Nouvelles

Le groupe britannique de défense BAE Systems a annoncé lundi le rachat en numéraire de plus de 2 milliards de dollars d'actifs aux groupes de défense américains United Technologies et Raytheon, en train de finaliser leur rapprochement. BAE va acquérir un système de géolocalisation militaire à Collins Aerospace, filiale de United, pour quelque 1,9 milliard, et également reprendre pour 275 millions de dollars l'activité de radio tactique aéroportée de Raytheon. Ces transactions sont soumises à "la réalisation effective de la fusion de Raytheon et United Technologies et à l'accord des autorités", précise BAE. Ces actifs, qualifiés d'"opportunités uniques" par le directeur général de BAE Charles Woodburn, sont sur le marché dans le cadre de désinvestissements requis par les autorités américaines de la concurrence pour approuver le rapprochement de Raytheon et United Technologies. Ils "complètent fortement notre activité de systèmes électroniques basée aux Etats-Unis" et présentent "de fortes perspectives de croissance". Ils devraient aussi "avoir un impact positif immédiat sur les résultats et la trésorerie" de BAE, précise le communiqué. L'activité de géolocalisation, dont le rachat sera financé par endettement, devrait générer un chiffre d'affaires de 359 millions de dollars et un excédent brut d'exploitation (adjusted EBITDA) de 127 millions de dollars en 2020. Celle de radio pour l'aviation militaire, "qui conçoit un vaste éventail de systèmes de communications sensibles avec le département américain de la Défense, les gouvernements alliés", affiche "un long historique d'innovations". Elle devrait générer un chiffre d'affaires de 125 millions de dollars en 2019, avec un effet positif immédiat sur les résultats et la trésorerie. Elle devrait être financée par des liquidités existantes. https://www.journal-aviation.com/actualites/43690-bae-rachete-pour-plus-de-2-milliards-de-dollars-d-actifs-a-united-technologies-et-raytheon

By: Charles Romine Artificial Intelligence (AI) promises to grow the economy and improve our lives, but with these benefits, it also brings new risks that society is grappling with. How can we be sure this new technology is not just innovative and helpful, but also trustworthy, unbiased, and resilient in the face of attack? We sat down with NIST Information Technology Lab Director Chuck Romine to learn how measurement science can help provide answers. How would you define artificial intelligence? How is it different from regular computing? One of the challenges with defining artificial intelligence is that if you put 10 people in a room, you get 11 different definitions. It's a moving target. We haven't converged yet on exactly what the definition is, but I think NIST can play an important role here. What we can't do, and what we never do, is go off in a room and think deep thoughts and say we have the definition. We engage the community. That said, we're using a narrow working definition specifically for the satisfaction of the Executive Order on Maintaining American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence, which makes us responsible for providing guidance to the federal government on how it should engage in the standards arena for AI. We acknowledge that there are multiple definitions out there, but from our perspective, an AI system is one that exhibits reasoning and performs some sort of automated decision-making without the interference of a human. There's a lot of talk at NIST about “trustworthy” AI. What is trustworthy AI? Why do we need AI systems to be trustworthy? AI systems will need to exhibit characteristics like resilience, security and privacy if they're going to be useful and people can adopt them without fear. That's what we mean by trustworthy. Our aim is to help ensure these desirable characteristics. We want systems that are capable of either combating cybersecurity attacks, or, perhaps more importantly, at least recognizing when they are being attacked. We need to protect people's privacy. If systems are going to operate in life-or-death type of environments, whether it's in medicine or transportation, people need to be able to trust AI will make the right decisions and not jeopardize their health or well-being. Resilience is important. An artificial intelligence system needs to be able to fail gracefully. For example, let's say you train an artificial intelligence system to operate in a certain environment. Well, what if the system is taken out of its comfort zone, so to speak? One very real possibility is catastrophic failure. That's clearly not desirable, especially if you have the AI deployed in systems that operate critical infrastructure or our transportation systems. So, if the AI is outside of the boundaries of its nominal operating environment, can it fail in such a way that it doesn't cause a disaster, and can it recover from that in a way that allows it to continue to operate? These are the characteristics that we're looking for in a trustworthy artificial intelligence system. NIST is supposed to be helping industry before they even know they needed us to. What are we thinking about in this area that is beyond the present state of development of AI? Industry has a remarkable ability to innovate and to provide new capabilities that people don't even realize that they need or want. And they're doing that now in the AI consumer space. What they don't often do is to combine that push to market with deep thought about how to measure characteristics that are going to be important in the future. And we're talking about, again, privacy, security and resilience ... trustworthiness. Those things are critically important, but many companies that are developing and marketing new AI capabilities and products may not have taken those characteristics into consideration. Ultimately, I think there's a risk of a consumer backlash where people may start saying these things are too easy to compromise and they're betraying too much of my personal information, so get them out of my house. What we can do to help, and the reason that we've prioritized trustworthy AI, is we can provide that foundational work that people in the consumer space need to manage those risks overall. And I think that the drumbeat for that will get increasingly louder as AI systems begin to be marketed for more than entertainment. Especially at the point when they start to operate critical infrastructure, we're going to need a little more assurance. That's where NIST can come together with industry to think about those things, and we've already had some conversations with industry about what trustworthy AI means and how we can get there. I'm often asked, how is it even possible to influence a trillion-dollar, multitrillion-dollar industry on a budget of $150 million? And the answer is, if we were sitting in our offices doing our own work independent of industry, we would never be able to. But that's not what we do. We can work in partnership with industry, and we do that routinely. And they trust us, they're thrilled when we show up, and they're eager to work with us. AI is a scary idea for some people. They've seen “I, Robot,” or “The Matrix,” or “The Terminator.” What would you say to help them allay these fears? I think some of this has been overhyped. At the same time, I think it's important to acknowledge that risks are there, and that they can be pretty high if they're not managed ahead of time. For the foreseeable future, however, these systems are going to be too fragile and too dependent on us to worry about them taking over. I think the biggest revolution is not AI taking over, but AI augmenting human intelligence. We're seeing examples of that now, for instance, in the area of face recognition. The algorithms for face recognition have improved at an astonishing rate over the last seven years. We're now at the point where, under controlled circumstances, the best artificial intelligence algorithms perform on par with the best human face recognizers. A fascinating thing we learned recently, and published in a report, is that if you take two trained human face recognizers and put them together, the dual system doesn't perform appreciably better than either one of them alone. If you take two top-performing algorithms, the combination of the two doesn't really perform much better than either one of them alone. But if you put the best algorithm together with a trained recognizer, that system performs substantially better than either one of them alone. So, I think, human augmentation by AI is going to be the revolution. What's next? I think one of the things that is going to be necessary for us is pulling out the desirable characteristics like usability, interoperability, resilience, security, privacy and all the things that will require a certain amount of care to build into the systems, and get innovators to start incorporating them. Guidance and standards can help to do that. Last year, we published our plan for how the federal government should engage in the AI standards development process. I think there's general agreement that guidance will be needed for interoperability, security, reliability, robustness, these characteristics that we want AI systems to exhibit if they're going to be trusted. https://www.nist.gov/blogs/taking-measure/trustworthy-ai-conversation-nists-chuck-romine

Moorestown, N.J., January 14, 2020 – Through partnerships with the U.S. Government, Spain, Japan, and Canada, Lockheed Martin's (NYSE: LMT) solid state radar (SSR) technology will provide front-line defense to nations around the world with cutting-edge air and missile defense capabilities. These nations are part of a growing SSR family of 24 platforms, ushering in the next generation of maritime and ground-based advanced radar technology. The basis of SSR is the Long Range Discrimination Radar (LRDR), which the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) selected Lockheed Martin to develop in 2015 with an on-track delivery set for 2020. In 2019 Lockheed Martin's SSR for Aegis Ashore Japan was designated by the United States Government as AN/SPY-7(V)1. What is SSR Technology? SPY-7's core technology is derived from the LRDR program, which has been declared Technical Readiness Level 7 by the U.S. Government. The technology consists of a scalable and modular gallium nitride (GaN) based “subarray” radar building block, providing advanced performance and increased efficiency and reliability to pace ever-evolving threats. As part of its investment into the advancement of SSR, Lockheed Martin built a Solid State Radar Integration Site to conduct detailed testing to prove the maturity of the system and reduce fielding risk. Scaled versions of the LRDR site will be utilized for future radar programs including Aegis Ashore Japan, Canadian Surface Combatant and MDA's Homeland Defense Radar in Hawaii. Solid state offers powerful capabilities to detect, track and engage sophisticated air and missile threats, including the very complicated task of discriminating – or picking out – and countering lethal objects present in enemy ballistic missiles. The Lockheed Martin SSR uses state-of-the art hardware and an innovative software-defined radar architecture to meet current requirements while providing extensibility features to pace evolving threats for decades to come. Its unique maintain-while-operate capability provides very high operational availability and enables continuous 24-hour/7-day week operation. Solid state radar is a multi-mission system providing a wide range of capabilities, from passive situational awareness to integrated air and missile defense solutions. The combined capability and mission flexibility of Lockheed Martin's SSR has gained the attention of new and current users of the Aegis Weapon System, the world's premier air and missile defense combat suite. Meeting the World's Most Demanding Missions While LRDR is the first program to utilize Lockheed Martin's new SSR building blocks, over the past three years Lockheed Martin has consistently been selected in open competitions to equip an additional 24 platforms in four nations. SPY-7 provides several times the performance of traditional SPY-1 radars and the ability to engage multiple targets simultaneously with the latest proven interceptors. Spain's Ministry of Defense stated its preference for Lockheed Martin's technology for its five F-110 class frigates in 2017 and awarded the ship construction order to Navantia in 2019. These ships will host the first-ever S-band variants of the SPY-7 radar for the Spanish Navy. Production will be a collaboration between Lockheed Martin and Spanish company, Indra. When the frigates deploy in 2026 our SPY-7 variant will be integrated as part of the Aegis Weapon System. The frigates will also incorporate the International Aegis Fire Control Loop (IAFCL) integrated with SCOMBA, the national combat system developed by Navantia. Canada's Department of National Defence also selected Lockheed Martin as the naval radar provider for its 15 Canadian Surface Combatant (CSC) ships. Lockheed Martin's IAFCL is integrated with Canada's combat management system, CMS 330, developed by Lockheed Martin Canada for the Royal Canadian Navy's HALIFAX Class ships. The program will make Canada the owner of the world's second largest Aegis fleet, and our SPY-7 radar variant will enable CSC to conduct highly advanced maritime missions for decades to come. Mature, Cost-Effective Systems Ready Now Including LRDR, the 24 Lockheed Martin SSR platforms selected to date represent a total of 91 antennas of varying sizes, collectively composed of over 15,000 subarrays. On LRDR alone, Lockheed Martin has produced an equivalent of eight Aegis shipsets to-date. The U.S. Government's LRDR has a planned service life for decades to come and will be supported and maintained throughout that period. This ensures the U.S. and its allies will have a large and stable base of cost-effective logistics and support for many years in the future. About Lockheed Martin Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, Lockheed Martin is a global security and aerospace company that employs approximately 105,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. View source version on Lockheed Martin: https://news.lockheedmartin.com/2020-01-14-Four-Nations-to-Be-Protected-with-Lockheed-Martins-Next-Generation-Radar

Andrew Eversden The Department of Interior awarded CenturyLink a contract potentially worth $1.6 billion for network security and IT modernization. Under the contract, a task order award under the GSA's Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions program, CenturyLink will provide Interior with managed core network services and managed access services. The contract has a base period of one year, a CenturyLink spokesperson said. According to the news release, there are 11 one-year options through 2032. “The Department of the Interior selected CenturyLink to deliver secure, modern network services that will help the agency achieve its mission to conserve and manage our nation's natural resources and cultural heritage for the benefit and enjoyment of the American people,” said David Young, CenturyLink senior vice president of public sector, in a statement. CenturyLink's managed core network services includes designing, engineering, building, securing, operating and maintaining Interior's enterprise network, along with cybersecurity services. The second area, manage access services, included securing cloud connectivity and WiFi services. The EIS program is a 15-year, $50 billion multi-award contract vehicle for federal agencies to use to purchased preapproved, secure IT and telecommunication services. CenturyLink was the first supplier given EIS authority to operate last March. In April last year, CenturyLink also won a task order under the contract to provide secure connectivity services to NASA, the first task order under the EIS program. https://www.federaltimes.com/it-networks/2020/01/16/who-won-interiors-16b-secure-network-contract

AIR FORCE Raytheon Co., Marlborough, Massachusetts, is awarded a $442,265,464 cost-plus-incentive-fee undefinitized contract action for the force element terminal (FET) development effort. This contract provides for the design, development, testing, integration, and logistical support of a FET system that will transition the B-52 and RC-135 hardened communication terminals from the Military Strategic Tactical Relay satellite communications satellite constellation to the Advanced Extremely High Frequency satellite constellation. The majority of the work will be performed at Raytheon's facilities in Marlborough, Massachusetts; and Largo, Florida, and is expected to be completed by August 2023. This award is the result of a sole-source acquisition. Fiscal 2019 and 2020 research, development, test and evaluation 3600 funds, in the amount of $5,812,581, are being obligated at the time of contract award. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Hanscom Air Force Base, Bedford, Massachusetts, is the contracting activity (FA8735-20-C-0003). Raytheon Co., Marlborough, Massachusetts, has been awarded a $36,848,806 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract modification (P00152) for the software encryption platform (SEP) engineering change effort, under the Family of Advanced Beyond Line-of-Sight Terminals (FAB-T) production contract. The contract action will develop and deliver an updated National Security Agency approved SEP. Work will be performed at Marlborough, Massachusetts, and is expected to be completed by March 2023. This award is the result of a sole source acquisition. Fiscal 2019 research, development, test and evaluation funding in the amount of $1,000,000 is being obligated at the time of award. The FAB-T Contracting Office, Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts, is the contracting activity (FA8705-13-C-0005). ARMY LOC Performance Products,* Plymouth, Michigan, was awarded a $41,439,129 firm-fixed-price contract for the procurement of manufactured T-161 double pin track which is comprised of molded track pads, rubberized pins and forged track shoe bodies with bonded rubber backings to be used on the Army's Bradley family of vehicles, armored multi-purpose vehicle and Paladin family of vehicles. Bids were solicited via the internet with two received. Work will be performed in Plymouth, Michigan, with an estimated completion date of Jan. 12, 2022. Fiscal 2020 other procurement, Army funds in the amount of $41,439,129 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Warren, Michigan, is the contracting activity (W56HZV-20-C-0052). Lockheed Martin Corp., Orlando, Florida, was awarded a $9,829,327 modification (P00013) to contract W31P4Q-19-C-0071 for engineering services in support of the Hellfire Missile and Joint Air-to-Ground Missile. Work will be performed in Orlando, Florida, with an estimated completion date of Jan. 15, 2021. Fiscal 2020 missile procurement, Army funds in the amount of $9,829,327 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity. DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY Carter Enterprises,** Brooklyn, New York, has been awarded a maximum $21,105,765 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-quantity contract for coats and trousers. This was a competitive acquisition with six responses received. This is a one-year base contract with three one-year option periods. Location of performance is New York, with a Jan. 15, 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 (SPE1C1-20-D-1206). NAVY Crowley Government Services, Jacksonville, Florida (N62387-15-C-2505), is awarded a $20,771,542 firm-fixed-price contract with reimbursable elements extension by invoking Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 52.217-8 “option to extend services” to continue the operation and maintenance of five Tactical Auxiliary General Ocean Surveillance (T-AGOS) vessels; and two missile range instrumentation ships (T-AGM). This option includes a 365-day base period of performance, four one-year option periods, and a Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 52.217-8 “option to extend services” option period for up to six months, which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this contract to $375,202,948. Work will be performed at sea worldwide and is expected to be completed by July 21, 2020. Fiscal 2020 Navy operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $20,771,542 will be awarded at time of award and will expire at the end of fiscal year. This contract extension was not competitively procured. The contract was prepared under the provisions of 10 U.S. Code § 2304(c)(1), as implemented by FAR 6.302-1(a)(2)(iii) (only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements). The Military Sealift Command, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity (N62387-15-C-2505). MAC LLC, Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, is awarded a $9,998,493 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for the purchase of up to a maximum of 2,400,000 MK323 Mod 0 polymer cased .50 caliber linked cartridges, and .50 caliber armor piercing/armor piercing incendiary polymer cased linked cartridges. Work will be performed in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, and is expected to be completed by January 2024. Fiscal 2019 procurement ammunition (Marine Corps) funds in the amount of $3,051,359 will be obligated on the first delivery order immediately following contract award and funds will expire the end of fiscal 2021. The contract was awarded on a sole source basis in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1.The Marine Corps Systems Command, Quantico, Virginia, is the contracting activity (M67854-20-D-5200). *Small Business **Small Business in Historically Underutilized Business Zone https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2059429/source/GovDelivery/

By: Nathan Strout The Space Development Agency wants its satellites to be able to easily talk to each other and is considering using optical intersatellite links for communications within its future low earth orbit space architecture. Now, the organization is looking for industry's help on what standards should be used for those links. On Jan. 15, the agency issued a request for information to industry to inform its attempt to establish an Optical Intersatellite Link Open Standard. Most satellites don't speak with each other directly. Instead, they utilize radio-frequency communications with a ground station to relay communications between satellites. Some satellites, however, are able to use optical links to provide direct communications between satellites without a ground station acting as an intermediary. The SDA wants to use this technology for what it calls its “transport layer,” the backbone of its plans for a new space architecture in low earth orbit. The SDA was established in March 2019 to design the Department of Defense's future threat-driven space architecture, a setup it has since defined as a multi-layered constellation of hundreds of small satellites providing several capabilities from LEO. The SDA will not be directly responsible for every layer or constellation within the architecture — most notably, the Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor is being developed primarily by the Missile Defense Agency — however, the SDA will be the agency in charge of integrating those various efforts into a single architecture. Key to the entire enterprise is the Tracking Layer, a family of satellites in low earth orbit that will facilitate the flow of data between satellites in orbit and between satellites and the ground. The Transport Layer will be essential in connecting the various sensors and capabilities on orbit with weapons systems on the ground or in the air. In order to build that capability, the SDA plans to use Optical Intersatellite Links. The optical links will also need to provide range estimates of the distance between satellites in orbit and between satellites and the ground to within a meter in order to provide highly precise timing and positional data for the constellation. The SDA also envisions each satellite utilizing a chip-scale atomic clock as well as GPS signals. The problem is that there are currently no industry standards for those links. To ensure the interoperability of various vendor technologies used for those links, the SDA wants to establish that standard, and it's asking industry for help. Responses are due by Feb. 5. More specifics about what the SDA is considering for its standards is available on beta.sam.gov. According to the request, the SDA plans to issue a solicitation for Tranche 0 of the Transportation Layer in Spring 2020, with additional solicitations for the other capability layers to follow in the summer. That first tranche, known as the war fighter immersion tranche, will consist “of tens of satellites providing periodic, regional sensing and data transport capabilities, including the capability to detect hypersonic glide vehicles and to disseminate time sensitive targeting solutions over tactical data links.” According to the agency, that initial tranche could be delivered as early as fiscal year 2022 https://www.c4isrnet.com/battlefield-tech/c2-comms/2020/01/16/the-pentagon-wants-help-for-its-satellites-to-talk-to-each-other/

AIR FORCE F.K. Horn GmbH & Co., Kaiserslautern, Germany (FA5613-20-D-0001); SKE Support Services GmbH, Goldbach, Germany (FA561320D0002); Mickan GmbH & Co., Amberg, Germany (FA5613-20-D-0003); BB Government Services GmbH, Kaiserslautern, Germany (FA5613-20-D-0004); J&J Worldwide Services, Austin, Texas (FA5613-20-D-0005); and Wolff & Müller Government Services GmbH & Co., Stuttgart, Germany (FA5613-20-D-0006), have been awarded an estimated $425,000,000 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for the multiple award construction contract. This contract provides for a broad range of design-build, sustainment, maintenance, repair, alteration, renovation and minor construction projects to include residential and commercial work for the Kaiserslautern Military Community, Spangdahlem Air Base, as well as supporting installations throughout Germany. Work will be performed primarily at Headquarters U.S. Air Force in Europe (USAFE); Ramstein Air Base; Spangdahlem Air Base; and USAFE geographically separated units in Germany. The contract will expire on Jan. 14, 2025. This contract is the result of a competitive acquisition and seven offers were received. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of 1,000 Euros are being obligated for each awardee at the time of the award. The 700th Contracting Squadron, Ramstein Air Base, Germany, is the contracting activity. L3Harris Technologies Inc., Colorado Springs, Colorado, has been awarded a $12,929,064 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract modification (P01033) to a previously-awarded contract F19628-02-C-0010 for the National Space Defense Center (NSDC) sustainment effort. This modification provides sustainment support for the NSDC at Schriever Air Force Base, Colorado, which is housed within the Distributed Space Command and Control – Dahlgren program of record. Work will be performed at Schriever Air Force Base, Colorado, and is expected to be completed by June 30, 2020. The total cumulative face value is $12,929,064. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $12,929,064 are being obligated at time of award. The Space and Missile Systems Center, Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado, is the contracting activity. ARMY F3EA Inc.,* Savannah, Georgia, was awarded a $245,000,000 hybrid (cost-plus-fixed-fee, cost-sharing, and firm-fixed-price) contract for special operations forces requirements analysis, prototyping, training, operations and rehearsal IV. Bids were solicited via the internet with 10 received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Jan. 14, 2027. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Orlando, Florida, is the contracting activity (W900KK-20-D-0005). Rogers, Lovelock & Fritz, Orlando, Florida, was awarded a $100,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract for architecture and engineering design services. Bids were solicited via the internet with 13 received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of July 14, 2030. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Kansas City, Missouri, is the contracting activity (W912DQ-20-D-4000). Bechtel National Inc., Reston, Virginia, was awarded a $35,709,723 modification (P00184) to contract W52P1J-09-C-0012 for the increased permitting requirements request for equitable adjustment at Pueblo Chemical Agent Destruction Pilot Plant as a result of additional work in the sample management office, waste plan analysis and odor monitoring. Work will be performed in Pueblo, Colorado, with an estimated completion date of July 12, 2020. Fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation, Army funds in the amount of $35,709,723 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois, is the contracting activity. Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co. LLC, Oak Brook, Illinois, was awarded a $10,723,250 firm-fixed-price contract for coastal storm risk management work. Bids were solicited via the internet with one received. Work will be performed in Southampton, New York, with an estimated completion date of March 31, 2020. Fiscal 2018 flood control and coastal emergencies, civil works funds in the amount of $10,723,250 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New York, New York, is the contracting activity (W912DS-20-C-0006). NAVY Lockheed Martin Rotary and Mission Systems, Syracuse, New York, is awarded a $19,330,296 firm-fixed-price modification to previously-awarded contract N00024-19-C-6269 to exercise options for the procurement of eight multi-function modular masts for new-construction Virginia-class submarine Block V hulls. Work will be performed in Nashua, New Hampshire (70%); and Syracuse, New York (30%), and is expected to be completed by September 2023. Fiscal 2020 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funding in the amount of $19,330,296 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity. Raytheon Missile Systems, Tucson, Arizona, is awarded a $9,075,931 firm-fixed-price delivery order (N00019-20-F-0499) against a previously awarded indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract (N00019-15-D-0034). This delivery order provides for repair and sustainment services for 155 high-speed anti-radiation missiles in support of the Air Force, the government of Morocco and the government of Turkey. Work will be performed in Tucson, Arizona, and is expected to be completed in December 2020. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance (Air Force) funds in the amount of $8,824,266; and Foreign Military Sales (FMS) funds in the amount of $251,665 will be obligated at time of award, $8,824,266 of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This order combines purchases for the Air Force ($8,824,266; 97.2%); and FMS customers ($251,665; 2.8%). The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. *Small Business https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2058353/source/GovDelivery/

By: Jerry McGinn Ms. Lisa Hershman, an accomplished former CEO who has been serving in the Department of Defense for over two years, received Senate confirmation by unanimous consent to become the DoD chief management officer shortly before Christmas. At the same time, however, the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act required two studies from the DoD that openly posit eliminating the CMO function altogether. What gives? The mixed signals coming out of these discordant events underscore the fact that the theory behind the current CMO function (and similar efforts over the past two decades) does not match the reality of the business structure of the DoD. The solution that will ultimately work best for the DoD is one that truly takes a business-based approach to DoD business operations. The CMO function is the latest in a long-running series of efforts since the early 2000s to reform the business of defense. The essential idea has been to bring the best commercial business practices into DoD business operations through organizational and legislative changes. While the rationale for these respective initiatives is unassailable, they have struggled in execution. The CMO and its predecessor organizations, for example, have focused on the acquisition or certification of DoD business systems. These efforts, however, have largely devolved into bureaucratic battles over resources and authorities, pitting the business-focused organization against the formidable military departments and the “fourth estate.” Whatever the outcome, the business-focused organization ends up being seen as weak and ineffective. Why is that? Having worked for years in and around these respective efforts in both government and industry roles, I have come to the conclusion that these well-meaning initiatives are just the wrong type of solution. This is largely because their respective organizations, often despite strong leadership and empowered by various degrees of legislative authority, have not had the bureaucratic throw-weight to succeed in Pentagon battles with the services and the fourth estate. The solution to this challenge, however, is not to further tinker with the CMO's authority or to create a larger or different CMO organization. Part of the solution is to recognize that while the DoD is not a business, it is in many ways a businesslike organization. There are no profit and loss, or P&L, centers in the DoD, but the military departments frankly function in much the same way as a P&L line of business. The services are directly responsible for training and equipping their soldiers, sailors and airmen just as P&L leaders are responsible for delivering products and solutions on time and profitably. Likewise, fourth estate entities such as the defense agencies and the Office of the Secretary of Defense have direct responsibility over their respective functions. Harnessing the power and authority of these organizations through the training and enabling of good business practices is a much more natural fit for the DoD. Devolving responsibility in and of itself is not the answer, however. The other part of the solution is accountability. Commercial businesses do not have a CMO function. Instead, well-run businesses are led by strong executives who are responsible and accountable for delivering results to their employees and shareholders. Those that succeed are rewarded, while those that fail are replaced. The same goes for the DoD. DoD leadership should focus on establishing business-reform objectives for each major DoD organization, and then holding leaders of these respective organizations accountable to the achievement of measurable business goals. This should be driven by the secretary and the deputy, and enabled by a much smaller CMO function. Secretary Mark Esper appears to be headed in that direction in his recent memo on 2020 DoD reform efforts, which focuses the CMO's efforts on the fourth estate and makes the services directly responsible “to establish and execute aggressive reform plans.” That is the right approach. In short, the DoD does not need a management organization to oversee the business of defense; it needs to enable its leaders to utilize business best practices, and then hold these leaders accountable for results. Jerry McGinn is the executive director of the Center for Government Contracting at George Mason University. He previously served as the senior career official in the Office of Manufacturing and Industrial Base Policy at the U.S. Defense Department. https://www.defensenews.com/opinion/commentary/2020/01/15/does-the-pentagon-need-a-chief-management-officer

AIR FORCE Lockheed Martin Corp., Fort Worth, Texas, has been awarded a $32,860,395 hybrid cost-plus-fixed-fee and firm-fixed-price modification (P00068) to previously-awarded contract FA8615-12-C-6016 for contractor logistics support to the Taiwan F-16 Peace Phoenix Rising program. This modification provides for contractor logistics support, repair and return and diminishing manufacturing source management services for Taiwan F-16s Active Electronically Scanned Array Radar. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas; and Taiwan, and is expected to be complete by Dec. 31, 2025. This modification involves 100% foreign military sales to Taiwan. Foreign Military Sales funds in the amount of $25,001,279 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. NAVY Noble Sales Co. Inc., Rockland, Massachusetts, is awarded a $30,000,000 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, fixed-price contract that includes provisions for economic price adjustment to acquire supplies and provide related store operation services required by Naval Supply Systems Command Fleet Logistics Center, Norfolk, for two commercial retail stores on the Naval Support Activity, Crane, Indiana, for materials needed by the Naval Facilities Command Public Works Department. The contract includes a five-year base ordering period with an option to extend services for a six-month ordering period pursuant to the Federal Acquisition Regulation 52.217-8. All work will be performed in Crane, Indiana. The ordering period is expected to be completed by January 2025; if the option is exercised, work will be completed by July 2025. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance funds (Navy) in the amount of $100,000 will be obligated to fund the contract's minimum amount, and funds will expire at the end of the fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured with the solicitation posted to the Federal Business Opportunities website with five offers received. Naval Supply Systems Command Fleet Logistics Center, Norfolk, Contracting Department, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity (N00189-20-D-0009). ARMY CEMS-RS&H ABQ JV,* San Antonio, Texas, was awarded a $9,500,000 firm-fixed-price contract for architect and engineer services. Bids were solicited via the internet with 22 received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Jan. 9, 2025. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Albuquerque, New Mexico, is the contracting activity (W912PP-19-D-0017). Goodwill Industries of San Antonio Contract Services, San Antonio, Texas, was awarded a $7,858,420 modification (P00006) to contract W81K04-18-C-0002 for record processing services, inventory, track and store service treatment records for Army service members who have separated or retired from the Total Force. Work will be performed in San Antonio, Texas, with an estimated completion date of Jan. 25, 2021. Fiscal 2020 and 2021 Defense Health Program, defense funds in the amount of $7,858,420 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Health Contracting Activity, San Antonio, Texas, is the contracting activity. DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY Alamo Strategic Manufacturing,** San Antonio, Texas, has been awarded a maximum $8,625,000 modification (P00005) exercising the first one-year option period of a one-year base contract (SPE1C1-19-D-1122) with two one-year option periods for knee and elbow pads. This is a firm-fixed-price, indefinite-quantity contract. Locations of performance are Texas, Puerto Rico and Massachusetts, with a Jan. 30, 2021, performance completion date. Using military services are Army, Air Force and Marine Corps. 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 **Small Disadvantaged Business https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2057245/source/GovDelivery/