Audit Deadline: Navy Not Ready for Prime Time

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.

With a countdown clock ticking until Sept. 30, 2017, when all military service branches are required by law to be audit-ready, a report released this month by the Government Accountability Office finds the Navy still has work to do to be on track to reach that goal, DoDBuzz says.

The fate of a $20 million grant Maryland promised as an incentive to keep defense giant Northrop Grumman in the state is up in the air and has become embroiled in a separate spending dispute between Gov. Larry Hogan (R) and state Democratic leaders, The Washington Post reports. A July meeting for the parties to discuss the grant was canceled when several Republican legislators said they would be attending their party’s national convention. Democratic leaders haven’t rescheduled the meeting. In a tit-for-tat, Hogan has announced that he would not release $174 million that the Democratic-majority legislature bundled together in the budget for a long list of special purposes, including to help school districts fund teacher pensions and construction.

The Marine Corps is working toward the day when it could equip an F-35B joint strike fighter with a directed energy weapon, a top service official said Aug. 30, National Defense reports. Putting a laser on board an F-35 is “absolutely,” something the Marine Corps would be interested in, said Lt. Gen. Robert Walsh, commanding general of Marine Corps Combat Development Command and deputy commandant of combat development and integration. So far, it has been a struggle reducing the size of directed energy weapons, he said. In order to produce enough power to be effective against a threat, systems are often large, he said.

The Defense Department has proposed a rule that would exempt non-traditional contractors and small businesses from certified cost and pricing data requirements for certain contracts, Inside Defense reports. The rule would implement a part of the Fiscal Year 2016 National Defense Authorization Act and comes as the Pentagon is increasingly seeking to attract cutting-edge technology companies that have not typically done business with the government.

Japan’s defense ministry on Wednesday asked for a hike in spending to record levels, as it juggles its responses to a growing ballistic missile threat from North Korea and China’s assertive moves in the East China Sea, Reuters reports.

The Army is launching a new Rapid Capabilities Office to address what it says is a decreasing military superiority over potential enemies, especially in terms of cybersecurity, FCW reports.

A bipartisan group of 64 members of the House of Representatives sent a letter to President Obama calling on him to postpone the recently announced sale of $1.15 billion in weapons to Saudi Arabia over concerns about the country’s conduct in hostilities in Yemen, Defense Daily reports.

The European Union’s decision Tuesday that Apple Inc. owes roughly $14.5 billion in what it calls uncollected taxes over a decade is also just the first shot in what is expected to be a busy autumn for European officials, The Wall Street Journal reports. They are pushing forward a raft of regulations and investigations aimed at altering the behavior of a cadre of US-based Internet superpowers.

A new survey suggests 50 percent of public-sector employees believe new technologies like cloud computing and virtualization are adding complexity to their organizations, particularly when those organizations are cash strapped and anchored by hard-to-replace legacy technology, NextGov reports.

China has filed espionage charges against an American consultant, it confirmed Wednesday, days before President Obama is set to visit the country for a summit of the Group of 20 nations, The Hill reports. Confirmation of the charges against 56-year-old Sandy Phan-Gillis, a naturalized US citizen born in Vietnam, comes more than a year after her March 2015 arrest while on a trade delegation. In June, a United Nations working group claimed that Phan-Gillis had been subjected to arbitrary detention. The ordeal could complicate matters for Obama, who heads to the city of Hangzhou on Friday for what will be his final G-20 leaders summit as president.

Contracts:

Northrop Grumman Corp., Electronic Systems, Linthicum Heights, MD, is being awarded a $375,582,523 four-year, fixed-price-incentive contract for the procurement of nine Ground/Air Task-Oriented Radar (G/ATOR) low-rate initial production systems.  G\ATOR is managed by Program Executive Officer Land Systems, Quantico, VA. Work will be performed in Linthicum Heights, MD (55 percent); East Syracuse, NY (29 percent); Stafford Springs, CT (4 percent); Tulsa, OK (2 percent); San Diego, CA (2 percent); Wallingford Center, CT (1 percent); Farmingdale, NY (1 percent); Gilbert, AZ (1 percent); East Aurora, NY (1 percent); Saint Paul, MN (1 percent); Londonderry, NH (1 percent); Durham, NC (1 percent); and Shelby, NC (1 percent), and is expected to be completed by September 2020. Fiscal 2014 procurement (Marine Corps) funds in the amount of $607,950; fiscal 2016 procurement (Marine Corps) funds in the amount of $117,944,307; and fiscal 2016 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $621,794 will be obligated at the time of award. Contract funds in the amount of $607,950 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract is awarded as a sole-source contract in accordance with 10 US Code 2304(c)(1)(B). The Marine Corps Systems Command, Quantico, VA, is the contracting activity (M67854-16-C-2011).

Lockheed Martin Corp., Mission Systems and Training, Moorestown, NJ, is being awarded a $19,569,891 modification to previously awarded contract N00024-15-C-5151 to exercise an option for ship integration and test of the Aegis Weapon System (AWS) for AWS Baselines through Advanced Capability Build (ACB) 16. Work will be performed in Moorestown, NJ (76 percent); Norfolk, VA (15 percent); Washington, DC (5 percent); Bath, ME (2 percent); and Pascagoula, MS (2  percent), and is expected to be completed by August 2017. Fiscal 2015 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy); fiscal 2016 other procurement (Navy); and fiscal 2016 operations and maintenance (Navy) funding in the amount of $7,454,217 will be obligated at time of award. Contracts funds in the amount of $2,385,842 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, DC, is the contracting activity.

NetCentrics Corp., Herndon, VA, is being awarded a firm-fixed-price and cost contract line item number contract for $11,421,068 to obtain information technology operations support for the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Washington Headquarters Services (WHS), WHS Supported Organizations, and the Pentagon Force Protection Agency. Work performance will take place in Arlington and Alexandria, VA. The expected completion date is Dec. 31, 2016. Fiscal 2016 operations and maintenance funds are being obligated at the time of the award. WHS, Arlington, VA, is the contracting office (HQ0034-16-C-0065).

Progeny Systems Corp., Manassas, VA, is being awarded a $66,413,466 cost-plus-fixed-fee, cost-only Small Business Innovation Research Phase III contract action for MK 54 Mod 1 lightweight torpedo (LWT) sonar assembly kits and related test equipment, spares, and engineering and hardware support services.  These sonar assembly kits will be used to build MK54 Mod 1 LWTs and commence operational test and evaluation. The MK54 Mod 1 LWT will be used by all Navy surface and air anti-submarine warfare forces, improving weapon effectiveness against current and future submarine threats in littoral environments beyond the MK54 Mod 0 LWT. Work will be performed in Charleroi, PA (55 percent); Salt Lake City, UT (41 percent); and Manassas, VA (4 percent), and is expected to be completed by August 2020. Fiscal 2014 and 2016 weapons procurement (Navy); and fiscal 2016 research, development, test, and evaluation (Navy) funds of $58,772,320 will be obligated at time of award, and $25,779,278 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively awarded in accordance with 10 U.S. Code 2304(c)(1) – only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, DC, is the contracting activity (N00024-16-C-6415).