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NAVY AgustaWestland Philadelphia Corp., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is awarded a $176,472,608 firm-fixed-price contract for the production and delivery of 32 TH-73A aircraft, initial spares, peculiar support equipment, flyaway kits, hoists, sling loads, data in excess of commercial form fit function/operations maintenance instructional training data as well as ancillary instructor pilot and maintenance personnel training. Work will be performed at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (87%); Mineral Wells, Texas (5%); and various locations outside the continental U.S. (8%), and is expected to be completed in October 2021. Fiscal 2020 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $176,472,608 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via an electronic request for proposal; five offers were received. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity (N61340-20-C-0007). Airbus Helicopters Inc., Grand Prairie, Texas, is awarded a $37,729,000 firm-fixed-price indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract. This contract provides performance-based logistics support to include ground and repair maintenance of five UH-72 aircraft, sustaining engineering required to maintain UH-72 Federal Aviation Administration certification, the incorporation of U.S. Navy Test Pilot School specific modifications, and the support to provide ground and flight training for the UH-72/EC-145 aircraft. Work will be performed in Patuxent River, Maryland, and is expected to be completed in January 2025. 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 Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity (N00421-20-D-0010). C.E.R. Inc.,* Baltimore, Maryland, is awarded a $12,886,000 firm-fixed-price task order (N4008020F4121) under a multiple award construction contract for Gambo Creek Bridge replacement at Naval Support Facility Dahlgren. The work to be performed provides for a design build project to remove and replace Gambo Creek Bridge on Tisdale Road with a reinforced concrete bridge structure that complies with the Federal Highway Administration lane widths for two way traffic. Work will be performed in Dahlgren, Virginia, and is expected to be completed by November 2022. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance (Navy) contract funds in the amount of $12,886,000 are obligated on this award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Five proposals were received for this task order. Naval Facilities Engineering Command Washington, Public Works Department, South Potomac, Dahlgren, Virginia, is the contracting activity (N40080-19-D-0011). DRS Systems Inc., Melbourne, Florida, is awarded a $7,660,583 modification (P00001) to a cost-plus-fixed-fee, cost reimbursable delivery order (N0001919F2730) against a previously issued basic ordering agreement (N00019-19-G-0030). This modification provides program management, engineering and logistics support to mitigate identified risks to the Distributed Aperture Infrared Countermeasure program. Work will be performed in Dallas, Texas (70%); San Diego, California (27%); and Fort Walton Beach, Florida (3%), and is expected to be completed in December 2020. Fiscal 2019 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $2,670,597; and fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $3,798,000 will be obligated at time of award, $2,670,597 of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. AIR FORCE Raytheon Missile Systems Co., Tucson, Arizona, has been awarded a $10,593,360 modification P00001 to previously awarded contract FA8675-20-C-0033 for Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile Production Lot 33 spares. This contract modification provides for the production Air Force and Navy spares. Work will be performed at Tucson, Arizona, with an expected completion date of March 31, 2022. Fiscal 2018 Air Force procurement funds in the amount of $1,730,203; and fiscal 2020 Navy procurement funds in the amount of $8,863,157 are being obligated at the time of award. Total cumulative face value of the contract is $778,877,267. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, is the contracting activity. (Awarded Jan. 10, 2020) *Small Business https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2056101/source/GovDelivery/

AIR FORCE General Electric Aviation, Cincinnati, Ohio, has been awarded a $318,014,000 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for the Engine Component Improvement Program. This contract provides for a list of projects each calendar year to include developing engineering changes to the engines, developing organizational, intermediate and depot level repairs as needed, and designing modifications to existing support equipment as well as initiating new support equipment designs as required by engine driven changes. The program also provides support to resolve service-revealed deficiencies and maintain or extend the life limits of aircraft engines. Work will be performed at Cincinnati, Ohio, and is expected to be complete by Dec. 31, 2029. This award is the result of a sole-source acquisition. Fiscal 2020 research and development funds in the amount of $503,338 are being obligated at the time of award. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (FA8626-20-D-0002). Advanced Electronics Co. Ltd., Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, has been awarded a $17,022,427 cost-plus-fixed-fee, cost reimbursable contract modification (P00027) to previously awarded contract FA8730-16-C-0019 for the Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) F-15SA Cyber Protection System (CPS) and Related Facilities program. This modification provides for three years of in-Kingdom Contractor Logistics Support (CLS) for the CPS. The scope of this contract effort will include the extension of existing CLS support for three additional years, as well as related mobilization, de-mobilization, transportation and housing expenses for CLS personnel. This is a Foreign Military Sales (FMS) acquisition between the U.S. government and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, described in the Letter of Offer and Acceptance SR-D-SAO Amendment 5, dated July 5, 2015. FMS case SR-D-SAO is for the total package of acquisition and fielding of 84 F-15A aircraft; the upgrade of 70 F-15SA aircraft to the F-154SA configuration; the procurement of associated equipment, weapons, and spares; and the construction, refurbishment, and infrastructure improvements of support facilities for the F-15SA in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Work will be performed at RSAF facilities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and is expected to be complete by May 31, 2022. This award is the result of a sole-source acquisition utilizing 100% FMS funding; FMS funds in the amount of $17,022,427 will be obligated at the time of the award. Total cumulative face value of the contract is $150,835,663. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts, is the contracting activity. Modern Technology Solutions Inc. (MTSI), Alexandria, Virginia, has been awarded a cost-plus-fixed-fee contract in the amount of $11,141,208 under the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase-III program. Under this SBIR Phase III effort, MTSI will mature the technologies developed in the previous Phase I and III contracts, which relate to the acquisition and fusion of data for space situational assessments. MTSI will provide system architecture, system administration, and software engineering solutions to deliver a real-time, data-driven architecture for developing and integrating space situational awareness, and intelligence community data sources for use in algorithms, machine learning tools, and data fusion technologies for United States Air Force Space Command and their mission partners. In maintaining its role in bringing capabilities to operations, MTSI will continue to refactor existing applications and develop new applications for integration into the next-generation infrastructure that the Space and Missile Systems Center and the Air Force Research Laboratory are developing. Work will be performed at Alexandria, Virginia; and Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico, and is expected to be completed by January 2025. Fiscal 2019 research development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $300,000 are being obligated at time of award. The Air Force Research Lab Space Electronics Branch, Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico, is the contracting activity (FA9453-20-C-0004). ARMY International Business Machines, Bethesda, Maryland, was awarded a $145,808,087 modification (P00072) to contract W52P1J-17-C-0008 for the full range of services and solutions necessary to support and maintain the Army's General Fund Enterprise Business System. Work will be performed in Bethesda, Maryland, with an estimated completion date of Jan. 15, 2021. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance, Army; research, development, test and evaluation, Army; and other procurement, Army funds in the amount of $8,922,318 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois, is the contracting activity. Vectrus Systems Corp., Colorado Springs, Colorado, was awarded a $134,493,229 modification (P11142) to contract W52P1J-10-C-0062 for Kuwait base operations and security support services. Work will be performed in Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, with an estimated completion date of Sept. 28, 2020. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance, Army funds in the amount of $88,000,000 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois, is the contracting activity. DEFENSE ADVANCED RESEARCH PROJECTS AGENCY Lockheed Martin Corp., Missiles and Fire Control, Grand Prairie, Texas, has been awarded a $31,938,845 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to support the Operational Fires Integrated Weapon System Phase 3 program, which will enable capabilities for a mobile, ground-launched tactical weapon delivery system capable of carrying a variety of payloads to a variety of ranges. Fiscal 2019 and 2020 research and development funds in the amount of $12,920,000 are being obligated at the time of award. Work will be performed in Grand Prairie, Texas (68%); Huntsville, Alabama (21%); Toledo, Ohio (5%); Elkton, West Virginia (5%); Kirkland, Washington (less than 1%); and Camden, Arkansas (less than 1%) with an estimated completion date of January 2021. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Arlington, Virginia, is the contracting activity (HR001120C0038). NAVY EMR Inc.,* Niceville, Florida, is awarded a $17,017,000 firm-fixed-price task order N69450-20-F-0875 under a multiple award construction contract for the design and construction of P288 temporary maintenance hangar at Naval Air Station (NAS) Whiting Field, Florida. The work to be performed provides for a temporary hangar space and supporting spaces for helicopters and includes design, assembly and installation of temporary, relocatable structures for the hangar and support spaces such as administrative, restroom and breakrooms. This project will provide foundation and aqueous film forming foam containment trench and extend utilities to temporary facilities. The structures will be temporary in nature and require removal from the site once permanent facilities are available. The task order also contains five unexercised options, which if exercised, would increase the cumulative task order value to $20,267,000. Work will be performed in NAS Whiting and is expected to be completed by October 2025. Fiscal 2020 military construction (Navy) contract funds in the amount of $2,222,000 are obligated on this award and will not expire at the end of the fiscal year. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance (Navy) contract funds in the amount of $14,795,000 are obligated on this award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Two proposals were received for this task order. Naval Facilities Engineering Command Southeast, Jacksonville, Florida, is the contracting activity (N69450-18-D-1318). DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY Condor Pacific Industries of California Inc.,** Newbury Park, California, has been awarded a maximum $14,461,300 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for rate gyro assemblies. This was a competitive acquisition with four responses received. This is a five-year contract with no option periods. Location of performance is California, with a July 6, 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 Land and Maritime, Warren, Michigan (SPRDL1-20-D-0036). The Boeing Co., St. Louis, Missouri, will be awarded a maximum $14,002,398 firm-fixed-price delivery order (SPRPA1-20-F-LB02) against a five-year basic ordering agreement (SPRPA1-14-D-002U) for spare items in support of the Flight Control Surfaces utilized on the F/A-18 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 five-year base contract with one five-year option period. Location of performance is Missouri, with a May 30, 2022, performance completion date. Using customer is the Swiss Navy. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2020 Foreign Military Sales funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Aviation, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Puerto Rico Apparel Manufacturing (PRAMA) Corp.,*** Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, has been awarded a maximum $11,856,002 modification (P00012) exercising the first one-year option period of a one-year base contract (SPE1C1-19-D-1127) with four one-year option periods for various types of coats and trousers. This is a firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract. Location of performance is Puerto Rico, with a Jan. 31, 2021, performance completion date. Using military services are Army and Air Force. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2020 through 2021 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. *Small Business **Veteran-owned Small Business ***Woman-Owned Small Business in historically underutilized business zones https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2054955/source/GovDelivery/

Mark Pomerleau In 2018, the Department of Defense began following a new philosophy for cyber operations to better protect U.S. networks and infrastructure. Known as “defend forward,” the approach allows U.S. cyber forces to be active in foreign network outside the United States to either act against adversaries or warn allies of impending cyber activity that they've observed on foreign networks. After the U.S. military killed an Iranian general in a Jan. 2 drone strike and after national security experts said they expect Iran might take some retaliatory action through cyber operations, the specter of increased cyber attacks against U.S. networks puts Cyber Command and its new approach front and center. “This Iran situation today is a big test of the ‘defend forward' approach of this administration,” James Miller, senior fellow at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory and former undersecretary of defense for policy, said at a Jan. 7 event hosted by the Council on Foreign Relations. “Will [Cyber Command] take preventative action? Will they do it in a way that our allies and partners support and that can be explained to the public?” While Iran fired several missiles Jan. 7 at a base in Iraq where U.S. troops lived as an initial response to the drone strike, many national security experts expect Iran could continue cyber actions as further retaliation for the strike. Iran could also ratchet up its cyber operations in the United States following the collapse of portions of the 2015 nuclear deal between the United States, Iran and five other nations to curb Iran's nuclear weapons capability in return for sanctions relief. Over the past 12 months, the White House and Congress streamlined many of the authorities used to conduct cyber operations to help cyber forces to get ahead of threats in networks around the world. One such provision in last year's annual defense policy bill provides the Pentagon with the authority to act in foreign networks if Iran, among other named nations, is conducting active, systematic and ongoing campaigns of attacks against the U.S. government or people. Cyber Command declined to comment on what, if anything, they were doing differently since the drone strike. Some experts, however, have expressed caution when assessing how well this defend forward approach has worked thus far given it is still relatively new. “The jury is very much still out here,” Ben Buchanan, assistant professor and senor faculty fellow at Georgetown University, said at the same event. “We don't have a lot of data, there's been a lot of hand-wringing ... about these authorities and about how Cyber Command may or may not be using them. I just don't think we've seen enough to judge whether or not ... [it is] meaningfully changing adversary behavior.” Others have also expressed reservations about how effective Iran can even be in cyberspace toward U.S. networks. “Iran is a capable cyber actor, Iran is a wiling cyber actor. That means Iran will conduct cyberattacks,” said Jacquelyn Schneider, Hoover fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. “It's not like they have this capability and they've been deterred in the past and maybe now they're going to turn it on. I think they've been trying this entire time.” Complicating matters further could be other actors trying to take advantage of U.S.-Iran imbroglio for their own interests. Priscilla Moriuchi, senior principal researcher and head of nation-state research at threat intelligence firm Recorded Future, said over the past several months, there have been reports of Russian state-affiliated actors hijacking Iranian cyber infrastructure to conduct operations masquerading as Iranians. “That creates its own uncertainty,” she said at the same event. “Another level of potential what we call inadvertent escalation if a country perceives that they are attacked by Iran but in reality, it” wasn't. https://www.fifthdomain.com/dod/2020/01/09/how-tensions-with-iran-could-test-a-new-cyber-strategy/

NAVY Dignitas Technologies JV, LLC,* Orlando, Florida, is awarded a $99,000,000 cost-plus-fixed-fee, cost reimbursable, firm-fixed-price indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract. This contract provides total life cycle support for the Multipurpose Reconfigurable Training System 3D® and the Virtual Interactive Shipboard Instructional Tour 3D™ programs to include development, production, integration, test and evaluation, delivery and sustainment. Work will be performed Orlando, Florida, and is expected to be completed in January 2025. No funds will be obligated at the time of award. Funds will be obligated on individual orders as they are issued. This contract was a small business set-aside, competitively procured via an electronic request for proposal; four offers were received. The Naval Air Warfare Center, Training Systems Division, Orlando, Florida, is the contracting activity (N61340-20-D-0008). MTS Advantage LLC (MTSA), Dumfries, Virginia (N65236-20-D-8002), is awarded a $90,820,000 single award, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, performance based service contract utilizing cost-plus-fixed-fee task orders. The contract is for Cyber Red Team and operational test support services and provides for information assurance, cyber defense, cyber systems security and network infrastructure program management. Work will be performed worldwide and is expected to be completed by January 2026. If the option is exercised, work would continue until July 2026. If all options are exercised, the cumulative value of the contract will increase to $99,902,000. Contract funds in the amount of $25,000 will be obligated at the time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract includes a five-year ordering period and one six-month option-to-extend-services in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation Clause 52.217-8. The single award contract was competitively procured by full and open competition after the exclusion of sources via the Naval Information Warfare Center e-Commerce Central website and the Federal Business Opportunities website, with four timely offers received. Naval Information Warfare Center Atlantic, Charleston, South Carolina, is the contracting activity. The Boeing Co., Seattle, Washington, is awarded a $42,297,380 modification (P000163) to a previously awarded fixed-price-incentive-firm target, firm-fixed-price, cost-plus-fixed-fee contract (N00019-14-C-0067). This modification exercises an option for integrated logistics services and site activation support of P-8A aircraft for the Navy and the government of Australia. Work will be performed in Seattle, Washington (56%); Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (38%); and Brisbane City, Australia (6%), and is expected to be completed in September 2021. Fiscal 2020 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $39,820,706; and Royal Australian Air Force unique funds in the amount of $2,476,674 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This modification combines purchases for the Navy ($39,820,706; 94%); and the government of Australia ($2,476,674; 6%) under a formal cooperative agreement. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. Alutiiq Solutions LLC,* Anchorage, Alaska, is awarded a $7,519,828 cost-plus-fixed-fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract to provide support services to include research and analysis, strategic initiative support, executive leadership management support and administrative, operational and technical program support to the Naval Air Systems Command Strategic Leadership Services Team. Work will be performed in Patuxent River, Maryland (60%); and Arlington, Virginia (40%), and is expected to be completed in February 2025. No funds will be obligated at time of award; funds will be obligated on individual task orders as they are issued. This contract was a small business 8(a) set-aside competitively procured via an electronic request for proposal; one offer was received. The Naval Air Warfare Center, Aircraft Division, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity (N00421-20-D-0007). Marathon Construction Co.,* Lakeside, California, is awarded a $7,375,000 firm-fixed-price task order (N62473-20-F-4093) under a multiple award construction contract to repair the deteriorated quay wall at Naval Base San Diego. The work to be performed provides for the renovation of several sections of the quay wall along the piers at Naval Base San Diego. Work includes repair of the quay wall substructure, steel sheet piles, relieving platform and berthing system defects. Work will be performed in San Diego, California, and is expected to be completed by January 2022. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance (Navy) contract funds in the amount of $7,375,000 is being obligated at the time of this award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Two proposals were received for this task order. Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Southwest, San Diego, California, is the contracting activity (N62473-16-D-1802). AIR FORCE ArmorSource LLC, Hebron, Ohio, has been awarded a $17,374,500 firm-fixed-price contract for Next Generation Ballistic Helmets. This contract provides for the manufacturing and delivery of up to 24,300 LGD Sniper Gen II Ballistic Helmets with delivery to continental U.S. and outside the continental U.S. active duty Air Force security forces squadrons. The ordering period for the helmets will be complete by Jan. 8, 2023. This award is a result of a competitive acquisition with nine offers received. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $9,996,415 are being obligated at the time of award. The Air Force Installation Contracting Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (FA8003-20-D-0001). ARMY Leidos Inc., Reston, Virginia, was awarded a $7,741,646 hybrid (cost-no-fee, cost-plus-incentive-fee, and firm-fixed-price) contract for General Electronic Test Station test equipment, installation, test program set, hardware, software, upgrades, training, engineering services and repair parts. Bids were solicited via the internet with one received. Work will be performed in Huntsville, Alabama, with an estimated completion date of Jan. 8, 2024. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance, Army funds in the amount of $880,405 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity (W31P4Q-20-C-0016). DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY American Water Operations and Maintenance LLC, Camden, New Jersey, has been awarded a $7,288,260 modification (P00017) to a 50-year utilities privatization contract (SP0600-17-C-8322) with no option periods incorporating an increase to the operations, maintenance, renewal and replacement charges for water and wastewater utility service systems. This is a fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment contract. Location of performance is Ohio, with a Nov. 30, 2068, performance completion date. Using military service is Air Force. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2020 Air Force operations and maintenance funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Energy, Fort Belvoir, Virginia. *Small Business https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2053783/source/GovDelivery/

Each year the International Walt Darran Aerial Firefighting Awards celebrate the outstanding achievements and innovations within the industry. The deadline for 2020 awards is only one week away. The awards committee invites global aviation community to nominate individuals or companies before Jan. 17, 2020 to celebrate their achievements in aerial firefighting. Aiming to recognize a significant contribution by an individual or organization to aerial firefighting, the awards were inaugurated in honour of the late Walt Darran, who was a pioneer and advocate for safety and advances in aerial firefighting. These sought-after awards are a peer honour, with aerial firefighters from all around the globe honouring fellow colleagues. The nominations and resultant winners are administered by the International Awards Committee — an independent international consortium from the International Fire Aviation Working Group (IFAWG) and Associated Aerial Firefighters. Any person or organization that has made a significant contribution to furthering the safety and/or efficiency of aerial firefighting could be nominated. Once again, nominations are being accepted in two categories: Contribution to Aerial Firefighting Safety and Industry Innovation & Advancement. To nominate your candidates, please complete the awards nomination forms and return them to Kate Niven from Tangent link at kniven@tangentlink.com before Jan. 17, 2020. The awards committee will convene after this date to review written submissions and select the winners. The awards ceremony to announce winners will take place during the Aerial Firefighting North America Conference Dinner on March 4, 2020 in Sacramento, Calif., as a part of Aerial Firefighting North America 2020. https://www.skiesmag.com/press-releases/call-for-nominations-for-the-international-walt-darran-aerial-firefighting-awards-2020

DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY Aurora Industries,* Camuy, Puerto Rico, has been awarded a maximum $53,594,133 modification (P00008) exercising the first one-year option period of a one-year base contract (SPE1C1-19-D-1128) with three one-year option periods for coats and trousers. This is a firm-fixed price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract. Location of performance is Puerto Rico, with a Jan. 10, 2021, performance completion date. Using military services are Army and Air Force. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2020 through 2021 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. AIR FORCE BAE Systems Information and Electronic Systems Integration Inc., San Diego, California, has been awarded a $49,620,000 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity modification (P00026) to previously awarded FA4600-12-D-0002 for additional Air Vehicle Planning System (APS) support. The contract modification is for a ceiling increase to allow the purchase of continued maintenance and sustainment activities, ongoing development activities, increased onsite support requirements and required modifications to APS for new and modified weapons. Work will be performed at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska; Bellevue, Nebraska; and San Diego, California, and is expected to be completed by Jan. 31, 2024. The total cumulative face value of the contract is $195,000,826. Fiscal 2019 and 2020 research, development, test and evaluation funds; and fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance funds are being used. No funds are being obligated at the time of award. The 55th Contracting Squadron, Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, is the contracting activity. Kapsuun Group LLC, Lorton, Virginia, has been awarded a $14,535,027 firm-fixed-price contract for A4/A6 staff support services. Work will be performed at Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina, and is expected to be complete by July 9, 2025. This award is the result of direct award acquisition with one offer being received. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $1,719,657 are being obligated at the time of award. The Air Combat Command's Acquisition Management Integration Center, Langley Air Force Base, Virginia, is the contracting activity (FA4890-20-C-0002). *Small Business https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2052857/source/GovDelivery/

Mark Pomerleau The U.S. Cyberspace Solarium Commission, a bipartisan organization created in 2019 to develop a multipronged U.S. cyber strategy, will recommend the Department of Defense add more cyberwarriors to its forces, the group's co-chair said Jan. 7. The cyber mission force was established in 2013 and includes 133 teams and roughly 6,200 individuals from across the services that feed up to U.S. Cyber Command. These forces reached a staffing milestone known as full operational capability in May 2018, however, some on the commission believe the cyber landscape has changed so that the force needs to adapt as well. In a final report that's expected in the coming months, the solarium will recommend adding more cyberwarriors. “It's fair to say that force posture today in cyber is probably not adequate," said Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wisc., co-chair of the U.S. Cyberspace Solarium Commission. Gallagher spoke at an event hosted by the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington Jan. 7. Within the last two years, Cyber Command has described a philosophy called persistent engagement, which is a means of constantly contesting adversary behavior in cyberspace before it can be disruptive. Persistent engagement is viewed as a means of meeting the 2018 DoD cyberspace strategy's direction to “defend forward.” That action seeks to position U.S. cyber forces outside of U.S. networks to either take action against observed adversary behavior or warn partners domestically or internationally of impending cyber activity observed in foreign networks. It is under this new approach that Gallagher and other commission members said the Pentagon must ensure its forces are capable of meeting the burgeoning challenges from bad actors. “We need to figure out what's the right size” of the force, Mark Montgomery, executive director of the commission, said at an event in November. “In my mind, the CMF probably needs to be reassessed. It might be that the assessment [says] that the size is the right size. I find that hard to believe with the growth in adversary.” The cyber mission force is made up of about 5,000 service members out of a full staff of about 6,200, Dave Luber, Cyber Command's executive director said in November. According to a defense official, it's normal that staffing will fall below 100 percent but leaders are confident in DoD's cyber forces' readiness and ability to defend the nation. During a February 2019 hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Cyber Command's leader, Gen. Paul Nakasone, said the force is the right size for the threats they currently face, but as it continues to operate and adversaries improve, it will need to grow beyond the 133 teams. However, Nakasone told a defense conference in California in December that the force has been built to execute the persistent engagement strategy. “Within U.S. Cyber Command, the National Security Agency, it's about persistent engagement; this idea that we will enable our partners with information and intelligence and we will act when authorized,” he said. “This is the way forward for us ... This is the way that we've structured our force. This is the way that we developed our doctrine. This is the way that we engage our adversaries ... this is our method upon which we look at the future and say this is how we have an impact on our adversaries.” Aside from the Cyberspace Solarium Commission, Congress now requires the Department of Defense to provide quarterly readiness briefings on the cyber mission force. In the annual defense policy bill, signed into law in December, Pentagon officials must brief members of Congress on the abilities of the force to conduct cyber operations based on capability, capacity of personnel, equipment, training and equipment condition. The secretary of defense must also establish metrics for assessing the readiness of the cyber mission force, under the provision. https://www.fifthdomain.com/dod/2020/01/07/congressional-commission-wants-more-cyberwarriors-for-the-military/

NAVY Ensign-Bickford Aerospace & Defense, Simsbury, Connecticut, is awarded a $28,323,000 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract with a five-year ordering period and five one-year options for the MK 150 MOD 0 4.0 second Delay Detonator, and the MK 164 MOD 0 Non Electric Dual Detonator. The MN50 is a 4.0 second delay detonator with 7' of pyrotechnic lead with one non-electric delay detonator on one end and an inline initiator on the other end. The MP29 is a non-electric dual detonator with 40' of dual, no flash pyrotechnic lead with two non-electric detonators on one end and two inline initiators on the other end. They are used for demolition breaching, critical target destruction and obstacle clearing for U.S. Naval Special Warfare Command. Work will be performed in Graham, Kentucky, and is expected to be complete by January 2030. Fiscal 2019 procurement of ammunition, Navy and Marine Corps, funding in the amount of $305,486; and defense procurement funding in the amount of $149,971 will be obligated at the time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via the Federal Business Opportunities website with one offer received. The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division, Crane, Indiana, is the contracting activity (N0016420DJR74). ARMY Dyncorp International LLC, Fort Worth, Texas, was awarded a $19,810,314 modification (P00022) to contract W58RGZ-19-C-0025 for aviation maintenance services. Work will be performed in Fort Campbell, Kentucky; Afghanistan and Iraq, with an estimated completion date of Nov. 30, 2020. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance, Army funds in the amount of $19,810,314 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity. https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2052047/source/GovDelivery/

Over the past months, over 30 projects from the Competitive Projects' first Call for Proposals have advanced to Component 1b and signed $1M dollar contracts with IDEaS. In the upcoming weeks, many more are going to be posted on our web page. Competitive Projects Funding Recipients (as of December 2019) Additionally, Innovation Networks have signed 12 contribution agreements valued at nearly $18M to fund small research networks, or Micro-nets. These research communities will increase Canadian scientific capacity in a number of areas like advanced materials (detection avoidance and physical protection), and autonomous systems (trust and barriers to adoption). See the all newly signed recipients: Innovation Networks – Recently Funded Micro-Nets Corrosion Sandbox: Rust Never Sleeps Test your best technologies to find corrosion trouble spots for the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN). The next IDEaS sandbox will take place at the Centre for Ocean Ventures & Entrepreneurship (COVE) facility in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia and will focus on corrosion detection on naval vessels. COVE is a collaborative facility for applied innovation in the ocean sector. Participants will get the opportunity to showcase their products on realistic simulations, with successful demonstrations resulting in access to an actual RCN vessel to demonstrate their solution in a real world environment. Watch for the Call for Applicants in January 2020. Thank you, The IDEaS Team