$15/Hr. Wage Hits Contractors Jan. 30
Minimum Wage by Nick Youngson CC BY-SA 3.0 Pix4free.org
Morning Coffee is a robust blend of links to news around the internet concerning the Naval Air Station Patuxent River 
economic community. The opinions expressed here do not reflect opinions of the Leader’s owners or staff.
A new rule puts a $15-an-hour minimum wage for federal contractors in place January 30, 2022, reports FCW. It is the Labor Department’s first mandated wage increase since 2014. The current minimum wage — $10.95/hr; $7.65 for tipped employees — increases to $11.25 and $7.90 on January 1. The $15 minimum wage ruling beginning January 30 eliminates the “sub-minimum wage” allowed for some contractor employees with disabilities. The ruling moves to eliminate the sub-wage for tipped employees by 2024.
AP reports more than 90% of the more than 3.5 million federal employees had received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine by Monday’s deadline set by President Joe Biden.
The Minnesota National Guard is ordered to ease staff shortages COVID-19 is creating in long-term care facilities across that state, reports KARE11. Gov. Tim Walz announced Monday that the Guard will form skilled nursing response teams that will be deployed to deal with the patient load.
Reuters reports the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the State Department on Monday advised against travel to Germany and Denmark because of a rising number of COVID-19 cases in those countries.
The DoD has awarded Pfizer-BioNTech $1.4 billion to produce an additional 200 million doses of its coronavirus vaccine for international donation, reports The Washington Post. The Army funds will allow work on the additional doses to take place in New York with an estimated completion date of June 30.
The Pentagon has invited Google and Oracle to compete for its massive warfighter cloud program alongside Amazon and Microsoft, reports FCW.
The US is set to release millions of barrels of oil from strategic reserves in coordination with China, India, South Korea, Japan, and Britain, reports Reuters. The move is designed to tame soaring energy prices after the OPEC producer group and its allies rebuffed repeated requests from Washington and other consumer nations to pump more quickly to match rising demand.
“We are this generation’s Ellis Island,” says USAF COL Curtis Velasquez, “governor” of the “village” at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico. The village at Holloman is one of eight areas on US bases set up to house Afghans waiting to resettle in the United States. Military Times reports there are 45,000 Afghans still housed and waiting at US Army bases.
A report out of the UK finds lobsters and crabs are sentient beings — they feel pain — and should not be boiled alive, reports CNN. Using eight measurements on the animals, the study found “very strong” evidence of sentience in octopods and “strong” evidence in most crabs. For other animals in these two groups, such as squid, cuttlefish, and lobsters they found the evidence was substantial but not strong.
In Moline, IL, this Thanksgiving marks the 51st year Bob Vogelbaugh, former grocer and current crossing guard, has put on a free turkey dinner for anyone who shows up — no reservations required, no questions asked, reports The Washington Post.
NASA announces a launch delay for the James Webb Space Telescope to no sooner than December 22. “A sudden, unplanned release of a clamp band—which secures Webb to the launch vehicle adapter — caused a vibration throughout the observatory,” according to the NASA blog. Ars Technica described the Webb Telescope, follow-on to the wildly successful Hubble Space Telescope, as bedeviled with delays, originally due to launch about a decade ago. NASA, the European Space Agency, and the rocket’s operator, Arianespace, anticipate the current delay will be brief.
The “Spirit of Innovation,” Rolls-Royce’s all-electric airplane, smashes the speed record at 387.4 mph, reports Engadget. This record awaits certification, as well as the Spirit of Innovation’s record-breaking 345.4 mph speed over a 3 kilometer (1.86 mile) course, that’s 132 mph faster than the current 213 mph record held by a Siemens-powered Extra 330LE.
The DoJ of the District of Massachusetts has announced an agreement for Cambridge-based nonprofit research company and defense contractor Charles Stark Draper Laboratory Inc. to pay nearly $3.5 million to resolve allegations that it improperly overcharged the US Navy for weapons contracts.
Israeli cybersecurity company XM Cyber, co-founded by former Mossad chief Tamir Pardo, is being acquired for $700 million by Germany’s Schwarz Group, a multinational retail operation with some $140 billion in reported annual revenue, reports Times of Israel.
The Navy is satisfied with the solution to its littoral combat ship combining gear woes and accepts its first Freedom LCS since discovering the widespread defect, reports Defense News.
USNI News Fleet and Marine Tracker: Nov. 22, 2021
In its efforts to recruit and retrain for retention, the Marine Corps is looking to offer its service members the opportunity to change assignments without having to move duty stations every few years, reports Military.com.
The Army won’t promote or reenlist troops who refuse the coronavirus vaccine and who haven’t requested an exemption, according to a memo from the service’s top civilian leader. The new rules apply to active-duty, Reserve, and National Guard troops, including those in at least one state where the governor doesn’t require the vaccine, reports Stars and Stripes.
Contracts:
Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co., Reston, Virginia (W52P1J-16-D-0012); ID Technologies LLC, Ashburn, Virginia (W52P1J-16-D-0020); Government Acquisitions Inc., Cincinnati, Ohio (W52P1J16-D-0019); Sirius Federal LLC, Crofton, Maryland (W52P1J-16-D-0018); GovConnection, Rockville, Maryland (W52P1J-16-D-0017); World Wide Technology, St. Louis, Missouri (W52P1J-16-D-0016); Wildflower International LTD, Santa Fe, New Mexico (W52P1J-16-D-0015); MicroTechnologies, Vienna, Virginia (W52P1J-16-D-0029); Affigent, Herndon, Virginia (W52P1J-16-D-0005); Zivaro Inc., Denver, Colorado (W52P1J-16-D-0011); Dell Federal Systems, Round Rock, Texas (W52P1J-16-D-0010); Dynamic Systems, El Segundo, California (W52P1J-16-D-0009); IBM, Bethesda, Maryland (W52P1J-16-D-0008); Unicom, Chantilly, Virginia (W52P1J-16-D-0007); Telos, Ashburn, Virginia (W52P1J-16-D-0006); Iron Bow Technologies LLC, Herndon, Virginia (W52P1J-16-D-0014); and CDW Government LLC, Vernon Hills, Illinois (W52P1J-16-D-0013) will compete for each order of the $1,600,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract for commercial hardware, software, and related incidental services at the enterprise level for the Army, Department of Defense, and all other federal clients. Bids were solicited via the internet with 50 received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Aug. 22, 2023. US Army Contracting Command, Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois, is the contracting activity.
Deloitte Financial Advisory Services LLP, Arlington, Virginia, was awarded a $40,999,447 time-and-materials contract for legal support services. 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 Nov. 22, 2026. US Army Contracting Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, is the contracting activity (W91CRB-22-D-0003).
CACI Inc., Chantilly, Virginia, was awarded a $8,916,366 modification (P00106) to contract W15QKN-15-C-0049 for continuation of the Integrated Personnel and Pay System-Army (IPPS-A) system. Work will be performed in Arlington, Virginia, with an estimated completion date of Dec. 31, 2021. Fiscal 2022 cost-plus-fixed-fee funds in the amount of $8,916,366 were obligated at the time of the award. US Army Contracting Command, Newark, New Jersey, is the contracting activity.
Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC), Reston, Virginia, is awarded a $123,682,642 fixed-price incentive (firm target), firm-fixed-price and cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for the production of MK 48 Mod 7 heavyweight afterbody/tailcones and warshot fuel tank torpedo equipment and support. This contract includes options, which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this contract to $1,113,036,995. This contract combines purchases for the Navy and the governments of Australia and Taiwan under the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program. Work will be performed in Bedford, Indiana (80%); and Middletown, Rhode Island (20%), and is expected to be complete by July 2025. If all options are exercised, work will continue through January 2033. Fiscal 2021 weapons procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $96,968,905 (81%); and FMS/Armaments Cooperative Program (ACP) funds in the amount of $22,547,904 (19%), will be obligated at time of award, not to expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via the beta.sam.gov website, with one offer received. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, DC, is the contracting activity (N00024-22-C-6419).
Point Rock Solutions, Landsdowne, Virginia, was awarded a single-award, indefinite-quantity/indefinite-delivery contract (H92404-22-D-0001) with a maximum ceiling of $50,000,000 for multi-function device printers in support of US Special Operations Command (USSOCOM). Fiscal 2022 operation and maintenance funds in the amount of $392,115 are being obligated at time of award. The contract was awarded competitively among small, disadvantaged businesses with three proposals received. The contract consists of a 12-month base period and four 12-month ordering periods. The facilitation will primarily be conducted virtually through September 2026. USSOCOM, MacDill Air Force Base, Florida, is the contracting activity.
Muscogee Staffing Solutions LLC, Okmulgee, Oklahoma, was awarded a single award, firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract (HU000122D0002) with a minimum award amount of $100,000 and a maximum ceiling/face value of $25,000,000 in support of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences’ Security Department. This contract has a five-year ordering period from Dec. 1, 2021, to Nov. 30, 2026. Work will be performed in Bethesda, Maryland. This contract was a sole source acquisition awarded in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation 19.804-6(c). Operations and maintenance funds will be obligated at the task order level. There are no known congressional interests in this requirement. Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, Maryland, is the contracting activity.
CORRECTION: The Nov. 22, 20121, announcement of a contract award to General Dynamics Information Technology Inc., Falls Church, Virginia (HHM402-21-D-0016/0002), for information technology help desk services included an incorrect funding amount. Fiscal 2022 operations and management funds in the amount of $19,962,000 are being incrementally funded at the time of award for base-year labor.
