completion date is July 2021. No funds will be obligated at the time of award; funds will be obligated on individual task orders as they are issued. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command Washington, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity (N40080-20-D-0019). AIR FORCE Raytheon Co., Tewksbury, Massachusetts, has been awarded a $33,735,474, predominantly cost-plus-incentive-firm modification (P00068) to contract FA8730-15-C-0002 for National Advanced Surface to Air Missile System (NASAMS) integration and alternate Air Defense Operations Center (ADOC) installation. The contract modification is for the procurement, installation, integration and testing of NASAMS into the ADOC and alternate ADOC. Work will be performed in Tewksbury, Massachusetts, and is expected to be completed October 2021. This modification involves Foreign Military Sales (FMS) to Qatar. FMS funds in the in the full amount are obligated at the time of award. Total cumulative face value of the contract is $346,498,681. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts, is the contracting activity. ROCCOR LLC, Longmont, Colorado, has been awarded a $15,998,168 cost-plus-fixed-fee modification (P00003) to contract FA9453-20-C-0003 for structurally combined aperture and reticulated locking expandable truss. This modification provides for the exercise of the option where ROCCOR will develop, build and test a flight quality demonstration unit for the Air Force Research Laboratory. The system will consist of a scaled and/or truncated system that provides guidance for the structural feasibility of a full scale meter operational system. Work will be performed in Longmont, Colorado, and is expected to be completed Aug. 3, 2022. Fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $4,945,000 are being obligated at the time of award. Total cumulative face value of the contract is $16,998,086. Air Force Research Laboratory, Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico, is the contracting activity. Aptima Inc., Woburn, Massachusetts, has been awarded a $9,900,000 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for research and development. The purpose of this research and development contract is operational experimentation, technology refinement and operational alignment related to improving and personalizing individual, team and larger group instructional training methods and better blending of live, virtual and constructive environments in and across operational contexts. Work will primarily be performed at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, and is expected to be completed Nov. 3, 2025. This award is the result of a competitive acquisition and one offer was received. Fiscal 2020, research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $1,508,274 will be obligated at the time of award. Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, is the contracting activity (FA8650-20-D-6243). *Small Business https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2298575/source/GovDelivery/

  • Poland and Lockheed Martin Celebrate Debut of Polands First F-35A Husarz

    September 1, 2024 | International, Aerospace

    Poland and Lockheed Martin Celebrate Debut of Polands First F-35A Husarz

    This event marks a significant milestone in the Polish Air Force's history and strengthens the alliance between the United States and Poland, a key NATO ally. 

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