Space Force may seek commercial fleet to augment wartime needs

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  12 août 2020 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité

  Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - August 11, 2020

  NAVY Continental Tide Defense Systems Inc. (Tide),* Reading, Pennsylvania (N64498-20-D-4030); Gibbs & Cox Inc. (G&C), New York, New York (N64498-20-D-4031); McKean Defense Group LLC (McKean), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (N64498-20-D-4032); NDI Engineering Co. (NDI),* Thorofare, New Jersey (N64498-20-D-4033); and Q.E.D. Systems Inc. (Q.E.D.), Virginia Beach, Virginia (N64498-20-R-4029), are each awarded indefinite-delivery/indefinite quantity, cost-plus-fixed-fee contracts with firm-fixed-price task order provisions for a combined, not-to-exceed $165,092,379 to provide engineering, technical, logistics and program management services to perform the functions for Navy and Army surface ships, submarines, and assault craft. Functions include engineering, technical and logistics support for in-service ship systems and equipment, refurbishment and testing of electrical and electrical control equipment, program management, programmatic, engineering and implementation coordination support for equipment upgrades and ship modernization initiatives and direct fleet support for afloat units at the waterfront. Contractor support is required to provide the necessary technical expertise, technical personnel mix and support for all of these efforts. The contract awarded to Tide is not to exceed $31,764,960; the contract awarded to G&C is not to exceed $33,491,813; the contract awarded to McKean is not to exceed $31,531,799; the contract awarded to NDI is not to exceed $33,667,355; and the contract awarded to Q.E.D. is not to exceed $30,420,902. The contract awards listed above are not to exceed a program value and combined total of $34,636,452. Work will be completed at the contractors' facilities (86%); and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (14%). Work is expected to be completed by July 2026. Fiscal 2020 other procurement (Navy) (91%); and operations and maintenance (Navy) (9%) funding in the total amount of $500,000 ($100,000 minimum guarantee per contract) will be obligated at time of award via individual task orders, of which operations and maintenance (Navy) funding in the amount of $44,800 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. These contracts were competitively procured using full and open competition via the Federal Business Opportunities website, with 10 offers received. The Naval Surface Warfare Center Philadelphia Division, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is the contracting activity. Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., a Lockheed Martin Co., Stratford, Connecticut, is awarded a $25,127,577 cost-plus-fixed-fee delivery order (N00019-20-F-0863) against basic ordering agreement N00019-19-G-0029. This order provides non-recurring engineering for the development of logistics support products for the Maintenance Task Analysis Phase II, a provisioning database of technical information to include 2D drawings that supports all operational, intermediate, and depot level maintenance for the CH-53K helicopter. Work will be performed in Stratford, Connecticut (63%); Jupiter, Florida (11%); Chesterfield, Missouri (6%); St. Marcel, France (5%); Rockmart, Georgia (2%); Titchfield, England (2%); Rome, New York (2%); Springfield, New Jersey (2%); Orange, Connecticut (1%); Westbury, New York (1%); Avon, Ohio (1%); and various locations within the continental U.S. (4%), and is expected to be completed in August 2024. Fiscal 2019 research, development, test, and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $5,043,000 will be obligated at time of award, all of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. Kiliuda Consulting LLC,* Anchorage, Alaska, is awarded an $18,883,593 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract with firm-fixed-price task orders that will be issued to provide business support services for the Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division corporate operations. The services under this contract will provide facilities support (workspace design and physical reconfiguration); visual information support (illustration and photography/videography); security support (excluding law enforcement); Manager's Internal Control program support; material and equipment property management support; travel accounting, management and program analysis; and quality office and office clerical support. Work will be performed in Panama City, Florida, and is expected to be complete by October 2021, and if all options are exercised, would be complete by October 2025. No funding will be obligated by this action. Task orders will primarily be funded with Navy working capital funds. Navy working capital funds will be obligated on task orders as they are issued. This contract was competitively procured as a Section 8(a) small business set-aside with 10 offers received. Offers were solicited via the beta.SAM.gov contract opportunities website. The Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division, Panama City, Florida, is the contracting activity (N61331-20-D-0016). DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY US Foods, Manassas, Virginia, has been awarded a maximum $51,600,000 fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment, indefinite-quantity contract for full-line food distribution. This was a competitive acquisition with one response received. This is a four-year contract with no option periods. Location of performance is Virginia, with an Aug. 11, 2024, ordering period end date. Using customers are Air Force, Army, Marine Corps, Navy and federal civilian agencies. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2020 through 2024 defense working capital funds. The contracting agency is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE300-20-D-3274). Claflin Service Co., Warwick, Rhode Island, has been awarded a maximum $49,500,000 fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for medical equipment and accessories for the Defense Logistics Agency electronic catalog. This was a competitive acquisition with 127 responses received. This is a five-year contract with no option periods. Location of performance is Rhode Island, with an Aug. 10, 2025, ordering period end date. Using military services are Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2020 through 2025 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE2DH-20-D-0046). Telephonics Corp., Farmingdale, New York, has been awarded a maximum $44,999,380 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery requirements contract for communication interface units. This was a limited source acquisition using justification 10 U.S. Code 2304 (c)(1), as stated in Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1 (a)(2). This is a five-year contract with no option periods. Location of performance is New York, with an Aug. 31, 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 Aviation, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama (SPRRA1-20-D-0060). Dominion Privatization Texas LLC, Richmond, Virginia, has been awarded a $42,075,122 modification (P00040) to a 50-year contract (SP0600-16-C-8312) with no option periods for additional utility services for the electric and natural gas utility systems at Fort Hood, Texas. This modification increases the obligated value from $68,019,912 to $69,377,704. This is a firm-fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment contract. Locations of performance are Virginia and Texas, with a June 30, 2066, performance completion date. Using military service is Army. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2017 through 2067 Army operations and maintenance funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Energy, Fort Belvoir, Virginia. Sysco Central Alabama Inc., Calera, Alabama, has been awarded a maximum $13,586,862 fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment, indefinite-quantity contract for full-line food distribution. 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 132-day bridge contract with no option periods. Locations of performance are Alabama and Florida, with a Dec. 19, 2020, ordering period end date. Using customers are Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and federal civilian agencies. Type of appropriation is fiscal year 2020 through 2021 defense working capital funds. The contracting agency is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE300-20-D-3282). (Awarded Aug. 7, 2020) ARMY Liqid Inc.,* Broomfield, Colorado, was awarded a $31,850,000 firm-fixed-price contract for high-performance computing modernization programs. Bids were solicited via the internet with three received. Work will be performed at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, with an estimated completion date of Feb. 6, 2026. Fiscal 2020 other procurement (Army) funds in the amount of $25,480,000 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Huntsville, Alabama, is the contracting activity (W912DY-20-F-0508). DigiFlight Inc.,* Columbia, Maryland, was awarded a $15,304,730 modification (P00033) to contract W31P4Q-19-F-E002 for logistic support services for the Apache Attack Helicopter Project Manager's Office. Work will be performed in Columbia, Maryland, with an estimated completion date of Aug. 10, 2021. Fiscal 2020 aircraft procurement appropriations funds in the amount of $15,304,730 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity. *Small Business https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2309332/source/GovDelivery/

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  14 mai 2019 | International, Aérospatial

  US Air Force nuclear, space programs take hit in border wall reprogramming

  By: Joe Gould , Aaron Mehta , and Valerie Insinna Correction: A previous version of this story contained an erroneous amount of reprogrammed money. The story has been updated to show the Pentagon reprogrammed $1.5 billion in FY19 funds. WASHINGTON — In the wake of the Pentagon reprogramming $1.5 billion in fiscal 2019 funds to support President Donald Trump's border wall with Mexico, only the U.S. Air Force appears to be losing money appropriated for equipment updates. The funding largely comes from personnel accounts in the Air Force, Navy and Army. But the Air Force is the only service to lose funding for hardware, including nuclear and conventional weapons, surveillance aircraft updates, and space programs. Overall, the Pentagon reprogrammed $818.465 million from FY19 defense appropriations, as well as $681.535 million from FY19 overseas contingency operations accounts, or OCO, to reach that $1.5 billion total. Lawmakers expressed concern that the use of military resources and manpower on the southern border will damage military readiness. However, acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said last week that ongoing deployments to support the Defense Department aren't doing so. “We've seen no degradation to readiness,” he told Senate appropriators May 8 at a defense budget hearing. “In fact, in some cases, it's enhanced our readiness because the troops get to perform certain functions.” Congressional Democrats and some Republicans have objected to the administration's use of this mechanism for funding the president's border wall, arguing it bypasses Congress' constitutional power of the purse. For the second time in recent weeks, the Pentagon ignored decades of precedent and carried out the transfer of funds without first consulting with the Senate Appropriations Committee. Sen. Patrick Leahy, the Senate Appropriations Committee's top Democrat, led a letter to Shanahan on May 10 to object to the latest instance, saying it harms hurricane cleanup at Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida. “We are dismayed that the Department has chosen to prioritize a political campaign promise over the disaster relief needs of our service members, given the finite reprogramming authority available," the lawmakers wrote. They noted that Shanahan's decision to notify Congress of the reprogramming came a day after he testified before the subpanel that oversees defense spending, and they wrote that they welcomed his views on “how you intend to repair the damaged relationship between the defense oversight committees and the [Defense] Department.” The letter was also signed by the Senate Armed Services Committee's top Democrat, Sen. Jack Reed, as well as Democratic Sens. Dick Durbin, Brian Schatz, Tom Udall , Patty Murray, Chris Murphy, Tammy Baldwin, Dianne Feinstein and Jon Tester. The reprogramming could be a topic at Shanahan's future confirmation hearing for the full job of defense secretary. A date for that hearing has not been set. Why the Air Force? About half of the non-OCO $818 million sum the Defense Department wants to redirect to the border comes from Air Force accounts, with space and missile programs taking the biggest hit. In total, the Pentagon expects the service to shear $402 million off its FY19 budget. About $210 million would be cut from Air Force space programs, specifically the Evolved Expandable Launch Vehicle program, which funds the use of rockets that send satellites and other capabilities into space. According to the reprogramming document, one rocket launch has been canceled due to the “Space Test Program (STP)-4 satellite provider termination of the Robotic Servicing of Geosynchronous Satellites (RSGS) spacecraft,” which is no longer necessary under the National Security Strategy. The Air Force's program for modernizing its E-3 Sentry early warning aircraft — more commonly called AWACS — also could lose funding that it no longer needs in FY19. The program, "Diminishing Manufacturing Sources Replacement of Avionics for Global Operations and Navigation,” or DRAGON, updates the E-3's avionics and brings it into compliance with future air traffic control requirements. But it is moving too slowly to use all of the funds it was appropriated in FY19, so the administration aims to have $57 million diverted for border protection. DRAGON has been delayed for two reasons, according to the reprogramming request. First, “aircraft have been available for programmed depot maintenance” at a slower-than-planned rate, dragging out the modification schedule. Additionally, DRAGON integration can only occur after AWACS are upgraded to the Block 40/45 configuration, and not all aircraft have gone through that process. The Air Force sees AWACS as a key part of its initial version of the Advanced Battle Management System, a family of systems that will provide ground surveillance across the different military services. Instead of retiring seven E-3s in FY18, Gen. Mike Holmes, head of Air Combat Command, said those planes could be upgraded with new sensors and communications gear. However, DRAGON isn't the only modernization effort for the Sentry that is moving slower than expected. In November, Bloomberg reported that the service terminated a contract with Boeing to upgrade the AWAC's characteristic disc-shaped radar due to repeated delays. Other Air Force programs that will take a hit include a planned upgrade to the Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile and the air-launched cruise missile programs. A number of top defense officials previously said nuclear modernization is the top priority for the Pentagon, including Ellen Lord, the department's acquisition head, who on May 1 told Congress: “We have weapons that are decades over what was supposed to be their useful life. And we are out of time. We need to continue on the path we're on, or we are going to fall behind and not have the nuclear deterrence that we enjoy today.” The document reprograms $24.3 million, of the $124.5 million appropriated in FY19, from the Minuteman III Launch Control Block Upgrade program; the document claims funds are available due to a “slip in the production schedule for FY 2020.” Meanwhile, $29.6 million — more than half of the $47.6 million appropriated for the air-launched cruise missile programs in FY19 — will be reprogrammed. The explanation for that change: “Funds are available due to contract savings from reduced guided missile flight controller modification requirements; and due to lack of executable requirements for Support Equipment and Low Cost Mods in FY 2019.” The reprogramming of funds for the Hellfire missile is also notable, as the Pentagon has identified a lack of munitions stockpiles as a major issue to address in its budget request. As an example, the FY20 budget called for the maximum rate of production possible on Hellfire: $730.8 million for 9,000 of the weapons. The document states that funds are “available due to contract savings from all variants that provide precision kill capabilities. Savings are attributed to negotiated lower unit costs per missile system.” https://www.defensenews.com/smr/federal-budget/2019/05/13/us-air-force-nuclear-space-programs-take-hit-in-border-wall-reprogramming/

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  5 février 2021 | International, Aérospatial

  Northrop Grumman touts Fire Scout UAS for shipborne ASW

  by Gareth Jennings Northrop Grumman is touting its MQ-8C Fire Scout unmanned aircraft system (UAS) as a future ship-based anti-submarine warfare (ASW) platform, with a recent trial off the coast of California demonstrating the concept. Speaking to Janes on 4 February, Dan Redman, Fire Scout maritime mission expansion lead at Northrop Grumman, said that the MQ-8C currently serving with the US Navy (USN) would make for a ready-made ASW solution in both its lift capacity and endurance, as shown by an October 2020 trial using a surrogate manned Bell 407 helicopter off San Clemente Island. “The GIUK [Greenland, Iceland, and UK] Gap, Westpac [western Pacific], declining budgets, and ageing aircraft fleets have all been catalysts at Northrop Grumman to put our heads together to see what more missions our two navy unmanned platforms could accomplish,” Redman said. “With the [MH-60R and P-8A Poseidon] manned counterparts to the Fire Scout and Triton both doing ASW, it made sense.” Redman explained that for some years Northrop Grumman has been working alongside UK company Ultra in developing an ASW capability for the Fire Scout, culminating in the demonstration. “Ultra makes about 90% of all the sonobuoys used in the West. They make the G-sized sonobuoy, which is about half the size of the A sonobuoy [as carried by the Poseidon maritime multimission aircraft] and a miniaturised sonobuoy receiver,” Redman said. https://www.janes.com/defence-news/news-detail/northrop-grumman-touts-fire-scout-uas-for-shipborne-asw