DOGE Can Now Review Unclassified Contracts at DoD
(US Army photo by Sgt. 1st Class Marisol Walker)
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The DoD Department of Government Efficiency team will now get a chance to assess unclassified contracts before they’re awarded, reports Defense News. DOGE may review solicitations, requirements, and cost estimates for new contracts and modifications, according to a May 27 memo from DefSec Pete Hegseth. Hegseth has directed the Pentagon to strictly limit its use of IT consulting and management contracts, pushing more reliance on in-house resources, reports Breaking Defense.
Elon Musk might be ending his stint with the Trump administration, but the DOGE team isn’t going anywhere, reports Politico. Some DOGE employees have been hired on as permanent government staffers and given high-ranking positions inside agencies. The General Services Administration, for example, is an entry point for dozens of DOGE officials who’ve then gone to other departments.
At a news conference Friday, Musk said that lower-level officials would remain in their roles, reports The Hill. “This is not the end of DOGE, but really the beginning,” Musk said.
Civilian employees at the Pentagon will no longer have to submit a list of five accomplishments from the previous week, reports Air & Space Forces Magazine. This ends the requirement instituted in March by Musk’s DOGE, which made civilians send weekly updates to their supervisors.
The Pentagon is redirecting $1 billion meant for maintaining and renovating US Army barracks to instead fund troops at the US-Mexico border, reports Military Times. Late last month the Pentagon announced it was sending an additional 1,115 active-duty troops to deploy to the southern border, adding to the military’s increased role in supporting immigration control, Navy Times reported May 22. Those additional troops would bring the military close to the 10,000 total that had been approved for the border mission earlier this year.
The Pentagon will cut the size of its Office of the Director of Operational Test and Evaluation, reports Military Times. The ODOT&E will reduce its staff to 30 civilians, 15 military personnel, and one senior leader.
The Department of Veterans Affairs is lifting a hiring freeze on more than 100 positions across the Veteran Health Administration, reports Federal News Network, including several support positions at the Veterans Crisis Line.
The US military spent more than $6 billion over the past three years to recruit and retain service members, in what has been a growing campaign to counter enlistment shortfalls, reports The Associated Press, with the Navy outspending the others.
Lockheed Martin plans to develop a version of the F-35 that can fly without a pilot, reports Defense One, one of several upgrades the company is pitching for the program after it lost the Air Force’s Next Generation Air Dominance competition. The upgrades could move into flight testing in two to three years, Lockheed CEO Taiclet said last week during a discussion at the Bernstein Strategic Decisions Conference in New York.
Boeing’s Organization Designation Authorization, or ODA, has been renewed by the Federal Aviation Administration, reports The Hill. The program allows the aviation manufacturer to perform tasks on behalf of the agency for three years. The move follows months of scrutiny due to concerns about Boeing’s safety standards after a midair accident took place on a Boeing 737 Max 9 last year.
Defense contractor Anduril and Meta announced that the two companies are working to build extended reality (XR) devices for the US military, reports Tech Crunch. Anduril’s mission “has long been to turn warfighters into technomancers, and the products we are building with Meta do just that,” said Anduril co-founder Palmer Luckey. The partnership stems from the Soldier Borne Mission Command Next program, formerly called the Integrated Visual Augmentation System Next. IVAS was a military contract, with a $22 billion budget, originally awarded to Microsoft in 2018 intended to develop HoloLens-like AR glasses for soldiers.
General Atomics was awarded a $99.3 million Air Force Research Laboratory contract to develop an autonomous, stealthy, penetrating, ultra-long-endurance flying-wing reconnaissance and strike drone, reports Air & Space Forces Magazine. The award is for an aircraft to be powered by “hybrid-electric propulsion” and use a ducted fan. The aircraft is intended to be a “next-generation intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance/strike” platform, with “capabilities across a spectrum of contested environments,” the Air Force said.
Northrop Grumman is investing $50 million into Firefly Aerospace to speed the joint production of the Antares 330 rocket and the newly named Eclipse medium launch vehicle, reports Breaking Defense. The companies see the Eclipse as a contender for the Space Force’s National Security Space Launch Program.
HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding has furloughed more than 400 employees, reports 10WAVY.com. In a letter from an HII spokesperson stated that 471 salaried shipbuilders were impacted.
The Marine Corps is slated to hold a series of events as part of a new attack drone competition, reports Marine Corps Times. The service is seeking drone teams from across the Corps to participate. The first event will be held at Marine Corps Base Quantico, VA, in November.
The Pentagon wants troops to change duty stations less often, reports Task & Purpose. Policy changes at each of the military services would reduce the number of moves families make every few years. The changes are directed at improving military families’ quality of life and saving money.
A recent Government Accountability Office report said that the Defense Department has yet to develop a clear strategy to guide the construction, deployment, and long-term management of the missile defense architecture it is building on Guam, reports Military Times. According to the report, DoD is planning to deploy additional systems. But it has yet to determine how many personnel are needed to operate the systems, when those personnel would be deployed, and more.
Leadership changes have been made at the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. The Trump administration is shaking up ICE leadership as it struggles to ramp up deportations, reports The Washington Post. Robert Hammer, acting head of Homeland Security Investigations, has been reassigned, and Kenneth Genalo, who has been acting chief of enforcement and removal operations, will retire. ICE has not been keeping up with arrest quotas that had been set in January.
Several veterans organizations are urging Senate leaders to strip a provision from the Republican budget reconciliation package which they say will allow for-profit schools to once again take advantage of student veterans, reports Military Times. The groups said that the provision concerning a repeal of the 90/10 rule could also cost the federal government as much as $1.6 billion, making the move concerning on a fiscal level as well as an ethical one.
RADM Kevin Smith has been removed as the US Navy’s program executive officer for the Program Executive Office for Unmanned and Small Combatants “due to a loss of confidence based on a complaint substantiated by an Office of the Naval Inspector General investigation,” reports Navy Times. No other details on Smith’s dismissal or the nature of the complaint were provided.
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore has announced funding for Alternative Certification for Effective Teachers, or ACET, programs across the state, reports WTOP News. Montgomery College will get a grant of $100,000 for the teacher preparation program dubbed “Feds to Eds,” which trains unemployed federal workers for teaching jobs. “Maryland will provide $1 million in grants to 11 Maryland colleges and universities to help laid off workers to pivot to careers in education in the state of Maryland,” Moore said.
Contracts:
Aviation Systems Engineering Co. Inc., Lexington Park, Maryland, is awarded a $17,740,956 firm-fixed price contract to train the German Navy in both maintenance functions and flight operations for the P-8A Poseidon aircraft to assist German P-8A squadrons in achieving European military airworthiness requirements for aircraft maintainer various rates; as well as teach maintenance practices for conventional weapon loading and fiber optic wiring, teach P-8A pilots and aircrew, support the German Navy in maintaining pilot and aircrew proficiency and completing Naval Air Training and Operating Procedure Standardization check rides as well as emergency procedure check rides for the German Navy. Work will be performed in Jacksonville, Florida (50%); Nordholz, Germany (40%); and Berlin, Germany (10%), and is expected to be complete by May 2030. Foreign Military Sales funds in the amount of $7,804,612 will be obligated at the time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The contract action was not competed. Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity (N0001925C0113).
Deloitte & Touche LLP, Arlington, Virginia, is being awarded an $81,055,361 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract (N00189-25-D-0010) in support of Naval Information Forces to provide Navy enterprise management and technical support services. The contract will include a five-year ordering period with an additional six-month ordering period pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation 52.217-8 which if exercised, will bring the total estimated value of the contract to $90,000,000. Work will be completed by Aug. 2, 2030; if the option is exercised, work will be completed by Feb. 2, 2031. Work will be performed in Suffolk, Virginia (90%); and Arlington, Virginia (10%). Fiscal 2025 operation and maintenance funds (Navy) funds in the contract’s minimum amount of $500,000 will be obligated at time of award and funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Subsequent task orders under the resultant contract will be funded with appropriate fiscal year operations and maintenance (Navy) funds. The requirement was competitively procured through the sam.gov website as an unrestricted, competitive procurement with 11 offers received. Naval Supply Systems Command Fleet Logistics Center Norfolk Fleet Directorate, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity (N00189-25-D-0010).
Leidos Inc., Reston, Virginia, was awarded an $8,480,647 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for an ammunition supply point and theater storage area. Bids were solicited via the internet with three received. Work will be performed in Kuwait City, Kuwait, with an estimated completion date of Nov. 30, 2030. Fiscal 2025 operation and maintenance, Army funds in the amount of $1,500,000.00 were obligated at the time of the award. Army Contracting Command, Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois, is the contracting activity (W519TC-25-C-0029).
Raytheon Missiles and Defense, Marlborough, Massachusetts, is awarded a $536,750,202 cost-plus-fixed-fee, firm-fixed-price, and cost-only contract (N00024-25-C-5501) for Air and Missile Defense Radar AN/SPY-6(V) integration and production support efforts. This contract includes options which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this contract to $2,885,607,394. This contract combines the purchases for the US government (71.4%); and the government of Germany (with the potential for other countries to be added) (28.4%), under the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program. Work will be performed in Marlborough, Massachusetts (56%); Pascagoula, Mississippi (14%); Moorestown, New Jersey (9%); Newport News, Virginia (6%); Kauai, Hawaii (5%); Wallops Island, Virginia (4%); Bath, Maine (2%); Chesapeake, Virginia (2%); Portsmouth, Rhode Island (1%); and San Diego, California (1%), and is expected to be completed by May 2026. If all options are exercised, work will continue through May 2030. Fiscal 2025 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $18,222,044 (32%); fiscal 2020 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funds in the amount of $15,721,738 (27%); fiscal 2025 operations and maintenance (Navy) funds in the amount of $8,577,321 (15%); fiscal 2021 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funds in the amount of $4,016,770 (7%); FMS (Germany) funds in the amount of $3,144,959 (5%); fiscal 2024 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funds in the amount of $3,031,554 (5%); fiscal 2018 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funds in the amount of $1,541,294 (3%); fiscal 2025 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funds in the amount of $958,114 (2%); fiscal 2025 other procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $884,520 (2%); fiscal 2023 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funds in the amount of $609,763 (1%); fiscal 2022 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funds in the amount of $429,889 (<1%); and fiscal 2017 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funds in the amount of $378,994 (<1%), will be obligated at time of award, of which $12,594,091 will expire at the end of the fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured. This contract was procured under the statutory authority of 10 US Code 3204(a)(1), only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements. Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, DC, is the contracting activity.
Pax Environmental Inc., Ojai, California (N62473-25-D-0004); Alta Archaeological Consulting LLC, Santa Rose, California (N62473-25-D-0005); ASM Affiliates, Carlsbad, California (N62473-25-D-0006); Statistical Research Inc., Redlands, California (N62473-25-D-0007); and ERG-Terracon JV LLC, Baltimore, Maryland (N62473-25-D-0008), are awarded a combined $99,991,660 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for cultural resources-related studies and archeological survey work. This contract provides for investigations, preparation of historic and archaeological documents, and implementation of plans in accordance with sections 106 and 110 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, as amended. Work will be performed in the states of California (95%), Arizona (1%), Colorado (1%), Nevada (1%), New Mexico (1%), Utah (1%), and other states as needed, and is expected to be completed by April 2033. Fiscal 2025 operations and maintenance (Navy) funding in the amount of $25,000 will be obligated at time of award to satisfy the minimum guarantee of $5000 per awardee and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. All other funding will be made available at the task order level as contracting actions occur. This contract was competitively procured via SAM.gov website with nine offers received. The Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command Southwest, San Diego, California, is the contracting activity.
Oceaneering International Inc., Hanover, Maryland, is awarded a $15,536,422 cost-plus-fixed-fee modification to previously awarded contract (N00024-24-C-430)1 to exercise options for continued support of the Navy’s Transfer Under Pressure capability and modernization, including Surveillance Towed Array Sensor System Expeditionary support. Work will be performed in Hanover, Maryland (70%); San Diego, California (15%); and Norfolk, Virginia (15%), and is expected to be completed by June 2026. Fiscal 2025 operations and maintenance (Navy) funds in the amount of $890,359 (96%); fiscal 2025 research development test and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $32,090 (3%); and fiscal 2024 other procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $1,412 (1%), will be obligated at time of award, and funds in the amount of $890,359 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, DC, is the contracting activity.
B3 Enterprises LLC, Woodbridge, Virginia, was awarded a $17,486,640 modification (P00032) to contract W9124G-19-C-0006 to provide refuel/defuel services. Work will be performed at Fort Novosel, Alabama, with an estimated completion date of June 26, 2028. Fiscal 2025 operation and maintenance, Army funds in the amount of $17,486,640 were obligated at the time of the award. The US Army Field Directorate Office, Fort Eustis, Virginia, is the contracting activity.
Avix-Bgi Technical Services JV LLC, Yorktown, Virginia, was awarded a $59,832,664 firm-fixed-price contract for A-10C, EA-37B, EC-130H contract aircrew training and courseware development. This contract provides for all personnel, equipment, tools, materials, supervision, and all other items and services that are required to perform contract aircrew training and courseware development. Work will be performed at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona; and Moody AFB, Georgia, and is expected to be completed by July 30, 2030. This contract was a competitive, small-business set-aside acquisition and six offers were received. Fiscal 2025 operations and maintenance appropriations funds in the amount of $5,590,688 are being obligated at the time of award. The Air Combat Command, Acquisition Management and Integration Center Contracting, Hampton, Virginia, is the contracting activity (FA4890-25-C-0003).
Leidos Inc., Reston, Virginia, was awarded a ceiling $45,000,000 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for research and development on the high-power electromagnetic weapon systems transitions program. This contract provides for development, test, and integration of high-power electromagnetic sub-systems for mobile, rapidly deployable ground based high-power electromagnetic weapon platforms. Work will be performed in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and is expected to be completed by May 30, 2030. This contract was a limited call request for proposal under an existing advanced research announcement with three offerors solicited, and three offers received. Fiscal 2024 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $3,603,000 will be obligated at time of award. The Air Force Research Laboratory, Contracting Branch, Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico, is the contracting activity (FA9451-25-DX004).
