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Mila Jasper The Defense Innovation Board convened for its fall public meeting Tuesday and approved resolutions for two key federal technology issues in addition to broadening its work on space. The board, which is comprised of national security technology innovators, formed a new space subcommittee to support the Space Force and heard from Michael Kratsios, acting undersecretary of defense for research and engineering, and U.S. chief technology officer. But the need for better testing protocols for artificial intelligence systems and strategies the Defense Department could adopt in order to attract digital talent took center stage at the meeting. The board adopted resolutions after robust discussions for both issues. Challenges in AI Testing No proven methods for testing and evaluating nondeterministic AI systems—meaning less predictable, more adaptable AI systems—exist. Daniela Rus, a roboticist with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said it is critical to have strong procedures for testing, evaluation, verification, and validation, or TEV/V, of artificial intelligence in order to create enough confidence in the technology to deploy it. “The department has been articulating the importance of accelerating the deployment of these systems,” Rus said, citing DOD's adoption of the board's AI ethics principles. “We have seen a lot of efforts in developing AI accelerator programs that will take the latest and greatest advancements in AI from research organizations and map them into processes and procedures for the department. We hope to have these in place, but in order to get there we need to have rigorous, robust procedures for testing.” The main reason testing for these types of autonomous systems is so challenging is uncertainty. Board member Danny Hillis, a pioneer in parallel computing, said uncertainty comes in three directions: from the function, the inputs and the outputs. Hillis suggested the board should use these three areas of uncertainty to guide its thinking when it comes to providing recommendations for TEV/V. The resolution adopted by the board argues DOD must develop its own TEV/V solutions as soon as possible, rather than wait for external solutions, in order to be ready to deploy AI systems in the short term. The board's science and technology subcommittee hopes to have two reports—one for a backgrounder and another for recommendations—on TEV/V for AI by December of this year. “Without a strong push for education and training on this topic and a diverse range of testing programs at the developmental and operational levels, DoD will have difficulty assessing its current TEV/V processes and determining next steps to improve its AI TEV/V capability,” the resolution reads. Competing for Digital Talent Later in the meeting, the DIB turned its attention to workforce issues. Jennifer Pahlka, a founder of the U.S. Digital Service and Code For America, led the group's discussion on competing for digital talent. Pahlka said the coronavirus pandemic and remote work trends could help the department attract talent if it develops new strategies to help it compete with the private sector. “As private sector remote work trends are changing how employers compete for digital talent, DOD has the opportunity to take advantage of these trends and be more competitive for civilian talent in this new environment,” Pahlka said. DOD and the federal government in general struggles to fill talent gaps for several reasons, including long hiring timelines. A recent report by the Partnership for Public Service found the average hiring timeline for the federal workforce is 98 days, or more than twice the private sector average. The paper DIB released to accompany the discussion detailed five recommendations for what to do to attract digital talent. Overall, DOD should develop strategies to maintain a remote and distributed workforce even beyond the pandemic. Pahlka added that though the recommendations focus on attracting digital talent, she hopes the same principles outlined can be expanded across the workforce. In the past, common wisdom said the Pentagon couldn't do mass telework. Since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, DOD had to adapt, and fast. Lisa Hershman, the chief management officer for the Defense Department, said in July the pandemic “shattered the myth” DOD couldn't support remote work. According to the DIB's report, DOD should now focus on expanding its IT infrastructure and make sure it has the tools it needs to maintain remote work as well as expand the agency's capabilities to do classified work remotely. The report also recommends DOD work on improvements to the remote hiring process, prioritize changing the agency's culture around remote work and “consider dedicated remote work pilot programs to recruit and fill critical civilian technical talent gaps at priority organizations.” “The subcommittee believes the DOD is really at an inflection point for talent management,” Pahlka said. Pahlka and three other members of the DIB including former Google CEO Eric Schmidt ended their terms on the board. Member terms last four years. https://www.nextgov.com/emerging-tech/2020/09/defense-innovation-board-adopts-ai-testing-digital-workforce-recruitment-resolutions

Justin P. Oberman Despite being warned, with impressive precision, about the dangers of so-called black swan events, America tends to ignore or downplay them because they seem remote, or the perceived financial, societal and political costs are too great. In the aftermath of 9/11, of Hurricane Katrina and other major domestic tragedies, we too often learn that our relevant capabilities have atrophied. Now, following perhaps the most devastating such event — the COVID-19 pandemic — the defense industrial base is actively seeking billions of dollars to prop it up without necessarily committing to making step-function leaps forward in a highly complex threat environment. And while keeping the thousands of small companies that support the defense primes alive is important, the Pentagon — flush with cash and a mandate to act quickly to react to the pandemic — should use this opportunity to refine its technology acquisition approach, in part by doing more to engage nontraditional defense firms. The reasons for bringing in new ideas for defense are clear. Just last week, the Department of Defense released its annual report to Congress on China, which states that “China has already achieved parity with — or even exceeded — the United States in several military modernization areas.” Even more concerning, DoD analysts describe China's military-civil fusion development strategy as “a nationwide endeavor that seeks to ‘fuse' its economic and social development strategies with its security strategies to build an integrated national strategic system and capabilities in support of China's national rejuvenation goals.” The United States doesn't need and shouldn't pursue a “fusion” strategy; rather, we need a better approach to strengthening the defense industrial base and engaging with innovators. The United States is at risk of losing its ability to manufacture critical national security technology thanks to a combination of byzantine domestic procurement processes, offshoring and overseas competitors. To counter these and other negative trends, the DoD needs a sustainable, continuous innovation model. In Silicon Valley, everyone from the biggest players to the youngest startups view working against or around slow, tired establishment organizations as almost a prerequisite to success (Uber vs. taxis, Tesla vs. legacy automakers, Amazon vs. everybody). Despite the Pentagon's attractive budget and important missions, many innovators are repelled by restrictive requirements, lengthy sales cycles, high costs of bidding and a deck often stacked in favor of large prime contractors. The DoD must throw open its doors to innovators and free itself to make bets; if it does, it will get more world-class tools for its mission owners. The department should: Make requirements less prescriptive, easier to understand and run two ways. Develop an outreach program for innovators that uses channels they're already occupying, in language they understand, with requirements that are compelling. Encourage two-way communication that surfaces non-obvious solutions to critical defense missions. At the Transportation Security Administration, we worked with an In-Q-Tel-backed company that was founded in Las Vegas to catch casino cheats; the Pentagon should look for similar outside-the-box opportunities. Engage substantively with private sector innovation experts. The best investors and executives back successful entrepreneurs, mentor them as they refine their offerings and support world-changing scale. The DoD needs these skill sets and should set up (unpaid) innovation mentoring boards. Insert flexibility into contracting and financing. To remove barriers to entry without sacrificing quality, the DoD should: Create “off-campus” labs to mitigate procurement and security clearance delays. Build on the work of Dr. Will Roper, the assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition, technology and logistics. to ensure innovators don't run out of funding. In what would be a great advancement and threshold change, work with Congress to arrange for private sector investment in key technologies to bolster programs of record. Lift government price and margin controls. Cost, often controlled through the anti-innovation technique of lowest-price, technically acceptable contracts, is not the key metric, particularly in emerging, dynamic technologies. What matters are outcomes and value. Restricting profit to a bureaucrat-calculated rate of 15 percent will drive innovative and nimble companies away from the DoD. Cost does not effectively incorporate other important metrics, including risk, prior investment and return on investment. Order quantities and frequency are also critical in determining reasonable costs, as these factors underpin business cases. It's not a coincidence that the world's largest, most innovative economy belongs to the same country that has the world's largest, most lethal military and is the world's most attractive target for emerging threats. The threat environment (intensified by the pandemic) makes clear that we need to change our approach; the state of our economy means that we need to start now. https://www.defensenews.com/opinion/commentary/2020/09/16/coronavirus-has-kept-us-close-to-home-its-a-helpful-lesson-for-strengthening-national-defense/

A l'occasion d'une journée dédiée à la coopération franco-allemande ce jeudi 17 septembre, la ministre des Armées, Florence Parly, et son homologue allemande Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, devraient se concerter sur le lancement du projet d'« Eurodrone », le drone européen de moyenne altitude et de longue distance. Ce programme engagé depuis 2017 par Airbus, le maître d'oeuvre du projet avec Dassault Aviation et Leonardo en co-traitants, est proche d'une contractualisation avec l'Organisation conjointe de coopération en matière d'armement (OCCAR), le bureau intergouvernemental qui gère les grands programmes d'armement européens. Il s'agit d'une commande estimée à 7 milliards d'euros pour 21 systèmes de 3 avions non pilotés et de 2 stations sol, dont 7 systèmes sont destinés à l'armée allemande, 5 à l'Italie, 5 à l'Espagne et 4 à la France. Les appareils doivent être livrés entre 2027 et 2030. Les Echos du 17 septembre 2020

James Chew The recently published viewpoint “Can the Pentagon Spend More Smartly?” (AW&ST Aug. 31-Sept. 13, p. 58) highlights the consequences of increased dependence on technology to maintain an edge. In fact, the core issue of the exponential growth in cost associated with the linear growth in technology capability is highlighted in Norman Augustine's 1982 book Augustine's Laws. Specifically, two of “Augustine's laws” focus on what needs to be avoided within the Defense Department acquisition community. One of the laws states: “In the year 2054, the entire defense budget will purchase just one aircraft. This aircraft will have to be shared by the Air Force and Navy three and a half days each per week, except for leap year when it will be made available to the Marines for the extra day.” Additionally, the book highlights the Defense Department's growing dependence on electronic systems with this law: “After the year 2015, there will be no airplane crashes. There will be no takeoffs either, because electronics will occupy 100% of every airplane's weight.” Even if these laws seem outlandish, the book's underlying lessons still ring true today. For decades, the Pentagon was the driving force behind the development of microelectronics until, interestingly, the commercial sector ultimately ended up in the driver's seat. To share a little history, the Army-funded Micromodule project was the precursor of the integrated circuit and the Very-Large Scale Integration project created today's electronic design automation companies and resulted in the development of multichip wafer fabrication technology. The fact is, today's microelectronics technology would not exist, or would almost certainly be less sophisticated, if not for a few brave and visionary Defense Department project officers. The electronics industry is likely the most visible and significant example of a commercial market that not only transitioned from but significantly advanced technology developed by the U.S. military. Without the government investment, the device on which I am writing this article, and the one on which you are reading it, would perhaps not exist. There are lessons to be learned from both the public and private sectors, and best practices from each can certainly be applied cross-functionally to optimize outcomes. For example, the commercial electronics industry has enabled electronic systems companies to develop high-quality, sustainable and modernizable products on a “can't-miss-Christmas” schedule. Much of the industry's success is due in large part to an adherence to “first-pass success” and the computational software tools and processes that enable it. These tools and processes have been developed by companies that invest significant portions of their annual sales—some up to 40%—into research and development (that is “IR&D” to you in the Pentagon) and are a result of the intense competition within the unforgiving consumer electronics market. These tools and processes, which have institutionalized the product development practice of “emulate before you fabricate,” make up the foundation of on-schedule, on-cost product development. The best-case scenario is that the current Defense Department and defense industry electronic development process matches up with the commercial electronics development process, where they both seek to achieve “first-pass success.” Even if all things were equal, which they aren't, the commercial timeline would still be around 30% that of the defense timeline. Eliminating the need for prototype hardware and the associated tests and reworks is a major reduction in design time and cost. So, after so many years of funding research into electronic design and development, why have the Defense Department and defense industry turned away from the commercial processes that stemmed from that investment? Why aren't these processes being adopted? Congress appreciates that transitioning to commercial electronics best practices is the basis for the much-desired firm, fixed-price acquisition. The fiscal 2017 National Defense Authorization Act, reinforced by the fiscal 2021 Defense Appropriations Act, has an entire section on transitioning to commercial electronics best practices. Program offices and some individuals within the defense industrial base are seeking to better understand the commercial industry-proven way to design electronics that reduce design schedules by at least 70%, producing “first-pass success” electronic system designs that are immediately sustainable and agilely modernizable. The answer is out there—adopt commercial best practices to save time and money. With nontraditional companies entering the picture (what's the name of that space company?), the public sector should have plenty of motivation to implement tools and processes that are prevalent and successful in today's private sector. https://aviationweek.com/defense-space/budget-policy-operations/opinion-how-break-exponential-pentagon-cost-growth

KELSEY ATHERTON Leaving the browser and its history in a virtual environment spread across any number of servers makes it harder for adversaries to target the military's actual computers or tablets. ALBUQUERQUE: The Defense Information Systems Agency awarded $198.9 million for a Cloud Based Internet Isolation contract to Menlo Security and By Light, the agency announced today. DISA hopes Menlo Security's tech can, by keeping downloads in the cloud, reduce harmful downloads across the entire Pentagon workforce. By keeping browsing inside the cloud, the program will save on bandwidth, and protect against the department's 3.5 million users accidentally downloading malware. It is a kind of “air-gapping,” the style of computer security that keeps networks safe by making sure that computers are not physically connected at all times. Leaving the browser, and all its contained history, in a virtual environment in any of a number of servers makes it harder for adversaries, be they criminals, nonstate actors, or nations, to target the actual computers or tablets used by the military. Internet browsing is mostly downloading files directly to the end-user's computer or mobile device. What the Cloud Based Internet Isolation (CBII) does is make sure that all that downloading happens, not on the end user's computer, but instead in a remotely secured server. “The remote worker will perform the task of going to their net or an Internet based application, that fetch and execute,” Menlo Security VP Mike Fraga says. What is different is that, instead of downloading directly onto the user's device, “getting the information and actually queuing is done in a disposable container in Menlo cloud. And so then we replicate what's happening on the application or the internet down on a remote workers device.” In essence, CBII promises to do all this while making the user experience virtually indistinguishable from having the browser directly running on the computer. Users are functionally interacting with an image of a browser window, instead of the browser itself, but that illusion should be imperceptible. “That's going to significantly reduce the risk in the attack surface,” said By Light VP Jason Cole, “alleviating all the congestion at those Internet access points.” For security purposes, this means that instead of monitoring all traffic for harm on every device, the Pentagon can instead look at the connection between computers and clouds. If a piece of malware was downloaded, it becomes a much smaller haystack of files for the forensics team to go through, since downloading to a computer becomes an active choice, instead of the passive function of browsing. Many of the normal conveniences of browser-based functionality are continued within Menlo's cloud-based environment. Instead of users having to log in anew to every site they visit every time they load the remote cloud, the software “maintains an encrypted cookie-jar in our cloud for each user that largely mirrors how the user's native browser handles cookies,” said Kowsik Guruswamy, Menlo Security CTO. “When a user navigates to a site, Menlo injects the user's site-specific cookies into the isolated browser so they can stay logged in,” Guruswamy continued. “The encryption key for each user's cookie jar is stored in their own browser, such that only they can unlock the contents.” Beyond the security of the environment, the move to cloud-based browsing also promises an overall savings in data use. “We're estimating about a 20% bandwidth reduction for any general web browsing, but then a 50 to 70% bandwidth reduction for streaming media,” said Cole. That savings is valuable everywhere, and is especially valuable in areas where bandwidth is already constrained, like on ships underway or at remote bases with low connectivity. Even in more domestic settings, the pandemic-induced shift to remote work often means users have to send data back through company-owned network infrastructure for security reasons, which eats up time in the process, and comes with risks. “I think companies overall are struggling with not only the latency so that their end users can have a good experience to accomplish their job, but gaps in security based on all that backhauling, and there's some blind spots there,” said Fraga. The servers are, like much of the cloud infrastructure available today, provided through Amazon Web Services. Menlo's approach is already in use with banks like JPMorgan Chase, HSBC, and AmEx. “Isolation overall is an innovative technology,” said Fraga. Isolation, in the fashion promised by cloud-based browsing, is a preventative technology. It reduces the number of paths into computers, making it easier for other detection solutions to find the fewer threats that might slip through. https://breakingdefense.com/2020/09/fewer-threats-more-bandwidth-disa-awards-199m-for-cloud-browsing/

DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY Espey Manufacturing and Electronics Corp.,* Saratoga Springs, New York (SPRWA1-20-D-0021); Communications & Power Industries LLC, Beverly, Massachusetts (SPRWA1-20-D-0022); Crane Electronics Inc., Fort Walton Beach, Florida (SPRWA1-20-D-0023); SC Electronics Inc.,* Azle, Texas (SPRWA1-20-D-0024); and Dave's Engineering LLC, doing business as DE Design Works,* Chesterfield, Missouri (SPRWA1-20-D-0025), are sharing an estimated $400,000,000 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract under solicitation SPRWA1-19-R-0007 for design and production of low voltage to high voltage power supplies. This was a competitive acquisition with five responses received. These are five-year base contracts with one five-year option period. Locations of performance are New York, Massachusetts, Florida, Texas and Missouri, with a Sept. 14, 2025, ordering period end date. Using military service is Air Force. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2020 through 2025 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Aviation, Warner Robins, Georgia. L3Harris Technologies, Amityville, New York, has been awarded a maximum $52,977,415 fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for Band 4-8 countermeasure receivers for B-1B aircraft. 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 four-year contract with no option periods. Location of performance is New York, with a Sept. 14, 2024, ordering period end date. Using military service is Air Force. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2020 through 2024 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Aviation, Warner Robins, Georgia (SPRWA1-20-D-0011). ZOLL Medical Corp., Chelmsford, Massachusetts, has been awarded a maximum $38,555,900 modification (P00002) exercising the first one-year option period of a one-year base contract (SPE2D1-19-D-0035) with four one-year option periods for dual-aeromedical certified defibrillators and accessories. This is a firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract. Location of performance is Massachusetts, with a Sept. 19, 2021, ordering period end date. Using customers are Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and Department of Health Affairs. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2020 through 2021 Warstopper funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Boeing Co., St. Louis, Missouri, has been awarded a maximum $19,999,999 firm-fixed-price, undefinitized, definite-delivery/definite-quantity delivery order (SPRPA1-20-F-0012) against five-year basic ordering agreement SPE4A1-15-G-0001 for F-15 wing support. 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 30-month contract with no option periods. Location of performance is Missouri, with a May 21, 2022, performance completion date. Using military service is Air Force. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2020 through 2022 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Aviation, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ARMY Accura Engineering and Consulting Services,* Atlanta, Georgia (W912PL-20-D-0047); CES Consulting LLC,* Dulles, Virginia (W912PL-20-D-0048); APSI Construction Management,* Irvine, California (W912PL-20-D-0049); and HFS Co.,* San Antonio, Texas (W912PL-20-D-0050), will compete for each order of the $180,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract for construction phase services to support the southern border of the U.S. Bids were solicited via the internet with 11 received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Sept. 14, 2025. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Los Angeles, California, is the contracting activity. General Electric Co., Cincinnati, Ohio, was awarded a $37,070,079 firm-fixed-price contract for field service representatives in support of the T700 Series Engine program. Bids were solicited via the internet with one received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Dec. 31, 2025. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity (W58RGZ-20-D-0069). Manson Construction Co., Seattle, Washington, was awarded a $13,200,000 modification (P00004) to contract W912PL-18-C-0042 for dredging. Work will be performed in Ventura, California, with an estimated completion date of Jan. 13, 2021. Fiscal 2020 civil construction funds in the amount of $13,200,000 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Los Angeles, California, is the contracting activity. System Studies & Simulation Inc., Huntsville, Alabama, was awarded a $9,185,564 modification (000436) to contract W31P4Q-09-A-0019 for precision fires rocket and missile systems project office general engineering and technical support. Work will be performed in Huntsville, Alabama, with an estimated completion date of March 31, 2021. Fiscal 2019 and 2020 other procurement (Army); 2019 and 2020 research, development, test and evaluation (Army); and 2020 and operations and maintenance (Army) funds in the amount of $9,185,564 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity. RDZM LLC., Arlington, Virginia, was awarded an $8,802,640 modification (P00007) to contract W15QKN-19-C-0032 for engineering and manufacturing development, low rate initial production, and full rate production of the 40mm HV HEDP-AB XM1176 cartridge. Work will be performed in Middletown, Iowa; and Stafford, Virginia, with an estimated completion date of Sept. 14, 2025. Fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation (Army) funds in the amount of $8,802,640 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Newark, New Jersey, is the contracting activity. Shearwater Mission Support LLC,* Anchorage, Alaska, was awarded a $7,324,556 modification (P00016) to contract W911S8-18-D-0018 for installation support services at Yuma Proving Ground. Work will be performed at Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona, with an estimated completion date of Oct. 31, 2023. U.S. Army 418th Contracting Support Brigade, Fort Hood, Texas, is the contracting activity. CORRECTION: The contract announced on Sept. 11, 2020, for Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co. LLC, Oak Brook, Illinois (W912HY-20-C-0034), for $15,494,310, was announced with an incorrect award date. The correct award date is Sept. 15, 2020. NAVY Marvin Engineering Co. Inc., Inglewood, California, is awarded a $132,481,869 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract. This contract provides for the production and delivery of a maximum quantity of 1,339 BRU-32B/A ejector unit rack assemblies and a maximum quantity of 1,056 LAU-127E/A guided missile launchers in support of the F/A-18E/F and EA-18G series aircraft. Work will be performed in Inglewood, California, and is expected to be completed in September 2027. No funds will be obligated at the time of award. Funds will be obligated on individual orders as they are issued. This contract was not competitively procured pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity (N00019-20-D-0011). Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., a Lockheed Martin Co., Stratford, Connecticut, is awarded a $54,477,181 firm-fixed-price order (N00019-20-F-0256) against previously issued basic ordering agreement N00019-19-G-0029. This order procures 3,754 interim spare parts and provides support for the repair and maintenance of the CH-53K low rate initial production aircraft configuration. Work will be performed in Quebec, Canada (7.08%); Jupiter, Florida (6.4%); Rome, New York (4.56%); Bridgeport, West Virginia (4.26%); Jackson, Mississippi (4.19%); Windsor Locks, Connecticut (3.9%); Erie, Pennsylvania (3.72%); Vergennes, Vermont (3.22%); Blacksburg, Virginia (3.17%); Springfield, New Jersey (2.97%); Hialeah, Florida (2.85%); Tucson, Arizona (2.62%); Magnolia, Arkansas (2.53%); Atlanta, Georgia (2.38%); Cedar Rapids, Iowa (2.3%); Irvine, California (2.27%); Vancouver, Washington (1.88%); Costa Mesa, California (1.84%); Huntsville, Alabama (1.75%); New Port Richey, Florida (1.75%); Salt Lake City, Utah (1.75%); Santa Clarita, California (1.65%); Naples, Florida (1.62%); St. Louis, Missouri (1.57%); Fort Walton Beach, Florida (1.57%); Minden, Nebraska (1.52%); Ronkonkoma, New York (1.44%); Boylston, Massachusetts (1.23%); Newington, Connecticut (1.14%); Shelton, Connecticut (1.14%); Chalfont, Pennsylvania (1%); Sylmar, California (1%); Berlin, Connecticut (1.03%); various locations within the continental U.S. (15.96%); and various locations outside the continental U.S. (0.74%), and is expected to be completed in April 2023. Fiscal 2020 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $54,477,181 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. RQ Construction, Carlsbad, California, is being awarded a $38,218,250 firm-fixed-price task order (N40085-20-F-6501) under a multiple award construction contract for the construction of Hurricane Florence recovery projects located at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. This task order provides replacements for facilities damaged during Hurricane Florence and entails two projects. The Marine Corps Special Operations Command Individual Training Course Team Facility replacement project constructs an academic instruction facility containing single-story steel frame buildings with brick veneer over metal studs and standing seam metal roofs. The Weapons Training Battalion (WTBN) Headquarters replacement project constructs a low-rise steel frame headquarters facility for WTBN with reinforced concrete masonry unit with reinforced masonry walls, brick veneer, reinforced concrete floors, and standing seam metal roof. Work will be performed in Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, and is expected to be completed by June 2024. Fiscal 2020 military construction (Marine Corps) contract funds in the amount of $38,218,250 are obligated on this award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via the beta.SAM.gov website with five proposals received. Naval Facilities Engineering Command Mid-Atlantic, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity (N40085-20-D-0034). L-3 Communications Cincinnati Electronics Corp., Mason, Ohio, is awarded a $37,063,645 firm-fixed-priced, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for the purchase of up to 163 M36E-T1 Thermal Sight Systems, spares, special tools and test equipment, new equipment training and manuals, M36E-3 conversions, associated non-recurring engineering and assault amphibious vehicle filter windows. Work will be performed in Mason, Ohio, and is expected to be completed by September 2026. Foreign Military Sales (FMS) revolving funds in the amount of $6,001,603, under Taipei Economic Cultural Representative Office FMS case TW-P-SEQ, will be obligated on the first delivery order immediately following contract award; the funds do not have an expiration date. This contract was not competitively procured pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1 and 10 U.S. Code § 2304(c) (1). Marine Corps Systems Command, Quantico, Virginia, is the contracting activity (M67854-20-D-0005). Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Herndon, Virginia, is awarded a $33,912,603 cost-plus-fixed-fee and cost-only modification to previously awarded contract N00024-17-C-6327 to exercise options for engineering support services, depot support services and other direct costs for Joint Counter Radio-Controlled Improvised Explosive Device Electronic Warfare Increment One Block One Systems. Work will be performed in San Diego, California, and is expected to be completed by September 2021. Fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) (63%); and fiscal 2019 other procurement (Navy) (37%) funding in the amount of $4,471,479 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity. Prism Maritime LLC,* Chesapeake, Virginia, is awarded a not to exceed $18,543,455 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract with firm-fixed-price and cost-plus-fixed-fee task order provisions for hardware items and engineering services in support of Combat Systems Interface and Steering Control Systems currently installed on the following ship classes: aircraft carrier, nuclear powered; landing ship, dock; amphibious transport dock; and multi-purpose amphibious assault ship. The supplies under this contract will support an integral part of Combat Systems Interface and Steering Control Systems installed on numerous ship platforms in the Navy. This requirement is for specialized supplies that only Prism Maritime LLC can support. Prism Maritime LLC, as the original equipment manufacturer, is the sole designer and fabricator of this equipment, and as such, possesses the proprietary technical data necessary to manufacture and provide maintenance for this specialized equipment. Work will be performed in Chesapeake, Virginia (85%); Bremerton, Washington (5%); Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (5%); San Diego, California (3%); and Norfolk, Virginia (2%), and is expected to be completed by September 2025. Fiscal 2020 other procurement (Navy) funding in the amount of $1,269,436 ($500 minimum guarantee) will be obligated at time of award via an individual task order and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. In accordance with 10 U.S. Code 2304(c) (1), this contract was not competitively procured; only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements. The Naval Surface Warfare Center Philadelphia Division, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is the contracting activity (N64498-20-D-4038). GE Aviation Systems LLC, Sterling, Virginia, is being awarded a not-to-exceed $9,927,624 contract action for the evaluation and repair and/or modification of marine propellers used on Landing Craft Air Cushion vehicles. This contract includes a 27-month base period with an additional 180-day option, which if exercised, will bring the contract value to $19,240,816. Work will be performed in Sterling, Virginia (80%); and the United Kingdom (20%). Work is expected to be completed by November 2022. If all options are exercised, work will be completed by May 2023. Annual working capital (Navy) funds in the amount of $2,481,906 will be obligated at time of award and funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. One source was solicited for this non-competitive requirement pursuant to the authority set forth in 10 U.S. Code 2304(C)(1), with one offer received. Naval Supply Systems Command Weapon Systems Support, Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, is the contracting activity (N00104-20-C-CA04). Progeny Systems Corp.,* Manassas, Virginia, is awarded an $8,607,236 cost-plus-fixed-fee modification to previously awarded contract N00024-20-C-5213 to exercise an option for engineering services and hardware systems in support of the Undersea Warfare Decision Support Systems Command and Control program. Work will be performed in Manassas, Virginia (79%); Norfolk, Virginia (11%); Keyport, Washington (8%); Charleroi, Pennsylvania (1%); and San Diego, California (1%), and is expected to be completed by May 2021. Fiscal 2019 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) (48%); fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance (Navy) (40%); fiscal 2018 other procurement (Navy) (9%); and fiscal 2019 other procurement (Navy) (3%) funding in the amount of $690,636 will be obligated at time of award, of which, $668,225 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured under the exception 15 U.S. Code 638 (r) (4), Small Business Innovation Research Phase III. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity. Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Bethpage, New York, is awarded an $8,079,018 modification to previously awarded contract N00024-17-C-6311 to exercise an option for the production of Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) Surface-to-Surface Missile Module (SSMM). The modification authorizes the production of one SSMM unit. The SSMM is a Longbow Hellfire missile that will be added to the surface warfare mission module aboard the LCS. Work will be performed in Huntsville, Alabama (80%); Bethpage, New York (18%); and Hollywood, Maryland (2%), and is expected to be completed by June 2022. Fiscal 2020 other procurement (Navy) funding in the amount of $8,079,018 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity. AIR FORCE Seed Innovations LLC, Monument, Colorado, has been awarded an $18,509,050 firm-fixed-price task order for the Chief Data Office's platform services. This award was made from the LevelUP Development Security Operations basic ordering agreement FA8307-20-G-0049. The work to be conducted includes subject matter expert support of the enterprise Data-as-a-Service platform. Work will be performed in the Washington, D.C., area, and is expected to be completed Sept. 23, 2023. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $4,598,093 are being obligated at time of award. Air Force District of Washington, Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, is the contracting activity (FA7014-20-F-0205). Northrop Grumman Space & Mission Systems Corp., San Diego, California, has been awarded a $15,576,708 cost-plus-fixed-fee modification (P00007) to contract FA870-18-C-0058 for protected forward communications preliminary design review, hardware and software. The contract modification provides for additional design, development, and testing of a communications waveform prototype suitable for a rotary platform to support ground-to-helicopter, helicopter-to-airborne platform, and helicopter-to-long range relay communication which expands upon the existing research and development under the contract. Work will be performed in San Diego, California, and is expected to be completed Sept. 15, 2022. Fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $10,225,617 are being obligated at the time of award. Total cumulative face value of the contract is $26,751,332. Air Force Research Laboratory, Rome, New York, is the contracting activity. PAR Government Systems Corp., Rome, New York, has been awarded a $9,876,944 cost-plus-fixed-fee completion contract for directional airborne networks for contested environments, hardware and software. This contract provides for development of an interference emulation suite (IES). The IES will provide the ability for links and networks to be stressed by a variety of interference types, from simple narrow band sources to protocol-aware interferers. Work will be performed in Rome, New York, and is expected to be completed September 2024. This award is the result of a competitive acquisition and two offers were received. Fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $89,052 are being obligated at the time of award. Air Force Research Laboratory, Rome, New York, is the contracting activity (FA8750-20-C-1021). CYMSTAR LLC, Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, has been awarded a $9,449,995 firm-fixed-price undefinitized contract action delivery order for an E-4B configured training system. This effort supports the urgent need for a full motion Federal Aviation Administration certified level C or better weapon system trainer and necessary support activities. Work will be performed in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, and is expected to be completed by April 1, 2022. This award is the result of a sole-source acquisition. Fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $4,514,596 are being obligated at the time of award. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (FA8621-20-F-6264). (Awarded Sept. 14, 2020) U.S. SPECIAL OPERATIONS COMMAND Indigo Ridge Farms LLC, Quicksburg, Virginia, was awarded a $10,465,942 maximum indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract (H92239-20-D-0004) for caprines and fermented alafalfa haylage (feed) to support medical training at the Joint Special Operations Medical Training Center, Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and other subordinate units. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $62,192 are being obligated at the time of award. The period of performance is a base ordering period of 12 months with four additional 12-month ordering periods. The five-year ordering period ends in September 2025. The contract was awarded competitively with two proposals received. U.S. Special Operations Command, Fort Bragg, North Carolina, is the contracting activity. DEFENSE ADVANCED RESEARCH PROJECTS AGENCY The University of Southern California, Marina del Rey, California, was awarded an $8,388,215 cost reimbursement contract for a research project under the Open Programmable Secure 5G (OPS-5G) program. The OPS-5G program creates open source software and systems enabling secure 5G and subsequent mobile networks such as 6G. Work will be performed in Marina del Rey, California; Monroe, Louisiana; and Newark, New Jersey, with an expected completion date of September 2024. Fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation funding in the amount of $962,297 is being obligated at time of award. This contract was a competitive acquisition under an open broad agency announcement and 40 offers were received. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Arlington, Virginia, is the contracting activity (HR0011-20-C-0157). * Small business https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2348694/source/GovDelivery/

Open Call for International Entries to Reimagining Energy for the DoD Challenge. Creating the Future of Resilient Energy Production, Transmission, Use and Storage. LAS VEGAS, Sept. 4, 2020 /CNW/ -- AFWERX, the U.S. Air Force's innovation catalyst, announces the Reimagining Energy for the DoD Challenge, seeking solutions to create the future of resilient energy production, transmission, use, and storage. The Department of Defense (DoD) is currently the largest energy consumer globally. By reducing demand and reliance on petroleum and modernizing the energy infrastructure, the U.S. Air Force can improve the way it consumes energy, increases sustainability, and remains adaptable to future impacts of climate change and reduction in fossil fuels. This is an incredible opportunity for the DoD to partner with innovative industries and academia to identify, fund, and launch new energy strategies from now until 2045. The Challenge is seeking solutions that can be implemented immediately, those that require some further development and also moonshot ideas that may not be implemented until 2045. "The disruption of the energy sector is already happening. There's unbelievable innovation occurring in how we produce, transmit, and store energy. The DoD must partner with those leading this disruption in both industry and academia to ensure we maintain our competitive advantage," stated Colonel Charles Bris-Bois, Air Force Disruptive Technology Team. The Reimagining Energy for the DoD Challenge will gather the right people from industry, government, and academia to identify solutions for a sustainable energy infrastructure for the Department of Defense. The goals of the Challenge are to leverage all energy sources for military use such as wind, solar, thermal, hydro, nuclear, and hydrogen and increase mission effectiveness and quality of life, while reducing our dependence on fossil fuels. Our aspirational targets are to eliminate all fossil fuel dependency and achieve a carbon negative DoD. The Reimagining Energy for the DoD Challenge encompasses six specific topics: Permanent & Mobile Energy Generation Energy Transmission & Distribution Mobile & Fixed Energy Storage New Warfighting & Operational Equipment Not Dependent on Fossil Fuels Data Availability for Improved Planning & Decision Making Energy Culture, Policy & Education "I am really excited for this Challenge for two reasons. First, this will change the way the DoD consumes, stores, distributes, and uses energy which has strategic benefit and benefits the planet at the same time given the aspirational carbon-negative target. Second, this Challenge is running concurrently with a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) focus area which creates a lot of opportunity for small businesses in the U.S. to receive government funding to support this initiative," said Mark Rowland, Innovation Actualizer for AFWERX. The open call for solutions for the Reimagining Energy Challenge launches on Sept. 2, 2020. The submission window will remain open until Oct. 1, 2020. Teams that submit their solutions by Sept. 14 will be invited to participate in an event on Sept. 17 where they will receive feedback to improve their submissions; participate in a Q&A session and also a networking and collaboration opportunity. Submissions are accepted from across the globe, both domestic and international organizations and individuals are encouraged to participate. The full challenge overview and details to submit a proposed solution is available at afwerxchallenge.com/energy. Preview the video for additional information here. ABOUT AFWERX Established in 2017, AFWERX is a product of the U.S. Air Force, directly envisioned by former Secretary of the Air Force Heather Wilson. Her vision of AFWERX — to solve some of the toughest challenges that the Air Force faces through innovation and collaboration amongst our nation's top subject-matter experts. AFWERX serves as a catalyst to unleash new approaches for the warfighter through a growing ecosystem of innovators. AFWERX and the U.S. Air Force are committed to exploring viable solutions and partnerships to further strengthen the Air Force, which could lead to additional prototyping, R&D, and follow-on production contracts. https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/afwerx-announces-the-global-reimagining-energy-challenge-for-the-u-s-department-of-defense-822922728.html

PATRICK TUCKER Two years after the Pentagon set out to spend billions on 10 breakthrough research and engineering efforts, defense contractors instead are putting most of their money in less ambitious research projects. The development gap between the military and its suppliers troubled investigators at the Government Accountability Office, or GAO, who determined in a report released Thursday that the Defense Department isn't keeping good watch over those private efforts and doesn't know how much of it would fit into the military's tech goals. The Pentagon's undersecretary for research and engineering in 2018 laid out several big idea research areas that would be most relevant to maintaining an edge on China or Russia. Many are in the very early stages of maturation; the biggest breakthroughs are expected in the second half of the coming decade. They are: artificial intelligence, autonomy, biotechnology, directed energy, space, cyber, microelectronics, hypersonics, networked command and control, and quantum science. These areas of the future will go on to determine technology superiority in 2030, and the Department of Defense is eager to invest . It plans to spend $7.5 billion on artificial intelligence, autonomy, hypersonics, and directed energy this year, according to the report. But GAO found that defense contractors in the past four years have been putting only 40 percent of their independent research dollars, sometimes called IR&D, against those priorities. Coincidently, “our analysis also showed that the majority (67 percent) of IR&D projects completed between 2014 and 2018 focused on incremental, rather than disruptive, innovation.” In other words, while defense contractors are spending some of their money on big ambitious goals, they prefer to spend more on low-hanging fruit, in little improvements to existing technologies that they can sell to the government more easily. Part of the reason for the apparent spending priority gap may be that the Defense Department doesn't track contractors' research and development spending very well. “Neither DOD nor the military departments review industry IR&D projects as part of their science and technology strategic planning processes. DOD is not reviewing IR&D projects because DOD's IR&D instruction does not require such consideration of the projects,” notes GAO. The Defense Department maintains a database to track the projects where contractors are spending research money. But individuals within the department make very little use of it. “For example... the Air Force accounted for more than 55 percent of all searches in 2019, primarily, from users with the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL).” The Pentagon's own lack of awareness could result in components, offices, or other parts of the military investing in research projects without knowing that a private company has a similar project underway. GAO recommends a few simple things to put the Pentagon and contractors more on the same page. First, make it mandatory for personnel in the office undersecretary of research and development to actually review defense industry IR&D; and, second, make the database more useful by asking the contractors to submit more data, like whether the projects they are undertaking are disruptive or just incremental, and the estimated cost when completed. https://www.defenseone.com/technology/2020/09/pentagon-defense-contractors-are-out-step-tech-innovation-gao-finds/168237/

By SYDNEY J. FREEDBERG JR. SOCOM couldn't build a bulletproof Iron Man. But Army experiments with more modest lower-body exoskeletons have shown real-world potential to help overburdened foot troops. WASHINGTON: Army Futures Command is drafting a formal requirement for a military exoskeleton and will seek feedback from manufacturers at a November industry day. The Army's top priority, officials told me: rapidly prototyping a system that helps the wearer “move faster, travel further, and carry heavier loads” – without breaking down in the heat of battle. “Reliability is a huge issue that needs to be resolved,” said Ted Maciuba, deputy director of robotic requirements for Futures Command. Now, don't expect a full-body bulletproof suit that can fly and access huge databases out of science fiction. “We are not going after the Starship Troopers/Iron Man system right off the bat,” said Rich Cofer, a former soldier who's now the Army's lead “capabilities developer” on the exoskeleton project. “We're not going to jump right in and expect Tony Stark... Expectation management is key.” (That's a stark contrast to Special Operations Command's highly publicized TALOS program, which explicitly compared itself to Iron Man but produced nothing of the kind). So instead of Iron Man, think Iron Leg. In a “soldier touchpoint” last December at Fort Drum, NY, Army soldiers from more than two dozen Military Occupational Specialties — ranging from infantry to supply — tried out various types of “lower-body exoskeletons,” including the Lockheed Martin ONYX that our own Paul McLeary tries out in this video. In essence, these are motorized knee braces and other wearable reinforcements for the legs that lighten the load on overburdened soldiers as they march for hours with heavy packs, manhandle artillery shells and such. The goal isn't to give the wearer superpowers, but to reduce fatigue and risk of injury. During the Fort Drum trials, “there were significant increases in the effectiveness of soldiers,” Maciuba told me. “The soldiers were able to do more with the exoskeleton than they could without.” That said, “we learned [that] there needs to be enough reliability engineered into our systems so that there is a very high probability they will not fail in use,” Maciuba continued. “It's one thing to be wearing a boot whose sole flips off. You can always take some 100-mile-an-hour tape and tape that back on your foot. It's another thing to be wearing an exoskeleton” that requires specialized training and tools to fix. So reliability will be a high priority when the Army speaks to potential vendors in mid-November. By that point, Maciuba & co. expect to have a draft Abbreviated Capabilities Development Document for industry to review and offer comment on. (Army Futures Command officially gave them the go-ahead to write the ACDD on Aug. 14th; the exoskeleton project falls under the command's Soldier Lethality team, with input from PEO-Soldier acquisition officials, Natick Soldier Systems Center researchers, and capability managers for infantry, armored, and Stryker units). While unclassified, the document will be considered sensitive and only released to qualified contractors. While the ACDD is formally considered a requirements document, Maciuba told me, it's not going to set rigid technical specs as would a traditional Army requirement. The technology is advancing way too fast to get that detailed at this early stage. Instead, he said, it will outline “desirable characteristics” but leave industry plenty of leeway to innovate on specific ways to achieve them – and the Army is open to revising those desires based on what industry says is actually achievable. “We want industry to grade our work,” Maciuba said. The industry day – which will be held online unless there's some miraculous breakthrough with COVID-19 – will include both a general session open to all contractors and one-on-one meetings with specific contractors so they can discuss their technology without competitors listening. Afterwards, Maciuba, Cofer, & co. will compile the feedback from all the companies, revise the ACDD, and send it to Army leaders for approval. The final Abbreviated Capabilities Development Document should be out by the end of 2021, Cofer estimated. The next step? Use a streamlined acquisition process known as Section 804, intended to field a working prototype within five years – that is, Maciuba cautioned, if the Army can find the funding. https://breakingdefense.com/2020/09/army-wants-industry-input-for-reliable-exoskeleton-not-iron-man-yet/