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  August 8, 2019 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security

  Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - August 7, 2019

  AIR FORCE United Launch Services, Centennial, Colorado, has been awarded a $156,752,771 firm-fixed-price modification (P00003) to previously awarded contract FA8811-19-C-0002 for National Security Space Launch Delta IV Heavy Launch services. This modification provides for launch vehicle production services for National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) Launch Mission Three, the last of three planned NRO launch missions under this contract. This modification brings the total cumulative face value of the contract from $310,784,574 to $467,537,345. Work will be performed in Centennial, Colorado; Decatur, Alabama; and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, and is expected to be completed by January 2024. Fiscal 2019 missile procurement funds in the amount of $144,637,202 are being obligated at the time of award. The Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles Air Force Base, California, is the contracting activity. (CORRECTION: The May 9, 2019, announcement of this contract's modification for Launch Mission Two incorrectly stated the total cumulative face value of the contract at the time as $449,813,010. The actual total cumulative value was $310,784,574.) Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems, Redondo Beach, California, has been awarded a $22,500,000 cost-plus incentive-fee modification (P00017) to previously awarded contract FA8808-18-C-0002 for changes to the payload driven by selection of a host space vehicle. The contract provides for the delivery of two Enhanced Polar System Recapitalization (EPS-R) payloads. Work will be performed at Redondo Beach, California, and is expected to be completed by December 2023. Fiscal 2019 research and development funds in the amount of $5,900,000 are being obligated at the time of award. The Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles Air Force Base, California, is the contracting activity. TFAB Defense Systems LLC,* Warner Robins, Georgia, was awarded an $8,918,791 firm-fixed-price contract for engineering services. This contract provides for develop the software, test hardware and related documentation for test program sets for use with the Air Force's Versatile Depot Automatic Test Station family of testers to isolate failures within line replaceable units and shop replaceable units. Work will be performed at Warner Robins, Georgia, and is expected to be completed by Aug. 6, 2022. This award is the result of a Small Business Set Aside sole-source acquisition. No funds are being obligated at time of award. The Air Force Sustainment Center, Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, is the contracting activity for contract (FA8571-19-D-A003). ARMY Southwest Valley Constructors Co., Albuquerque, New Mexico, was awarded an $80,869,000 contract for design-build horizontal construction in support of the Department of Homeland Security in McAllen, Texas. Three bids were solicited with three bids received. Work will be performed in McAllen, Texas, with an estimated completion date of April 28, 2021. Fiscal 2019 Department of Homeland Security funds in the amount of $80,869,000 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Fort Worth, Texas, is the contracting activity (W9126G-19-C-0118). Oshkosh Defense LLC, Oshkosh, Wisconsin, was awarded an $11,812,335 modification (P00240) to contract W56HZV-15-C-0095 for Authorized Stockage List. Work will be performed in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, with an estimated completion date of April 30, 2021. Fiscal 2018 and 2019 other procurement, Army and procurement Marine Corps funds in the combined amount of $11,812,335 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Warren, Michigan, is the contracting activity. Stantec Consulting Services Inc., Louisville, Kentucky, was awarded a $9,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract for geotechnical services. Bids were solicited via the internet with six received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Aug. 7, 2024. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Louisville, Kentucky, is the contracting activity (W912QR-19-D-0046). NAVY Data Link Solutions LLC, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is awarded a maximum potential value $75,000,000 modification to a previously awarded indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity multiple award contract (N00039-15-D-0042) for the Block Upgrade II retrofit of Multifunctional Information Distribution System (MIDS) low volume terminals. The terminals provide secure, high-capacity, jam-resistant, digital data and voice communications capability for Navy, Air Force and Army platforms, and for Foreign Military Sales customers. Work will be performed in Wayne, New Jersey (50%); and Cedar Rapids, Iowa (50%), and is expected to be completed by December 2026. No funding is being obligated at the time of award. Funds will be obligated as individual delivery orders are issued. This contract modification was not competitively procured because it is a sole-source acquisition pursuant to the authority of 10 U.S. Code 2304(c)(1) - only one responsible source (Federal Acquisition Regulation subpart 6.302-1). The Naval Information Warfare Systems Command, San Diego, California, is the contracting activity and awarded the contract on behalf of the MIDS Program Office. Oceaneering International Inc., Chesapeake, Virginia, is awarded a maximum value $34,316,273 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for the Virginia class submarine sail racetracks, payload tube loading platforms and multiple all-up-round canister special support equipment ladder kits with shipping crates. Work will be performed in Chesapeake, Virginia, and is expected to be complete in August 2024. Fiscal 2019 other procurement (Navy) funding in the amount of $3,368,978 will be obligated at time of award, and not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured in accordance with 10 U.S. Code 2304 (a) via the Federal Business Opportunities website, with two offers received. The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Philadelphia Division, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is the contracting activity (N64498-19-D-4031). Stantec Consulting Services Inc., Burlington, Massachusetts, is awarded $17,695,256 for firm-fixed-price modification to task order N40085-18-F-5881 under previously awarded contract N40085-17-D-5004 for design of a multi-mission dry dock at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. This modification will provide for all architectural and engineering services necessary for the final design, including developing the design-bid-build solicitation documents. Work will be performed in Massachusetts (90%); and Maine (10%), and is expected to be completed by March 2021. Fiscal 2021 military construction (Navy) contract funds in the amount of $17,695,256 are obligated on this award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Mid-Atlantic, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity. RTL Networks Inc.,* Denver, Colorado, is awarded a $14,399,532 cost-plus-fixed-fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract to provide services in the areas of cooperative cyber risk assessments and cyber table tops of fighter/attack (fixed and rotary wing) and surveillance aircraft or similarly complex aircraft, tactical unmanned aerial vehicles, GPS guided weapons or similarly complex weapons, training simulators, Portable Electronic Maintenance Aids equipment, software and development environments, and associated communications and networks. Work will be performed in China Lake, California (50%); Placentia, California (48%); and Denver, Colorado (2%), and is expected to be completed in August 2024. No funds will be obligated at the time of award. Funds will be obligated on individual orders as they are issued. This contract was competitively procured via an electronic request for proposal as a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business set-aside; two offers were received. The Naval Air Warfare Center, Weapons Division, China Lake, California, is the contracting activity (N68936-19-D-0040). The Lockheed Martin Corp., Rotary and Mission Systems, Mitchel Field, New York, is awarded $11,498,789 for cost-plus-incentive-fee modification P00018 for new scope under previously awarded contract N00030-18-C-0045 to provide U.S. Trident II (D5) Strategic Weapon System efforts for the navigation subsystem. Work will be performed in Mitchel Field, New York, with an expected completion date of Dec. 31, 2021. Fiscal 2018 research, development, tests and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $11,498,789 are being obligated on this award. This contract was a sole-source acquisition pursuant to 10 U.S. Code 2304(c)(1). Strategic Systems Programs, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity. Treadwell Corp., Thomaston, Connecticut, is awarded a not-to-exceed $7,330,400 ceiling-priced delivery order N00104-19-F-J80J under previously awarded basic ordering agreement N00104-15-G-A408 for repair of 98 items in support of the Navy's Electrolytic Oxygen Generator System. The contract is a four-year contract with no option periods. Work will be performed in Thomaston, Connecticut, and is expected to be completed by September 2023. Working capital funds (Navy) in the amount of $3,591,896 will be obligated at the time of award and funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. One firm was solicited for this sole-sourced requirement under authority 10 U.S. Code 2304 (c)(1), with one offer received. Naval Supply Systems Command, Weapon Systems Support, Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, is the contracting activity. *Small Business https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/1928698/source/GovDelivery/

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  October 29, 2020 | International, Aerospace

  Raytheon laying off 20,000 amid commercial aviation slide

  Joe Gould WASHINGTON ― Raytheon Technologies is cutting 15,000 staff and 4,000 contractor positions, largely at the company's Pratt & Whitney and Collins Aerospace divisions, due to decreased commercial aerospace sales from COVID-19 pandemic, CEO Greg Hayes said Tuesday on the company's earnings call. The Waltham, Mass., aerospace giant is the latest company to announce losses since the pandemic has sent commercial aerospace companies reeling, costing them tens of thousands of jobs and millions in lost profits. Hayes projected the market segment wouldn't get a sharp rebound, but instead see “a long, slow recovery,” over several years. “We don't expect commercial air traffic to return to 2019 levels, until at least 2023. And that's of course depending upon the timing of a widely distributed vaccine. In the near term, we expect a gradual recovery of commercial air traffic particularly given the recent spike in global cases [of coronavirus],” Hayes said. “As you know, we set aggressive targets in the first quarter to reduce costs by about $2 billion and to take actions to conserve about $4 billion in cash, making difficult but necessary actions to reduce headcount,” Hayes said. The ongoing personnel actions will reflect a 20 percent cut at both divisions, and include both temporary furloughs and a hiring freeze. In its merger with United Technologies in April, the company already planned to cut 1,000 jobs, mostly on its corporate side, Hayes said. The company is also reducing its infrastructure, which takes up 31 million square feet, by more than 20 percent ― beyond an earlier 10 percent goal for the merger. Hayes said that even after the pandemic subsides, it would continue to employ increased remote-work arrangements as part of a multiyear strategy to slash overhead. An announced aerospace-parts facility in western North Carolina is still in the works, as Hayes said the company would need the capacity when demand returns. “I think by the time this comes online in late 2023, we should see a kind of return to normalcy in commercial aerospace, and Pratt will be well positioned with a much lower cost, much more automated production facility,” he said. According to third-quarter numbers posted by Raytheon, Pratt & Whitney posted a $615 million loss in operating profit for the quarter versus a $520 million profit for the same period in 2019. Pratt's military sales rose 11 percent, driven in part by production of the F-35 joint strike fighter. Collins managed to post an operating profit of $526 million for the quarter, but the number marked a 58 percent drop over the prior year. Raytheon's commercial aftermarket business fell 51 percent at Pratt & Whitney and 52 percent at Collins Aerospace, while the company's military side was up. Both Raytheon's intelligence and space and missiles and defense segments offset some of the losses, as the company reported sales of $14.7 billion and an operating profit of $434 million for the quarter. Raytheon executives were upbeat on the defense business's backlog of more than $70 billion, and for the quarter, the segment posted $928 million in classified bookings. Correction: An earlier version of the story misstated the timing of the job cuts. They are ongoing, and most took place prior to Tuesday's call. https://www.defensenews.com/2020/10/27/raytheon-to-lay-off-20000-amid-commercial-aviation-slide/

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  August 6, 2020 | International, Aerospace

  The Air Force’s experimental navigation satellite cleared for fabrication

  Nathan Strout WASHINGTON - The U.S. Air Force has completed critical design review of an experimental navigation satellite, clearing the way for fabrication to begin and keeping the launch on track for 2022. The Air Force Research Laboratory's Navigation Technology Satellite 3 (NTS-3) is one of the Air Force's first Vanguard programs — platforms that can delivers remarkable new capabilities to the war fighter. NTS-3 is being developed to demonstrate new positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) technologies that will inform how future GPS satellites work. AFRL plans to operate the satellite in geosynchronous orbit for one year to experiment with new PNT signals and test new architectures. Beyond the space-based test vehicle itself, NTS-3 will also demonstrate new ground-based command and control as well as new software-defined radios. And, once on orbit, NTS-3 could provide immediate support to the war fighter. The experimental satellite will augment the GPS constellation from geosynchronous orbit, providing a geographically focused signal. “The NTS-3 Vanguard is an experimental, end-to-end demonstration of agile, resilient space-based positioning, navigation, and timing,” Arlen Biersgreen, the NTS-3 program manager, said in a statement. “It has the potential for game-changing advancements to the way the Air Force provides these critical capabilities to war fighters across the Department of Defense.” L3Harris is the prime contractor on NTS-3, and was awarded an $84 million contract for the experimental satellite in 2018. With the critical design review complete, the company can now move forward with fabrication, demonstration and testing. The NTS-3 contract includes a follow-on option for production of an entire constellation, if the Air Force chooses to exercise it. “Collaboration with our customers has enabled us to move rapidly through important milestones to design this experimental satellite,” said Ed Zoiss, president of space and airborne systems at L3Harris. “Our goal is to deliver new signals to support rapidly evolving warfighter missions.” Due to scheduling, NTS-3 technology is unlikely to be included on the any of the GPS III satellites in production, but it will likely inform aspects of the subsequent GPS IIIF satellites which are set to go on orbit in the late 2020s. L3Harris is developing the payloads for those satellites as well. https://www.c4isrnet.com/battlefield-tech/space/2020/08/04/the-air-forces-experimental-navigation-satellite-cleared-for-fabrication