9 juillet 2020 | International, Autre défense

House panel would block Pentagon from extra sway over nuclear weapons budget

By:

WASHINGTON ― House appropriators on Tuesday approved a spending bill that would block plans from defense hawks to give the Pentagon a stronger hand in crafting nuclear weapons budgets.

The House Appropriations Committee passed their Energy-Water bill, which contained the provision, by a voice vote. The $49.6 billion spending bill contained $13.7 billion for nuclear weapons accounts ― a $1.2 billion increase over fiscal 2020 that's still $1.9 billion less than the president's request.

Lead Republicans voiced opposition to the bill, arguing that Democrats had not consulted with Republicans on pandemic emergency funds in the bill and that Democrats included policy riders the White House will seek to cut. The top Republican on the House Energy and Water Development, and Related Agencies Subcommittee, Rep. Mike Simpson of Idaho, said the bill “still shortchanges funding for the nuclear weapons program.”

“While I acknowledge the increase above last year, we must also acknowledge that the threats we face today are not the same threats we faced in the years immediately following the end of the Cold War,” he said. “We must adequately fund the activities necessary to maintain a safe, reliable and effective stockpile.”

The bill would bar funding for the Pentagon-led Nuclear Weapons Council, and would prevent it from assisting with the budget of the National Nuclear Security Administration, a semiautonomous agency under the Energy Department.

The Senate Armed Services Committee's version of the annual defense policy bill would allow the council to edit the budget request after the Energy Department crafts it and before the request is submitted to the White House budget office. The move was seen as giving the Pentagon extra sway to boost warhead programs and nuclear weapons laboratories.

Its introduction came after Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette clashed with SASC Chairman Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., who backed a budget request for the larger number than Brouillette sought.

The Energy-Water spending bill contains language ordering no funds “may be used in furtherance of working through the Nuclear Weapons Council to guide, advise, assist, develop, or execute a budget for the National Nuclear Security Administration.”

Separately, the proposed bill would ban the Trump administration's reported plan to resume nuclear weapons testing. The bill would prohibit funding “to conduct, or prepare to conduct, any explosive nuclear weapons test that produces any yield.”

“Critically, the bill would prevent the Trump administration from using any funds to carry out its dangerous and short-sighted plan to resume nuclear testing,” House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., said in a statement.

The Trump administration was reportedly discussing whether a “rapid test” could aid it in negotiations with Russia and China, as the White House seeks a trilateral nuclear weapons pact.

The defense appropriations bill introduced Tuesday would also bar funding for explosive nuclear weapons tests.

https://www.defensenews.com/congress/2020/07/07/house-panel-blocks-pentagon-from-extra-sway-over-nuke-budget/

Sur le même sujet

  • NGEN-R: What is the Navy thinking?

    20 septembre 2018 | International, Naval, C4ISR

    NGEN-R: What is the Navy thinking?

    By: Amber Corrin The Navy released a long-awaited final request for proposals Sept. 18 for the re-compete of its Next Generation Enterprise Network contract. But it's part one of two, covering only the hardware side of things as the service looks to overhaul its Navy-Marine Corps Intranet. According to analysts at Deltek, each piece of the NGEN-R request is valued at roughly $250 million over a three-year period, per estimates from Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command. That's significantly lower than NGEN's original $3.5 billion price tag. Specifically, the RFP seeks hardware devices for use on the Department of Defense's classified and unclassified networks, including desktops, laptops, two-in-one detachable devices, tablets, ultra-small desktop computers, as well as thin- or zero-client devices. A single device could serve multiple users and associated accounts, according to the RFP. But for the roughly 400,000 devices NGEN-R looks to replace, the service in particular is looking at an end-user hardware-as-a-service arrangement. “It's breaking out the services that are being provided in a way that allows us to gain most effective advantage of how industry does business today,” Capt. Don Harder, deputy program executive officer for Navy enterprise information systems, told Federal Times in a recent interview. “The end user of hardware and devices as its own separate contract, there are those suppliers out there that that's what they specialize in. By breaking that out into its own contractual component within the NGEN-R construct ... we believe will allow us to get more effective advantage to pricing on those components.” The language in the RFP solidifies Harder's thoughts as part of the statement of work. “In acquiring EUHWaaS, the Government is only acquiring the service of using an EUHW device. This is not a purchase, and titles for all EUHWaaS devices remain with the Contractor,” the RFP states. “EUHWaaS includes the provisioning, storage of spares, configuration, testing, integration, installation, operation, maintenance, [end-of-life] disposal of NIPRNet and SIPRNet EUHW, and internal storage device removal and destruction requirements.” Bids for the hardware piece of NGEN-R are due Nov. 19. The second part of the NGEN-R RFP, service management integration and transport or SMIT, is expected in the next 30 days, according to a Navy spokesman. SMIT will cover much of NMCI's backbone and functionality, including services ranging from help desk to productivity suites to network defense — and how they're technically provided. Splitting NGEN-R into two separate contracts was an intentional move designed, at least in part, to give the Navy greater flexibility in the capabilities available to users, and the options for buying them, as technology evolves. “We are modifying how the services are broken out in a way that it allows us to sever some of those services as new mechanisms [and] provide [them as they are] brought into play or brought to our attention,” Harder said, using cloud capabilities as an example. “We may allow a mechanism to pull some of those into either a hybrid cloud or a cloud solution in the future. If so, it may go on a separate contractual vehicle at which point in time we would sever those services away from the SMIT vehicle. So, we're looking at how we take those services and how we manage them contractually, which would allow us, again additional flexibility later on down the road.” Harder said that throughout the development of NGEN-R, he's been eyeing not just the Navy, but also the broader government to benefit from the new approach. “We're building in that flexibility that allows the government the ability in the future even to find components of services that can be done in a more effective or efficient way [and] either sever them or modify them separately as opposed to having to break apart the entire contract to do something,” he said. The hardware piece of NGEN-R was released less than two weeks after Navy officials announced a one-year, $787 million extension to the incumbent provider, Perspecta. Harder declined to put a dollar figure on the NGEN-R contract, as did other Navy officials. The RFP comes after several delays — officials previously had said the contract would be up for bidding this summer. According to Harder, prior to release the RFP had to be approved by leadership at the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition, as well as the Office of the Secretary of Defense's Defense Procurement and Acquisition Policy office. Harder said the Navy has taken extra time to shore up “the education piece” — ensuring the contracting process meets leaders' expectations, particularly with the new strategy. And IT modernization also has come into play, with officials from the broader DoD looking to NGEN as a possible model or even contract vehicle for defense networks down the line, he said. “We need to ensure that what we have placed in the contract and how we're going about the contract meets leadership expectations. And because we are doing things in a different way, that's taking a little bit of time,” Harder said. The Navy's approach to running NMCI today is “one of the more cost-effective ways of managing networks. And there is a desire as part of one of the many IT reform efforts [for possible] integration of networks in the future to mimic or, potentially, even ride on our contracts.” https://www.federaltimes.com/acquisition/2018/09/19/ngen-r-what-is-the-navy-thinking

  • SPY-7 Radar On Japan’s Aegis System Equipped Vessel Achieves First Track Of Objects In Space

    8 avril 2024 | International, Naval

    SPY-7 Radar On Japan’s Aegis System Equipped Vessel Achieves First Track Of Objects In Space

    During the first track event, SPY-7 radar tactical hardware and software tracked objects in space, which verified the maturity of the radar system and marked the beginning of comprehensive performance...

  • Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - September 5, 2019

    6 septembre 2019 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité

    Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - September 5, 2019

    ARMY Ensign-Bickford Aerospace & Defense Co., Simsbury, Connecticut (W52P1J-19-D-0065); and Chemring Ordnance Inc., Perry, Florida (W52P1J-19-D-0066), will compete for each order of the $320,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract for the Anti-Personnel Obstacle Breaching System. Bids were solicited via the internet with two received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Sept. 4, 2024. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois, is the contracting activity. Honeywell International Inc., Clearwater, Florida, was awarded a $37,851,458 firm-fixed-price contract for procurement of the commercial Tactical Advanced Land Inertial Navigator 5000 Inertial Navigation Unit. 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 Sept. 8, 2023. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Warren, Michigan, is the contracting activity (W56HZV-19-D-0082). MW Builders, Pflugerville, Texas, was awarded a $30,477,000 firm-fixed-price contract to construct a completed fully functional Tactical Equipment Maintenance Facility. Bids were solicited via the internet with five received. Work will be performed in Fort Hood, Texas, with an estimated completion date of June 4, 2021. Fiscal 2018 military construction funds in the amount of $30,477,000 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Fort Worth, Texas, is the contracting activity (W9126G-19-C-0119). General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc., Poway, California, was awarded a $29,316,074 modification (P00016) to contract W58RGZ-19-C-0027 for performance based logistics support services for the MQ-1C Gray Eagle unmanned aircraft system. Work will be performed in Poway, California, with an estimated completion date of Sept. 4, 2020. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance, Army funds in the amount of $6,469,479 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity. Ace Precision Machining Corp., Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, was awarded a $25,000,000 firm-fixed-price Foreign Military Sales (Kuwait and Saudi Arabia) contract for hot section parts for the Advanced Gas Turbine-1500 tank engine. 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 Sept. 4, 2024. U.S. Property and Fiscal Officer, Kansas, is the contracting activity (W912JC-19-D-5712). Nakasato Contracting LLC,* Honolulu, Hawaii, was awarded a $14,200,000 firm-fixed-price contract for the construction of an Operational Readiness Training Complex (Barracks) at Pohakuloa Training Area, Hawaii. Bids were solicited via the internet with six received. Work will be performed in Pohakuloa Training Area, Hawaii, with an estimated completion date of Dec. 1, 2021. Fiscal 2018 military construction funds in the amount of $14,200,000 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Honolulu, Hawaii, is the contracting activity (W9128A-19-C-0006). GP Strategies Corp., Columbia, Maryland, was awarded a $12,693,583 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for Life Cycle Logistics Support and Chemical Demilitarization Training Facility operations and maintenance in support of the U.S. Army Chemical Materials Activity, Recovered Chemical Materiel Directorate. 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 Sept. 23, 2020. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois, is the contracting activity (W52P1J-15-D-0087). General Dynamics Information Technology, Fairfax, Virginia, was awarded a $7,237,568 modification (P00017) to contract W81XWH-17-F-0078 for support services for the U.S. Army Medical Materiel Development Activity. Work will be performed in Fort Detrick, Maryland, with an estimated completion date of Sept. 30, 2022. Fiscal 2019 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $7,237,568 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Medical Materiel Development Activity, Fort Detrick, Maryland, is the contracting activity. NAVY Hexagon U.S. Federal Inc., Huntsville, Alabama, is being awarded a $107,067,910 firm-fixed-price, cost-plus-fixed-fee, and cost-only indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract for surface ship Situational Awareness, Boundary Enforcement and Response (SABER) qualification testing and non-recurring engineering, computing hardware production, land-based site equipment, spare parts and engineering services. This IDIQ will support multiple program executive offices and ship programs. Work under this IDIQ contract will be performed in Huntsville, Alabama, and is expected to be completed by September 2023. No funding will be obligated with this IDIQ award; funds will be obligated with each order. This contract was competitively procured via the Federal Business Opportunities website using full-and-open competition procedures, with two offers received. This competition was conducted under the authority 10 U.S. Code 2304, which states that contracting officers shall promote and provide for full and open competition. Support under this IDIQ is for SABER systems to be installed on various surface ships. This procurement includes shipsets and test site sets, technical data, associated engineering services and spares. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity (N00024-19-D-4114). DynCorp International LLC, Fort Worth, Texas, is being awarded an $88,730,512 modification (P00052) to a previously awarded, firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract (N00019-15-D-0003). This modification provides organizational, intermediate, and depot-level maintenance and logistics support for 16 T-34, 54 T-44, and 287 T-6 aircraft. Work will be performed at the Naval Air Station (NAS) Corpus Christi, Texas (47%); Whiting Field, Florida (42%); NAS Pensacola, Florida (9%); and various locations through the continental U.S. (2%), and is expected to be completed in March 2020. No funds will be obligated at time of award, funds will be obligated on individual orders as they are issued. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. General Electric Aviation Systems, Vandalia, Ohio, is being awarded a $56,594,358 modification (P00006) to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract (N00019-18-C-0004). This modification procures 320 Generator Conversion Unit (GCU) G3 to G4 conversion retrofit kits; 547 GCU G4 units; wiring harnesses; and associated technical, financial and administrative data in support of F/A-18E/F and E/A-18G aircraft. Work will be performed Vandalia, Ohio, and is expected to be completed in January 2022. Fiscal 2019 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $56,594,358 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. PAE Applied Technologies LLC, Arlington, Virginia, is being awarded a $52,268,318 modification to previously awarded contract N66604-05-C-1277 to reinstate 6 month periods of performance and increase target cost for Atlantic Undersea Test and Evaluation Center. Atlantic Undersea Test and Evaluation Center (AUTEC) is the Navy's large-area, deep-water, undersea test and evaluation range. Underwater research, testing, and evaluation of anti-submarine weapons, sonar tracking and communications are the predominant activities conducted at AUTEC. The contractor performs services required to perform AUTEC range operations and maintenance of facilities and range systems. In addition, the contractor is responsible for operating a self-sufficient one square mile Navy outpost. This modification increases the value of the basic contract by $52,268,318. The new total value is $853,017,162. Work will be performed in Andros Island, Commonwealth of the Bahamas (80%); and West Palm Beach, Florida (20%), and is expected to be complete by March 2020. No funding will be obligated at time of this modification award. The Naval Undersea Warfare Center, Newport Division, Newport, Rhode Island, is the contracting activity. Pacific Shipyards International, Honolulu, Hawaii, is being awarded a $32,110,694 firm-fixed-price contract for the execution of USS Michael Murphy (DDG 112) fiscal 2020 selected restricted availability. This is a Chief of Naval Operations scheduled selected restricted availability. This availability will include a combination of maintenance, modernization and repair of USS Michael Murphy. The purpose is to maintain, modernize, and repair the USS Michael Murphy. This is a “short-term,” non-docking availability restricted to the vessel's homeport. Pacific Shipyards International will provide the facilities and human resources capable of completing, coordinating and integrating multiple areas of ship maintenance, repair, and modernization for USS Michael Murphy. Work will be performed in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and is expected to be complete by April 2020. This contract includes options which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value to $36,916,612, and be complete by April 2020. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance (Navy) funding in the amount of $32,110,694 will be obligated at time of award and expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively solicited via the Federal Business Opportunities website with one offer received in response to solicitation number N00024-19-R-4404. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity (N00024-19-C-4404). Utah State University Research Foundation - Space Dynamics Laboratory, North Logan, Utah, is being awarded a $24,999,998 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for electro-optical research and development. The contract provides research and development efforts in the areas of exploitation software and advanced sensor and processing technologies including digital cameras, processing, compression, command and control, analog systems, power, communications, telemetry, radio frequency/optical sensor payloads and electromechanical systems/support. The maximum total value for this 24 month contract, with no options, is $24,999,998. Work will be performed in North Logan, Utah, and is expected to be complete by Sept. 5, 2021. Fiscal 2019 working capital funds (Navy) in the amount of $5,793,000 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. In accordance with 10 U.S. Code 2304(c)(3)(B), as stated in Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-3, this contract was not competitively procured. Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements. The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity (N00173-19-C-2013). PrimeTech International Inc.,* North Kansas City, Missouri, is being awarded a $12,457,597 firm-fixed-price, time-and-materials six-month bridge contract for logistics services to manage, support, and operate the Marine Corps Consolidated Storage Program warehouse network. Work will be performed in Barstow, California (23%); Camp Lejeune, North Carolina (18%); Camp Pendleton, California (13%); Okinawa, Japan (10%); Miramar, California (9%); Camp Geiger, North Carolina (7%); Twenty-nine Palms, California (4%); Cherry Point, North Carolina (4%); Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii (3%); Yuma, Arizona (2%); Beaufort, South Carolina (2%); Iwakuni, Japan (2%); New River, North Carolina (2%); and Bridgeport, California (1%). Work is expected to be completed March 2020. Fiscal 2019 operation and maintenance funds (Marine Corps) in the amount of $12,457,597 will be obligated at the time of award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured in accordance with 10 U.S. Code 2304(c) (1) - only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements. Marine Corps Logistics Command, Albany, Georgia, is the contracting activity (M67004-19-P-2010). Oceanit Laboratories Inc.,* Honolulu, Hawaii, is being awarded a $9,500,000 cost-plus-fixed-fee delivery order (N68335-19-F-0393) against a previously awarded basic ordering agreement (N68335-16-G-0028) in support of the deputy assistant secretary of defense for emerging capability and prototype technology. This order is for a Small Business Innovation Research Phase III effort for the continued development of a Prototype Test Unit (PTU) sensor for integration, test and demonstration with a non-kinetic system. The PTU sensor will incorporate the necessary hardware and software subsystems to demonstrate the viability of a novel defensive capability in an at-sea-demonstration aboard a Navy ship. Work will be performed in Honolulu, Hawaii, and is expected to be completed in September 2021. Fiscal 2018 and 2019 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $9,500,000 will be obligated at time of award, $7,500,000 of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Warfare Center, Aircraft Division, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY UPDATE: Maryland Industrial Trucks, Linthicum Heights, Maryland (SPE8EC-19-D-0043), has been added as an awardee to the multiple award contract for commercial trucks and trailers, issued against solicitation SPE8EC-17-R-0008, announced April 20, 2017. DEFENSE INFORMATION SYSTEMS AGENCY Booz Allen Hamilton, McLean, Virginia, was awarded a firm-fixed-price, single-award, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (ID/IQ) contract, HC1047-19-D-5001, in support of the Defense Information Systems Agency's (DISA) Defense Collaboration Services (DCS) program. The primary place of performance will be at DISA, Fort Meade, Maryland. The ID/IQ ceiling value is $49,500,000, with the minimum guarantee of $5,000 funded by fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance funds. Proposals were solicited via FedBizOpps (FBO.gov), and one proposal was received. The ordering period is Sept. 8, 2019, through Sept. 7, 2024. The Defense Information Technology Contracting Organization, National Capital Region, is the contracting activity (HC1047-19-D-5001). *Small Business https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/1953308/source/GovDelivery/

Toutes les nouvelles