30 mars 2021 | International, Aérospatial
Lebanon’s Air Force launches public aircraft bids as part of fleet reorg
Three companies have already shown interest in the aircraft.
26 février 2020 | International, Aérospatial
Air Force To Pump New Tech Startups With $10M Awards
The Air Force's new investment strategy is designed to "catalyze the commercial market by bringing our military market to bear," says Roper.
By THERESA HITCHENS
PENTAGON: The Air Force will roll out the final stage in its commercial startup investment strategy during the March 13-20 South By Southwest music festival, granting one or more contracts worth at least $10 million to startups with game-changing technologies, service acquisition chief Will Roper says.
The first-of-its kind event in Austin, called the Air Force Pitch Bowl, will match Air Force investment with private venture capital funds on a one to two ratio, according to a presentation by Capt. Chris Benson of AFWERX at the Strategic Institute's Dec. 4-5 “AcquisitionX” meeting. So, if the Air Force investment fund, called Air Force Ventures, puts in $20 million, the private capital match would be $40 million.
AFWERX, the Air Force's innovation unit, has one of its hubs in Austin.
“This has been a year in the making now, trying to make our investment arm, the Air Force Ventures, act like an investor, even if it's a government entity,” Roper explained. “We don't invest like a private investor — we don't own equity — we're just putting companies on contract. But for early stage companies, that contract acts a lot like an investor.”
The goal is to help steer private resources toward new technologies that will benefit both US consumers and national security to stay ahead of China's rapid tech growth, Roper told reporters here Friday.
The Air Force wants to “catalyze the commercial market by bringing our military market to bear,” he said. “We're going to be part of the global tech ecosystem.”
Figuring out how to harness the commercial marketplace is critical, Roper explained, because DoD dollars make up a dwindling percentage of the capital investment in US research and development. This is despite DoD's 2021 budget request for research, development, test and evaluation (RDT&E) of $106.6 billion being “the largest in its history,” according to Pentagon budget rollout materials. The Air Force's share is set at $37.3 billion, $10.3 billion of which is slated for Space Force programs.
“We are 20 percent of the R&D is this country — that's where the military is today,” Roper said. “So if we don't start thinking of ourselves as part of a global ecosystem, looking to influence trends, investing in technologies that could be dual-use — well, 20 percent is not going to compete with China long-term, with a nationalized industrial base that can pick national winners.”
The process for interested startups to compete for funds has three steps, Roper explained, beginning with the Air Force “placing a thousand, $50K bets per year that are open.” That is, any company can put forward its ideas to the service in general instead of there being a certain program office in mind. “We'll get you in the door,” Roper said, “we'll provide the accelerator functions that connect you with a customer.
“Pitch days” are the second step, he said. Companies chosen to be groomed in the first round make a rapid-fire sales pitch to potential Air Force entities — such as Space and Missile Systems Center and Air Force Research Laboratory — that can provide funding, as well as to venture capitalists partnering with the Air Force.
As Breaking D broke in October, part of the new acquisition strategy is luring in private capital firms and individual investors to match Air Force funding in commercial startups as a way to to bridge the ‘valley of death' and rapidly scale up capability.
The service has been experimenting with ‘pitch days' across the country over the last year, such as the Space Pitch Days held in San Francisco in November when the service handed out $22.5 million to 30 companies over two days. Roper said he intends to make “maybe 300 of those awards per year,” with the research contracts ranging from $1 million to $3 million a piece and “where program dollars get matched by our investment dollars.”
The final piece of the strategy, Roper explained, is picking out the start-ups that can successfully field game-changing technologies.
“The thing that we're working on now is the big bets, the 30 to 40 big ideas, disruptive ideas that can change our mission and hopefully change the world,” Roper said. “We're looking for those types of companies.”
The Air Force on Oct. 16 issued its first call for firms to compete for these larger SBIR contracts under a new type of solicitation, called a “commercial solutions opening.” The call went to companies already holding Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) awards. The winners will be announced in Austin.
If the strategy is successful, Roper said, the chosen firms will thrive and become profitable dual-use firms focused primarily on the commercial market.
“The, we're starting to build a different kind of industry base,” Roper enthused. “So, we've gotta get the big bets right. Then most importantly, if you succeed in one of the big bets, then we need to put you on contract on the other side, or else the whole thing is bunk.”
https://breakingdefense.com/2020/02/air-force-to-pump-new-tech-startups-with-10m-awards
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8 mai 2019 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité, Autre défense
Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - May 7, 2019
NAVY Lockheed Martin, Rotary and Mission Systems, Moorestown, New Jersey, is awarded a $84,925,824 cost-plus-incentive-fee modification to previously awarded contract N00024-13-C-5116 for AEGIS combat system engineering, architecture, development, integration and test; Naval Integrated Fire Control-Counter Air integration and test; and training, studies and computer program maintenance. Work will be performed in Moorestown, New Jersey, and is expected to be completed by December 2019. Fiscal 2014 and 2017 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy); fiscal 2018 and 2019 research, development, test, and evaluation (Navy); fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance (Navy); and fiscal 2019 other procurement (Navy) funding in the amount of $58,414,159 will be obligated at the time of award and funding in the amount of $4,217,275 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity. G2 Software Systems Inc.,* San Diego, California, is awarded a $83,493,639 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, cost-plus-fixed-fee, multiple-award contract to provide command and control (C2) technologies and capabilities in the areas of innovative science and technology research, systems engineering, architecture, design, development, integration, testing, configuration management, quality assurance, and implementation and support of C2 net-centric military operations. This is one of six contracts awarded. All awardees will have the opportunity to compete for task orders during the ordering period. This two-year contract includes four two-year options which, if exercised, would bring the overall, cumulative value of this contract to an estimated $93,030,165. All work will be performed in San Diego, California, and is expected to be completed May 6, 2021. If the options are exercised, the period of performance would extend through May 6, 2029. Fiscal 2019 working capital (Navy) funds in a guaranteed amount of $10,000 will be obligated at the time of award and will not expire by the end of the current fiscal year. Funds will be obligated as task orders are issued using research, development, test and evaluation (Navy); operations and maintenance (Navy); other procurement (Navy); shipbuilding construction (Navy); and working capital fund (Navy). This contract was competitively procured via a request for proposal (N66001-18-R-0002) and publication on the Federal Business Opportunities website and the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command e-Commerce Central website. Fourteen offers were received and six were selected for award. Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific, San Diego, California, is the contracting activity (N66001-19-D-0059). Geocent,* Metairie, Louisiana, is awarded a $83,338,808 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, cost-plus-fixed-fee, multiple-award contract to provide command and control (C2) technologies and capabilities in the areas of innovative science and technology research, systems engineering, architecture, design, development, integration, testing, configuration management, quality assurance, and implementation and support of C2 net-centric military operations. This is one of six contracts awarded. All awardees will have the opportunity to compete for task orders during the ordering period. This two-year contract includes four two-year options which, if exercised, would bring the overall, cumulative value of this contract to an estimated $93,030,165. All work will be performed in San Diego, California, and is expected to be completed May 6, 2021. If the options are exercised, the period of performance would extend through May 6, 2029. A guarantee of $10,000 using fiscal 2019 working capital (Navy) funds will be obligated at the time of award. Funds will be obligated as task orders are issued using research, development, test and evaluation (Navy); operations and maintenance (Navy); other procurement (Navy); shipbuilding construction (Navy); and working capital fund (Navy). This contract was competitively procured via a request for proposal (N66001-18-R-0002) and publication on the Federal Business Opportunities website and the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command e-Commerce Central website. Fourteen offers were received and six were selected for award. Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific, San Diego, California, is the contracting activity (N66001-19-D-0060). Forward Slope Inc.,* San Diego, California, is awarded a $76,903,173 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, cost-plus-fixed-fee, multiple-award contract to provide command and control (C2) technologies and capabilities in the areas of innovative science and technology research, systems engineering, architecture, design, development, integration, testing, configuration management, quality assurance, and implementation and support of C2 net-centric military operations. This is one of six contracts awarded. All awardees will have the opportunity to compete for task orders during the ordering period. This two-year contract includes four two-year options which, if exercised, would bring the overall, cumulative value of this contract to an estimated $93,030,165. All work will be performed in San Diego, California, and is expected to be completed May 6, 2021. If the options are exercised, the period of performance would extend through May 6, 2029. A guarantee of $10,000 using fiscal 2019 working capital (Navy) funds will be obligated at the time of award. Funds will be obligated as task orders are issued using research, development, test and evaluation (Navy); operations and maintenance (Navy); other procurement (Navy); shipbuilding construction (Navy); and working capital fund (Navy). This contract was competitively procured via a request for proposal (N66001-18-R-0002) and publication on the Federal Business Opportunities website and the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command e-Commerce Central website. Fourteen offers were received and six were selected for award. Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific, San Diego, California, is the contracting activity (N66001-19-D-0058). Advanced Sciences and Technologies LLC (AS&T),* Berlin, New Jersey, is awarded a $68,106,416 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, cost-plus-fixed-fee, multiple-award contract to provide command and control (C2) technologies and capabilities in the areas of innovative science and technology research, systems engineering, architecture, design, development, integration, testing, configuration management, quality assurance, and implementation and support of C2 net-centric military operations. This is one of six contracts awarded. All awardees will have the opportunity to compete for task orders during the ordering period. This two-year contract includes four two-year options which, if exercised, would bring the overall, cumulative value of this contract to an estimated $93,030,165. All work will be performed in San Diego, California, and is expected to be completed May 6, 2021. If the options are exercised, the period of performance would extend through May 6, 2029. A guarantee of $10,000 using fiscal 2019 working capital (Navy) funds will be obligated at the time of award. Funds will be obligated as task orders are issued using research, development, test and evaluation (Navy); operations and maintenance (Navy); other procurement (Navy); shipbuilding construction (Navy); and working capital fund (Navy). This contract was competitively procured via a Request for Proposal (N66001-18-R-0002) and publication on the Federal Business Opportunities website and the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command e-Commerce Central website. Fourteen offers were received and six were selected for award. Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific, San Diego, California, is the contracting activity (N66001-19-D-0056). Solute Inc.,* San Diego, California, is awarded a $55,891,672 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, cost-plus-fixed-fee, multiple-award contract to provide command and control (C2) technologies and capabilities in the areas of innovative science and technology research, systems engineering, architecture, design, development, integration, testing, configuration management, quality assurance, and implementation and support of C2 net-centric military operations. This is one of six contracts awarded. All awardees will have the opportunity to compete for task orders during the ordering period. This two-year contract includes four two-year options which, if exercised, would bring the overall, cumulative value of this contract to an estimated $93,030,165. All work will be performed in San Diego, California, and is expected to be completed May 6, 2021. If the options are exercised, the period of performance would extend through May 6, 2029. A guarantee of $10,000 using fiscal 2019 working capital (Navy) funds will be obligated at the time of award. Funds will be obligated as task orders are issued using research, development, test and evaluation (Navy); operations and maintenance (Navy); other procurement (Navy); shipbuilding construction (Navy); and working capital fund (Navy). This contract was competitively procured via a request for proposal (N66001-18-R-0002) and publication on the Federal Business Opportunities website and the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command e-Commerce Central website. Fourteen offers were received and six were selected for award. Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific, San Diego, California, is the contracting activity (N66001-19-D-0061). United Technologies Corp., Pratt & Whitney Engines, East Hartford, Connecticut, is awarded $55,675,476 for modification P00005 to a previously awarded fixed-price-incentive-firm contract (N00019-18-C-1021). This modification provides additional funding for F135 long lead items to support the production delivery schedule, exercises an option for additional initial spare parts, and provides program administrative labor for the global spares pool in support the Navy; Air Force, and Marine Corps, non-U. S. Department of Defense (DoD) participants and Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customers. Work will be performed in East Hartford, Connecticut (67 percent); Indianapolis, Indiana (26.5 percent); and Bristol, United Kingdom (6.5 percent), and is expected to be completed in April 2022. Fiscal 2019 aircraft procurement (Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps); non-U.S. DoD participant and FMS funds in the amount of $55,675,476 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This effort combines purchases for the Navy ($4,161,749; 7.5 percent); Air Force ($3,116,792; 5.6 percent); Marine Corps ($556,570; 1.0 percent); non-U.S. DoD participants ($24,899,106; 44.7 percent); and FMS Customers ($22,941,259; 41.2 percent). The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. Data Intelligence LLC,* Marlton, New Jersey, is awarded a $48,103,672 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, cost-plus-fixed-fee, multiple-award contract to provide command and control (C2) technologies and capabilities in the areas of innovative science and technology research, systems engineering, architecture, design, development, integration, testing, configuration management, quality assurance, and implementation and support of C2 net-centric military operations. This is one of six contracts awarded. All awardees will have the opportunity to compete for task orders during the ordering period. This two-year contract includes four two-year options which, if exercised, would bring the overall, cumulative value of this contract to an estimated $93,030,165. All work will be performed in San Diego, California, and is expected to be completed May 6, 2021. If the options are exercised, the period of performance would extend through May 6, 2029. A guarantee of $10,000 using fiscal 2019 working capital (Navy) funds will be obligated at the time of award. Funds will be obligated as task orders are issued using research, development, test and evaluation (Navy); operations and maintenance (Navy); other procurement (Navy), shipbuilding construction (Navy); and working capital fund (Navy). This contract was competitively procured via a request for proposal (N66001-18-R-0002) and publication on the Federal Business Opportunities website and the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command e-Commerce Central website. Fourteen offers were received and six were selected for award. Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific, San Diego, California, is the contracting activity (N66001-19-D-0057). Black Construction/MACE International JV, Harmon, Guam, is awarded a $29,877,000 firm-fixed-price contract for the construction of a three-megawatt photovoltaic electrical generation system at Naval Support Facility (NSF) Diego Garcia. The work to be performed provides for the construction (design-bid-build) of a three-megawatt photovoltaic electrical generation system and the supporting electrical distribution system upgrades required to interconnect the photovoltaic array with the existing NSF Diego Garcia. The project will also include site preparation, fencing, perimeter lighting and a ground cover system. Work will be performed in Diego Garcia, British Indian Ocean Territories and is expected to be completed by June 2021. Fiscal 2015 military construction (Department of Defense) contract funds in the amount of $29,877,000 are obligated on this 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 proposal received. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Pacific, Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, is the contracting activity (N62742-19-C-1324). Nathan Kunes Inc.,* San Diego, California, is awarded a $13,681,778 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for development, implementation and testing of computer network defense measures; development of wireless computing security, cross-domain solutions, and vulnerability assessments; and system and security engineering to evaluate commercial information assurance products. This two-year contract includes one three-year option which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this contract to an estimated $35,236,186. All work will be performed in San Diego, California. The period of performance of the base award is from May 7, 2019, through May 6, 2021. If the option is exercised, the period of performance would extend through May 6, 2024. No funds will be obligated at the time of award. Funds will be obligated as task orders are issued using operations and maintenance (Navy); other procurement (Navy); and research, development, test and evaluation (Navy). This contract was competitively procured via request for proposal N66001-18-R-0351 which was published on the Federal Business Opportunities website and the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command e-Commerce Central website. Two offers were received and one was selected for award. The Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific, San Diego, California, is the contracting activity (N66001-19-D-0089). BAE Systems, Information and Electronics Systems Integration Inc., Hudson, New Hampshire, is awarded $10,853,462 for cost-plus-fixed-fee delivery order N0001919F0019 against a previously issued basic ordering agreement (N00019-16-G-0021) for the upgrade of the Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS) guidance section. This delivery order provides for non-recurring tasks to combine the Rotary Wing APKWS II and the Fixed Wing APKWS II Guidance Sections into one hardware and software solution. Work will be performed in Hudson, New Hampshire (93 percent); and Austin, Texas (7 percent), and is expected to be completed in April 2021. Fiscal 2018 and 2019 procurement of ammunition (Navy and Marine Corps) funds in the amount of $10,853,462 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY San Antonio Lighthouse for the Blind,** San Antonio, Texas, has been awarded a maximum $11,295,446 modification (P000013) exercising the second one-year option period of a one-year base contract (SPE1C1-17-D-B024) with two one-year option periods for flame resistant, operational camouflage pattern, intermediate weather outer layer trousers. This is a firm-fixed price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract. Location of performance is Texas, with an Oct. 31, 2020, performance completion date. Using military service is Army. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2019 through 2020 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. UPDATE: Federal Contracts Corp., Tampa, Florida (SPE8EC-19-D-0040), has been added as an awardee to the multiple-award contract supplying felling trailers for commercial trucks and trailers, issued against solicitation SPE8EC-17-R-0008, announced April 20, 2017. *Small business **Mandatory source https://dod.defense.gov/News/Contracts/Contract-View/Article/1840893/source/GovDelivery/
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11 février 2021 | International, C4ISR
Urgently needed: Tech-savvy defense leaders
By: Nate Ashton Defense priorities are shifting toward emerging technologies at an unprecedented pace, but still not fast enough to keep America ahead of potential adversaries. We need to hit the accelerator by drastically increasing the tech savviness of defense leaders. The defense establishment is better at this than it used to be. We've seen a rapid expansion of new authorities and programs to drive tech innovation since Pentagon leaders started talking about the “third offset” in 2014. The 2021 National Defense Authorization Act continues that trend, establishing a national cyber director position, elevating the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center, and calling for open-systems architecture and API usage in some key programs. But we will not keep our current military superiority through these kinds of incremental changes alone. We need a radical shift in how the Department of Defense does business. Any organizational transformation starts with the right leadership. This is doubly true in government, where the bureaucracy is built to maintain the status quo and avoid risk to guarantee continuity of operations and effective stewardship of taxpayer dollars. But understanding where risk and opportunity lies — in areas from cybersecurity to agile procurement — is now much more important than knowing how to manage a major, multibillion-dollar weapons system procurement. The Biden administration and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin should start by filling key acquisitions and management roles with leaders who have experience in the tech or venture sector, or have a record of disruptive innovation within the DoD itself. These people must bring both an understanding of the current tech landscape and a willingness to back the innovators under them. Without a clear, top-down mandate to disrupt the status quo, nothing will change. The new administration should also make it a priority to heed the advice of defense and technology advisory boards. Oftentimes leaders who have spent their careers in tech, venture, and private research and development may be unsuited for full-time government positions, yet bring invaluable perspective and expertise. The Biden administration should continue and accelerate the work already being done to implement the Defense Innovation Board's recommendations for training and software acquisition and the Cyberspace Solarium Commission's recommendations for security. More than identifying useful, new technologies, defense leaders must transform culture and skills at all levels of the DoD to operationalize tech innovation. The hardest part of driving change in a big organization is not recognizing the end goal nor setting policies to get there, but rather operationalizing it at all levels across the millions of active-duty, civilian and contractor personnel doing the day-to-day work. This will take massive investments in training the existing workforce, strengthening the pathways between defense and the national tech and venture ecosystems, and changing processes to enable and incentivize new ways of doing business. The DoD needs to make aggressive investments in the near term. In the near term, defense leaders should: Train all DoD personnel on emerging technology. The need for these types of knowledge across the DoD simply can't be met by existing resources, which is why Dcode has worked with the Defense Acquisition University, AFWERX and others to equip defense leaders to innovate like a startup, evaluate tech like an investor and understand the emerging tech landscape. Provide advanced training and specialization on commercial tech procurement and software procurement for contracting and information security personnel. Today's purchases are best-value decisions that require true subject matter expertise to scope problem sets, assess the best solutions and bring those solutions in. In contracting, the practice of rating bids based on meeting rigid requirements and competing on price alone simply does not work. In security, moving from compliance-based to risk-based approaches will require a massive influx of technical talent and training. Expand, promote and incentivize industry exchange programs both ways: pulling in private sector talent, and sending the DoD's talent on loan to the tech and venture industry. Fund and empower tech innovation hubs. Some of the biggest successes in recent years have come from newer innovation hubs and centers of excellence that are proliferating across agencies and programs. Efforts like these should be encouraged to both replicate best practices from existing hubs that have seen success, seeded with funding to try new things, and matured into programs of record as their business model proves out. One need only look at the significant measurable outcomes that the Defense Innovation Unit and AFWERX have driven in recent years, with a relatively minimal amount of resources, to see that they are only just beginning to scratch the surface. Driving internal disruption at scale will take an exponential increase in the number of people and amount of funding. The future of defense innovation is bright, and the community of passionate leaders inside and outside of the government working to move things forward is incredibly inspiring. I'm hopeful the Biden administration and new Congress will see 2021 as the year to make ambitious investments for the future. https://www.defensenews.com/opinion/commentary/2021/02/10/urgently-needed-tech-savvy-defense-leaders/