Biden Taps Franchetti to Lead Navy
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President Joe Biden has selected ADM Lisa Franchetti to be the Navy’s top officer, reports CNN. If confirmed, she would be the first woman in the Navy’s history to hold the job, and the first woman in the joint chiefs of staff.
Military Times describes how Franchetti’s experience made her Biden’s pick to lead the Navy.
The Senate Armed Services Committee voted to forward the nomination of Air Force Chief of Staff GEN Charles Q. Brown Jr.’s to become Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, sending it to the Senate for action. His nomination joins more than 100 others for general and flag officers that have been approved in committee but held up on the floor since March 8 by Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) to protest paid leave and travel funds for troops based in states where required reproductive services, including abortions, are unavailable. Brown’s was among 2,699 military nominations approved by the SASC as a bloc in a quick voice vote July 30.
The DoD has no plans to stop covering the travel costs of female troops who seek abortions across state lines, despite protests from a Republican senator who has blocked hundreds of military promotions over the issue, Army Secretary Christine Wormuth said last week, reports NBC.
Fertility treatments that could increase the possibility of pregnancy are being debated by the Senate and could potentially be added into the must-pass annual defense policy bill – making them available to active-duty troops and their dependents, reports Military.com.
Republican presidential candidate Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis backed Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s months-long blockade on military nominations last week, saying that the Pentagon’s abortion policy would “go out the window” if he wins the presidency, reports Politico. “They are using tax dollars. They’re funding abortion tourism, which is not an appropriate thing for the military to be doing,” DeSantis told radio host Hugh Hewitt.
The Biden administration and major consumer technology players last week launched an effort to put a nationwide cybersecurity certification and labeling program in place to help consumers choose smart devices that are less vulnerable to hacking. Devices including baby monitors, home security cameras, fitness trackers, TVs, refrigerators and smart climate control systems that meet the U.S. government’s cybersecurity requirements will bear the “Cyber Trust” label, a shield logo, as early as next year, C4ISRNET reports.
Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division has reached $1 billion in quick-turn around awards of contracts for the rapid acquisition and development of prototype technologies, reports ExecutiveGov.
Russia pounded Ukrainian food export facilities for a fourth day in a row on Friday and practiced seizing ships in the Black Sea in an escalation of what Western leaders say is an attempt to wriggle out of sanctions by threatening a global food crisis, reports Reuters.
The British government last week sanctioned 13 individuals and businesses in Central African Republic, Mali, and Sudan with links to Russia’s Wagner paramilitary group, reports Alazeera. The British government accused Wagner of being responsible for executions and torture in Mali and CAR and of threats to peace and security in Sudan. The sanctions come weeks after Prigozhin’s failed mutiny in Russia, which raised questions about the future of Wagner’s military and commercial operations in African countries including CAR.
The Senate’s draft of the annual defense bill adds Kosovo to the list of eastern European countries eligible for US military training amid heightened tensions in the Balkans. US-led military exercises increase interoperability with NATO forces, reports Defense News.
Some in the Senate are pushing an Enlisted Training Corps offered to community college students as a new path to enlistment. The Enlisted Training Corps would prepare students to join the enlisted force without sending them to boot camp, reports Military Times. The program mirrors the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps units at four-year institutions that provides students one option for commissioning as officers once they earn a bachelor’s degree.
The Senate passed last week a bipartisan amendment to the NDAA to prohibit presidents from unilaterally pulling the country out of NATO, by a 65–28 vote, reports Stars & Stripes. The Senate passed the bipartisan amendment to the pending 2024 National Defense Authorization Act. All the no votes were cast by Republicans.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), is leading a renewed push to allow the DoD to widen a pathway for non-citizens to join the US military to ease recruitment troubles in the armed forces, reports Stars & Stripes. The bill would allow people to enlist who have lived in the US for at least five years, including those who entered the country unlawfully as children and are now protected by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
DEFSEC Lloyd Austin just sent more warships and thousands of Marines to the Middle East to increase security in the wake of Iranian attempts to seize commercial ships there, reports Military Times. The deployment comes on the heels of recent deployment of the destroyer USS Thomas Hudner, F-35s, and F-16s to join A-10 attack aircraft that responded to the Iranian activity several weeks ago.
North Korea on Thursday threatened possible nuclear retaliation over the US military docking one of its nuclear submarines in South Korea days earlier, reports The Hill.
China said Wednesday it has dispatched navy ships in preparation for joint exercises with Russia’s sea forces, in a sign of Beijing’s continuing support for Moscow’s invasion of neighboring Ukraine, reports Military Times.
WalletHub reports Maryland is the state with the best unemployment rate change with a 13.44% drop in its unemployment rate in June from May 2023 and a 35.68% drop from June 2022 to June 2023. The US unemployment rate sits at 3.6%, a long way from the nearly historic high of 14.7% in June 2020.,608 in June 2022;
Contracts:
Ultimate Training Munitions, Inc., North Branch, New Jersey; Sig Sauer, Newington, New Hampshire; Black Hills Ammunition, Rapid City, South Dakota; Bighorn Government Services LLC, Cleveland, Tennessee; Eagle Eye Precision Ammunition, Mesa, Arizona; General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems, St. Petersburg, Florida; Capstone Precision Group LLC, Mesa, Arizona; OCR Global Inc., McLean, Virginia; PCP Tactical, Sebastian, Florida; UDC Inc., Tampa, Florida; and Vista Outdoor Sales LLC, Anoka, Minnesota, are being awarded an Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity contract (H92403-23-R-0002) to allow U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) the flexibility to procure numerous types of ammunition requirements for all USSOCOM components. Fiscal 2023 operations & maintenance funding in the amount of $27,500 is being obligated at time of award. The contract has a maximum total ceiling of $750,000,000. Source selection procedures used full and open competition. 16 proposals were received, 11 met the criteria for award. USSOCOM, MacDill Air Force Base, Florida, is the contracting activity.
Quarterline Consulting Services LLC,* Herndon, Virginia, was awarded an $11,816,539 firm-fixed-price contract for nursing and ancillary personal services support. Bids were solicited via the internet with 17 received. Work will be performed at Fort Meade, Maryland, with an estimated completion date of Nov. 30, 2027. Fiscal 2023 Defense Health Program funds in the amount of $11,816,539 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Health Contracting Activity, San Antonio, Texas, is the contracting activity (W81K04-23-F-0201).
CDM Stanley a Joint Venture, Fairfax, Virginia, was awarded a $9,611,838 firm-fixed-price contract for architect-engineer services. Bids were solicited via the internet with one received. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas, with an estimated completion date of July 28, 2027. Fiscal 2022 civil construction funds in the amount of $9,611,838 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Fort Worth, Texas, is the contracting activity (W9126G-23-C-0014).
Redhorse Corp., San Diego, California, has been awarded a $9,191,028, firm-fixed-price modification (P00002) to previously awarded FA8684-22-C-B008 for an innovative methodology for Enhanced Reliability Centered Maintenance/Long Range Supply Forecast for the Air Force. This modification provides for the exercise of options to continue work from the base year. Work will be performed in Rosslyn, Virginia, and is expected to be completed by July 21, 2024. Fiscal 2023 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $9,191,028 are being obligated at the time of award. The modification brings the total cumulative face value of the contract to $32,711,285. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Rapid Sustainment Office, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity.
Deloitte & Touche LLP Arlington, Virginia, has been awarded a $211,000,000 maximum ceiling contract modification (P00013) to a previously awarded contract (FA7014-18-D-5000) for financial improvement & audit remediation efforts. The modification brings the total cumulative ceiling value of the contract to a maximum $1,011,000,000 from $800,000,000. Work will be performed at various Air Force locations and is based on issued Task Order requirements and is expected to be completed by July 31, 2025. Fiscal 2023 operations and maintenance funds will be obligated in future Task Orders requirements. The Air Force District of Washington, Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, is the contracting activity.
Bath Iron Works (BIW), Bath, Maine; and Huntington Ingalls Inc., Ingalls Shipbuilding (Ingalls), Pascagoula, Mississippi, are being awarded cost-plus-award-fee, modifications to previously-awarded contracts N00024-22-C-2318 and N00024-22-C-2319, respectively, for shipbuilder engineering and design analysis in order to produce design products in support of the Guided Missile Destroyer (DDG(X)) preliminary design and contract design. The modification to the contracts will be awarded without full and open competition pursuant to 10 U.S. Code 2304(c)(3), Industrial mobilization; engineering, development, or research capability; or expert services. The specific contract award amounts for these requirements is considered source-selection sensitive information (see 41 U.S. Code 2101, et seq., Federal Acquisition Regulations 2.101 and 3.104) and will not be made public at this time. BIW work will be performed in Bath/Brunswick, Maine (99%); Washington, D.C. (1%), and is expected to be completed by July 2024. Ingalls work will be performed in Pascagoula, Mississippi (89%); Avondale, Louisiana (10%); and Newport News, Virginia (1%), and is expected to be completed by July 2024. Fiscal 2023 research development test & evaluation funds will be obligated at time of award for each contract, and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D. C., is the contracting activity (N00024-22-C- 2318 and N00024-22-C-2319).
