Tinker Air Force base readies for B-52 upgrades as engines tested

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  June 25, 2020 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security

  Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - June 24, 2020

  NAVY Ahtna-CDM JV,* Irvine, California (N62473-20-D-1005); Bristol Design Build Services LLC,* Anchorage, Alaska (N62473-20-D-1006); Corbara MGS JV,* National City, California (N62473-20-D-1007); Heffler Contracting Group,* El Cajon, California (N62473-20-D-1008); Macro Z Technology,* Santa Ana, California (N62473-20-D-1009); and Teehee Engineering Inc.,* Carlsbad, California (N62473-20-D-1010), are awarded a $99,999,000 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, multiple award construction contract for new construction, renovation and repair by design-build or design-bid-build of general construction projects located primarily within the Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC), Southwest area of operations in California and Arizona. The work to be performed provides for new construction, renovation and repair within the North American Industry Classification System Code 236220. The various types of construction projects may include, but are not limited to, administration buildings, academic and applied instruction training facilities, maintenance/repair facilities, military operations facilities, aircraft hangars, fire stations, office buildings, laboratories, dining facilities, related structures and other similar facilities located in California and Arizona. The maximum dollar value, including one two-year base period and one three-year option period, for all six contracts combined is $99,999,000. No task orders are being issued at this time. All work on these contracts will be performed at various government installations located in California (84%); and Arizona (16%). The terms of the contracts are not to exceed 60 months and work is expected to be completed by June 2025. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance (Navy) (O&M, N) contract funds in the amount of $30,000 are obligated on this award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Future task orders will be primarily funded by military construction (Navy) (O&M, N) (O&M) and the Marine Corps. This contract was competitively procured as a small business set-aside via the Navy Electronic Commerce Online website and 15 proposals were received. These six contractors may compete for task orders under the terms and conditions of the awarded contract. The NAVFAC Southwest, San Diego, California, is the contracting activity. Elbit Systems of America, Fort Worth, Texas, is awarded a $31,964,182 modification to increase the ceiling amount on five-year, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for the procurement of an additional 76 helmet display tracker systems, major assemblies, provision ordering item line items, engineering services and support equipment. This procurement will support the Navy PMA-299 Multi-Mission helicopter (MH-60S). Work will be performed in Haifa, Israel (99%); and Fort Worth, Texas (1%). In accordance with 10 U.S. Code 2304(c)(1), this modification was not competitively procured. There is only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements. Future 76 helmet display tracker systems procurements are expected to support Naval Air Systems Command PMA-299 and Foreign Military Sales requirements, which have been deployed on MH-60S Knighthawk (Seahawk) multi-mission aircraft to facilitate and enable effective tracking for the pilot and co-pilot. Work is expected to be completed by June 2021. Fiscal 2020 Aircraft Procurement (Navy) funding of $15,876,977 will be obligated at the time of contract award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane, Indiana, is the contracting activity (N00164-17-D-JQ63). Methuen Construction Co. Inc., Plaistow, New Hampshire, is awarded a $13,261,766 firm-fixed-price contract for the design-bid-build of Dry Dock 2 portal crane rail and tunnel repairs located at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. Work will be performed at Kittery, Maine. The work to be performed provides crane rail repair upgrades, which will increase the capacity of the ground level portal crane rails at the north and east sides of Dry Dock 2. Major work elements include demolition of existing crane rails, baseplates, hardware, footings, beams and pile caps; installation of micro piles; installation of reinforced concrete pile caps, beams and footings; installation of crane rail, baseplates and hardware; and site grading, drainage improvements and pavement restoration within the project limits. Additionally, the tunnel repair upgrades will demolish and reconstruct the personnel access tunnel at the east side of Dry Dock 2, including integral and adjacent ground level portal crane rails and footings. Major work elements include temporary re-routing of electrical, communication and mechanical utilities; selective demolition of reinforced concrete personnel access tunnel and crane rail footings; rock excavation; installation of new cast-in-place reinforced concrete personnel access tunnel with integral crane rails and adjacent crane rail footings; reconstruction of drainage, electrical and mechanical utilities; and site grading and paving. Work is expected to be completed by May 2022. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance (Navy) contract funds in the amount of $13,261,766 are obligated on this award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via the beta.SAM website, and two proposals were received. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Mid-Atlantic, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity (N40085-20-C-0033). CAPE Environmental Management Inc.,* Honolulu, Hawaii, is awarded a $7,274,125 cost-plus-award-fee modification to task order N62742-19-F-0129 under an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for implementation of remedial alternatives for decision units (DU) N-2, N-3, N-4, SE-1 and E-2 at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam. Work will be performed in Oahu, Hawaii. The work to be performed under this modification provides selected remedies to be implemented that include focused dredging, placement of a thin-layer of clean material for enhanced natural recovery, treatment of contaminated sediment with activated carbon amendment material at DU E-2 and placement of activated carbon amendment in open-water areas in DU SE-1. Work is expected to be completed by August 2022. Fiscal 2020 environmental restoration (Navy) contract funds in the amount of $7,274,125 are obligated on this award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Pacific, Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, is the contracting activity (N62742-16-D-1807). U.S. TRANSPORTATION COMMAND SSA Atlantic LLC, Savannah, Georgia, has been awarded an $82,803,960 firm-fixed-price contract (HTC711-20-D-R035). The contract provides stevedoring and related terminal services at ports in the Mid-Atlantic region. Work will be performed at ports in Charleston, South Carolina; Savannah, Georgia; Wilmington, North Carolina; and Morehead City, North Carolina. The contract period of performance is from July 1, 2020, to June 30, 2025. Fiscal 2020 transportation working capital funds were obligated at award. U.S. Transportation Command, Directorate of Acquisition, Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, is the contracting activity. AIR FORCE ASIRTek Federal Services LLC, San Antonio, Texas, has been awarded a $78,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract for information security support services. This contract provides for proactive support of the foundational pillars of this requirement, which are cybersecurity improvement initiatives and cybersecurity support. Work will be performed at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas. Additional on-site support locations may include Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia; Robins Air Force Base, Georgia; Tyndall AFB, Florida; Randolph AFB, Texas; and Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona. Work is expected to be completed June 28, 2025. This award is the result of a competitive acquisition with 24 offers received. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $3,000 are being obligated at the time of award. Air Combat Command Acquisition Management and Integration Center, Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas, is the contracting activity (FA7037-20-D-0001). System Dynamics International, Huntsville, Alabama, has been awarded a $28,736,071 firm-fixed-price, cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for MQ-9 unmanned aerial system aircrew and support services. Work will be performed in Poway, California; China Lake Naval Air Station, California; Edwards Air Force Base, California; Palmdale, California; and Yuma, Arizona, and is expected to be completed June 30, 2025. This award is the result of a competitive acquisition and five offers were received. Fiscal 2018 aircraft procurement funds in the amount of $403,814; fiscal 2020 aircraft procurement funds in the amount of $503,902; fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount $2,853,876; and Foreign Military Sales administration funds in the amount of $95,000 are being obligated at the time of award. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, is the contracting activity (FA8620-20-C-2001). ATI Engineering Services LLC, Johnstown, Pennsylvania, has been awarded a $10,101,563 contract for Rwanda C-208 EX aircraft acquisition. This contract provides the procurement of two Textron C-208 EX aircraft, associated spare parts and ground support equipment, the necessary modifications for the Rwandan Air Force, flight training device, technical drawings and interim logistic support for both aircraft and the training device. Work will be performed in Johnstown, Pennsylvania; Rockford, Illinois; and Kigali Air Force Base, Rwanda, and is expected to be completed July 31, 2022. This contract involves Foreign Military Sales to Rwanda and is the result of a competitive acquisition with two offers received. Fiscal 2016 Peacekeeping Operations Overseas Contingency Operations funds in the amount of $9,030,923 is being obligated at the time of award. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (FA8625-20-C-0001). ARMY Geneva Rock Products Inc., Orem, Utah, was awarded a $75,039,988 firm-fixed-price contract to construct 18 earth-covered modular storage magazines. Bids were solicited via the internet with five received. Work will be performed at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, with an estimated completion date of Feb. 21, 2022. Fiscal 2020 military construction (Army) funds in the amount of $75,039,988 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Sacramento, California, is the contracting activity (W91238-20-C-0010). Ilsi-Arcadis JV,* New Orleans, Louisiana (W912DR-20-D-0013); Princetone Hydro LLC,* Ringoes, New Jersey (W912DR-20-D-0015); and W.F. Baird & Associates,* Madison, Wisconsin (D912DR-20-D-0016), will compete for each order of the $30,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract for civil works architect engineering services. Bids were solicited via the internet with 13 received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of June 23, 2025. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore, Maryland, is the contracting activity. Mission Critical Solutions LLC,* Alum Bank, Pennsylvania, was awarded a $16,276,805 firm-fixed-price contract for procurement of inert warheads. Bids were solicited via the internet with three received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of June 24, 2025. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity (W31P4Q-20-D-0025). Honeywell International Inc., Clearwater, Florida, was awarded a $7,146,942 firm-fixed-price contract for procurement of 66 Tactical Advanced Land Inertial Navigator High Accuracy North Finding Systems. Bids were solicited via the internet with two received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Dec. 31, 2022. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity (W31P4Q-20-D-0027). DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY Crowley Government Services Inc., Jacksonville, Florida, has been awarded a maximum $59,700,000 firm-fixed-price contract for contractor-owned, contractor-operated fuel storage facilities and services for various types of fuel. This was a competitive acquisition with three offers received. This is a four-year contract with one five-year option period. Locations of performance are Florida and Alaska, with a June 23, 2024, performance completion date. Using military services are Air Force and Army. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2020 through 2024 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Energy, Fort Belvoir, Virginia (SPE603-20-C-5009). Tiger Natural Gas Inc., Tulsa, Oklahoma, has been awarded a maximum $35,439,063 fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment, requirements contract under solicitation SPE604-20-R-0403 for pipeline quality direct supply natural gas. This was a competitive acquisition with four offers received. This is a three-year contract with a possible six-month carryover. Locations of performance are California, Nevada and Washington, with a Sept. 30, 2023, performance completion date. Using customers are Navy, Air Force and federal civilian agencies. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2020 through 2023 and customers are responsible to fund these contracts and vary in appropriation type and fiscal year. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Energy, Fort Belvoir, Virginia (SPE604-20-D-7502). Cobham Mission Systems Davenport LSS Inc., doing business as Cobham Mission Systems, Davenport, Iowa, has been awarded a maximum $17,492,050 firm‐fixed-price, indefinite-delivery requirements contract for a nitrogen inerting unit. 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 five‐year contract with no option periods. Location of performance is Iowa, with a June 30, 2025, performance completion date. Using military service is Army. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2020 through 2025 Army working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Aviation, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama (SPRRA1-20-D-0023). Hamilton Sundstrand Corp., doing business as UTC Aerospace, Windsor Locks, Connecticut, has been awarded a $15,144,635 firm‐fixed‐price, requirements contract for F-16 accessory drive gearboxes, hydraulic start motors and B-2 airframe mounted accessory drives. 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 five-year base contract with one five-year option period. Locations of performance are Iowa and Connecticut, with a June 30, 2025, performance completion date. Using customer is Defense Logistics Agency. Type of appropriations is fiscal 2020 through 2025 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Aviation, Ogden, Utah (SPE4AX‐20‐D‐9410). CORRECTION: The contract announced on June 11, 2020, for Oshkosh Defense LLC, Oshkosh, Wisconsin (SPRDL1-20-D0065) for $10,836,726 was announced with an incorrect award date. The correct award date is June 23, 2020. *Small Business https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2231349/source/GovDelivery/

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  May 2, 2022 | International, C4ISR

  The US military needs a modernized GPS capability to maintain superiority

  The replacement of outdated GPS satellites in the constellation has not kept pace with our international competition and emerging global threats.

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  August 19, 2019 | International, Aerospace

  The Cybersecurity 202: Hackers just found serious vulnerabilities in a U.S. military fighter jet

  By Joseph Marks LAS VEGAS — In a Cosmopolitan hotel suite 16 stories above the Def Con cybersecurity conference this weekend, a team of highly vetted hackers tried to sabotage a vital flight system for a U.S. military fighter jet. And they succeeded. It was the first time outside researchers were allowed physical access to the critical F-15 system to search for weaknesses. And after two long days, the seven hackers found a mother lode of vulnerabilities that — if exploited in real life — could have completely shut down the Trusted Aircraft Information Download Station, which collects reams of data from video cameras and sensors while the jet is in flight. They even found bugs that the Air Force had tried but failed to fix after the same group of hackers performed similar tests in November without actually touching the device. “They were able to get back in through the back doors they already knew were open,” Will Roper, the Air Force's top acquisition official, told me in an exclusive briefing of the results. The hackers lobbed a variety of attacks — including injecting the system with malware and even going at it with pliers and screwdrivers. When I saw it, the metal box that's usually secure on the aircraft had wires hanging out the front. The hackers briefed Roper on the findings on Saturday afternoon. He was surrounded by discarded pizza boxes, iced coffee drinks — and the hotel's drinking glasses filled with screws, nuts and bolts removed from five fully dismantled TADS devices, which run about $20,000 a pop. He'd expected the results to be about this bad, Roper told me on a private tour of the hacking event. He pinned the weaknesses on decades of neglect of cybersecurity as a key issue in developing its products, as the Air Force prioritized time, cost and efficiency. He's trying to turn that around, and is hopeful about the results of the U.S. government's newfound openness to ethical hackers. He'd come straight from Def Con's first-ever Aviation Village, which the Air Force helped establish, and was wearing a gray T-shirt with the words “No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to hack,” emblazoned on the front — a riff on a classic line from the 1964 James Bond film “Goldfinger.” This is a drastic change from previous years, when the military would not allow hackers to try to search for vulnerabilities in extremely sensitive equipment, let alone take a literal whack at it. But the Air Force is convinced that unless it allows America's best hackers to search out all the digital vulnerabilities in its planes and weapons systems, then the best hackers from adversaries such as Russia, Iran and North Korea will find and exploit those vulnerabilities first, Roper told me. “There are millions of lines of code that are in all of our aircraft and if there's one of them that's flawed, then a country that can't build a fighter to shoot down that aircraft might take it out with just a few keystrokes,” he said. Roper wants to put his military hardware where his mouth is. During next year's Def Con conference, he wants to bring vetted hackers to Nellis or Creech Air Force bases near Las Vegas where they can probe for bugs on every digital system in a military plane, including for ways that bugs in one system can allow hackers to exploit other systems until they've gained effective control of the entire plane. He also wants to open up the ground control system for an operational military satellite for hacker testing, he said. “We want to bring this community to bear on real weapons systems and real airplanes,” Roper told me. “And if they have vulnerabilities, it would be best to find them before we go into conflict.” Those hacking challenges will also be useful for the private sector because military planes and satellites share many of their computer systems with the commercial versions of those products, Roper said, and the Air Force can share its findings. The seven hackers probing the TADS devices were all brought to Vegas by the cybersecurity company Synack, which sells the Pentagon third-party vulnerability testing services, under a contract with the Defense Digital Service, a team of mostly private-sector technology stars who try to solve some of the Pentagon's thorniest technology problems during short-term tours. The Defense Digital Service started by organizing large-scale hacking competitions in 2016, with names such as “Hack the Pentagon” and, eventually, “Hack the Air Force.” These were open to almost anybody — but included only public-facing hacking targets such as military service websites and apps. Shortly after, they also began opening more sensitive systems to a smaller number of vetted hackers who sign nondisclosure agreements. DDS has run about a dozen of those more sensitive hacking competitions so far, but this is the first time it has offered up the same system for hacking twice, said Brett Goldstein, DDS's director, who earned a reputation in technology as Open Table's IT director and chief data officer for the city of Chicago. “That's important because security is a continuous process,” he told me. “You can't do an exercise and say, ‘Oh, we found everything' and check the box. You need to constantly go back and reevaluate.” They also allowed the hackers to be more aggressive this time and to physically disassemble the TADS systems to get a better idea of what kinds of digital attacks might be effective, Goldstein said. That meant the hackers could simulate a cyberattack from adversaries that had infiltrated the vast network of suppliers that make TADS components and had sophisticated knowledge about how to compromise those elements. They could also advise the Air Force about flaws in how the TADS hardware was built that make it more susceptible to digital attacks. Moving forward, Roper told me, he wants to start using that knowledge to mandate that Air Force vendors build better software and hardware security controls into their planes and weapons systems upfront so the Air Force doesn't have to do so much cybersecurity work on the back end. He's up against an arcane and byzantine military contracting process, however, that's going to make those sorts of fundamental reforms extremely difficult, he acknowledged. In some cases, the company that built an Air Force system owns the software embedded in that system and won't let the Air Force open it up for outside testing, he says. In other cases, the Air Force is stuck with legacy IT systems that are so out of date that it's difficult for even the best technologists to make them more secure. “It's difficult to do this going backward, but we're doing our best,” Roper told me. “I can't underscore enough, we just got into the batter's box for what's going to be a long baseball game.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/the-cybersecurity-202/2019/08/14/the-cybersecurity-202-hackers-just-found-serious-vulnerabilities-in-a-u-s-military-fighter-jet/5d53111988e0fa79e5481f68/