USAF Planning Boss Pushes for Flexible Budgets to Keep Up with New Tech - Air Force Magazine

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  October 10, 2019 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security

  Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - October 09, 2019

  ARMY Arrowhead Contracting Inc.,* Lenexa, Kansas (W9128F-20-D-0001), Bristol Construction Services LLC,* Anchorage, Alaska (W9128F-20-D-0009), Ashford Leebcor Enterprises II LLC,* Williamsburg, Virginia (W9128F-20-D-0010), Gideon Contracting LLC,* San Antonio, Texas (W9128F-20-D-0011), RM Builders JV,* Alamogordo, New Mexico (W9128F-20-D-0012), Trusted Construction and Facility Support,* Chevy Chase, Maryland (W9128F-20-D-0013), and HHI Corp.,* Ogden, Utah (W9128F-20-D-0014), will compete for each order of the $225,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract for demolition, hazardous and toxic waste remediation, disposal services, facilities sustainment, restoration and modernization design-build and design-bid-build projects. Bids were solicited via the internet with 35 received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Oct. 8, 2024. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha, Nebraska, is the contracting activity. DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY US Foods Inc., Los Angeles, California, has been awarded a maximum $90,298,694 fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment, indefinite-quantity contract for full-line food distribution on Navy ships in the San Diego area. 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 310-day bridge contract with no option periods. Location of performance is California, with an Aug. 15, 2020, performance completion date. Using military services are Army, Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2020 defense working capital funds. The contracting agency is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE300-20-D-3240). US Foods Inc., Port Orange, Florida, has been awarded a maximum $56,100,000 fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment, indefinite-quantity contract for full-line food distribution for Department of Defense customers in Mayport, Florida and the surrounding area. 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 262-day bridge contract with no option periods. Location of performance is Florida, Cuba and the Bahamas with a June 27, 2020, performance completion date. Using military services are Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps. Type of appropriation is Fiscal Year 2020 defense working capital funds. The contracting agency is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE300-20-D-3245). Tulsa Dental Products LLC, Tulsa, Oklahoma has been awarded a maximum $39,000,000 fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for hospital equipment and accessories for the Defense Logistics Agency electronic catalog. This is a five-year contract with no option periods. This was a competitive acquisition with 94 responses received. Twenty-four contracts have been awarded to date. Using military services are Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps. Location of performance is Oklahoma, with an Oct. 8, 2024, performance completion date. The type of appropriation is Fiscal Year 2020 through 2025 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE2DH-20-D-0020). AIR FORCE Spartan Air Academy Iraq LLC, Irving, Texas has been awarded a $24,863,731 firm-fixed-price contract for contractor logistics support (CLS) services. The contract provides for CLS services and material support for 15 T-6A aircraft. Work will be performed at Balad Air Base, Iraq and is expected to be completed by June 30, 2020. This contract involves 100 percent foreign military sales to Iraq. Funding provided by Iraq in the amount of $24,863,731 is being obligated at the time of award. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Training Aircraft Division, International Support Branch, Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio is the contracting activity (FA8617-20-C-6232). NAVY Raytheon Co., El Segundo, California is awarded an $11,954,744 firm-fixed-price delivery order (N00383-20-F-UX00) under a previously-awarded basic ordering agreement (N00383-19-G-UX01) for the procurement of 101 spare part units across nine assemblies used in support of the F-18 APG-79 active electronically scanned array radar system. Work will be performed in Forest, Mississippi. This contract contains no options, and work is expected to be completed by December 2022. Annual working capital funds (Navy) in the amount of $11,413,201, and Foreign Military Sales funds (Kuwait) in the amount of $541,543 will be obligated at the time of award in the full amount of the contract, and funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. One firm was solicited for this non-competitive requirement under authority 10 U.S. Code 2304 (c)(1) with one offer received. Naval Supply Systems Command Weapon Systems Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is the contracting activity. Complete Parachute Solutions, Deland, Florida is awarded a $9,640,800 firm-fixed-price modification to previously awarded contract M00264-18-C-0007 to exercise Option Year Two for the Multi-Mission Parachute Course. The Multi-Mission Parachute Course provides training and technical support for all military free-fall training to ensure compliance with all Federal Aviation Administration regulations and Marine Corps orders to safely meet the Marine Corps training input requirements. Work will be performed in Coolidge, Arizona, and is expected to be completed by September 2020. Fiscal 2020 operation and maintenance (Marine Corps) funds in the amount of $9,640,800 will be obligated at the time of award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Marine Corps Installation, National Capital Region-Regional Contracting Office, Quantico, Virginia, is the contracting activity. *Small Business https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/1985367/source/GovDelivery/

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  October 9, 2019 | International, Land, C4ISR

  Beetle-like Iranian robots can roll under tanks

  By: Kelsey D. Atherton On screen, the small robot slides perfectly underneath the textureless tank. It is a modern iteration of an old promise in remote warfare, rendered with all the processing power of a desktop PC from 1994. Can a small, cheap robot prove useful against the vehicles of an enemy at war? A recent exhibition of unmanned ground vehicles by Iran suggests that the possibility, if not the reality, is already in development. Designed by the Research and Self-Sufficiency Jihad Organization of the Iranian Army, the Heidair-1 is almost certainly bound for life as an expendable battlefield platform. “There are many countries and forces using small [unmanned ground vehicles] for ISR and other roles — many belligerents in the Middle East have them, including several DIY models made by non-state actors,” said Samuel Bendett, an adviser at the Center for Naval Analyses. The Islamic Republic of Iran Army Ground Forces, or NEZAJA, shared pictures of the new machine on Twitter Oct. 3. The default body of the robot is a six-wheeled tan box, with a pair of antenna sticking out toward the rear of the machine. Of the six Heidair-1 platforms featured, two were models with assault rifles mounted on top of the little rovers, magazines pointed skyward. “NEZAJA had an expo in Tehran where it unveiled several concepts, including this small UGV, Heidar-1. It appears to be a proof of concept, and there is no evidence of this UGV taking part in combat,” Bendett said. In the same video, NEZAJA shows one of the robots driving toward a rough tank-like shape. It explodes, fulfilling the promise of the simulation, and hearkening back to an earlier era of anti-tank warfare. In World War II, Germany fielded thousands of Goliath remote-control anti-tank mines, designed to crawl under parked tanks and detonate through the softer armor below. “This is the first time we have seen Iran unveil such a vehicle,” said Bendett, a fellow in Russia studies at the American Foreign Policy Council. “Equally interesting is their claim that this will be a ‘networked' system of vehicles that can presumably function in more or less autonomous mode. At this point, however, they are remote-controlled devices.” In a video demonstration, the rovers are either single-use mines or armed with machine guns. They are shown being used as combined arms with flying multirotor scouts. Whatever the guts of the new rolling rovers, the ability to guide them remotely to targets spotted by drone adds to the range of threats small robots can pose to armored vehicles. “This Heidair-1UGV may act ... as a kamikaze vehicle that may sneak up on its target much faster given its overall small size,” Bendett said. “We may not see this UGV operate in Iranian Army, but we may see such a vehicle operated by Houthis in their campaign against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and its aligned forces.” https://www.c4isrnet.com/unmanned/2019/10/08/beetle-like-iranian-robots-roll-under-tanks/

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  December 10, 2020 | International, C4ISR

  DISA releases final solicitation for $11 billion IT contract

  Andrew Eversden WASHINGTON — The U.S Defense Information Systems Agency released its final solicitation for a highly anticipated IT consolidation contract that is potentially worth billions of dollars. The Defense Enclave Services contract, potentially worth up to about $11.7 billion over a decade, will consolidate the IT systems of Pentagon's Fourth Estate agencies, which handle business tasks and don't sit under a military department. The award will go to a single provider and is an indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract. The contract, released Tuesday, stems from a 2019 policy that established DISA as the single IT service provider for fourth estate agencies. The company that wins the contract will unify the common-use IT systems and provide “integrated, standardized and cost-effective IT services, while improving security, network availability and reliability for 22 DAFAs within the Fourth Estate,” the RFP description states. “The DES effort will establish the modern infrastructure foundation and united frame of thought needed to deliver cohesive combat support capabilities to the war fighter,” it says. DISA expects to award the contract in the first quarter of fiscal 2022. RFP responses are due Feb. 8. The agency originally slated the RFP for release at the end of September, but it was delayed several months due a final review by DoD CIO Dana Deasy. At a media roundtable last week, Danielle Metz, acting deputy CIO for information enterprise, said the review was normal procedure. “This is an incredibly important endeavor that we are embarking on,” Metz said. “It is one of the crown jewels that we have as part of our IT reform initiative under the [National Defense Strategy], and so we thought that a little bit more due diligence was important to make sure that we were doing what was right for the department.” https://www.c4isrnet.com/disa/2020/12/09/disa-releases-final-solicitation-for-11-billion-it-contract