Biden Transition Team Decries Lack of DoD Cooperation

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US Acting DefSec Christopher Miller has canceled meetings between Defense Department officials and President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team, reports The Washington Post. Mr. Miller said the meetings could be held after a “mutually-agreed upon holiday pause.”  The Biden team said there had been “an abrupt halt in the already limited cooperation there,” reports The Associated Press. The transition team has called for meetings and requests for information to resume immediately. “A failure to work together can have consequences well beyond January,” team spokesman Yohannes Abraham said.

Outgoing AG William Barr sided with SecState Mike Pompeo and the rest of the national security establishment in contradicting President Donald Trump on who was responsible for the SolarWinds hack of US government agencies, reports CNBC. China’s foreign ministry has dismissed President Trump’s assertion that Chinese agents could have been involved in the cyberattack, reports The Hill.

The US Treasury confirmed that it had been breached, reports Reuters. TreasSec Steve Mnuchin acknowledged that the hackers had penetrated Treasury’s unclassified network but downplayed the severity of the intrusion.

The Trump administration wants to separate the joint leadership structure between the National Security Agency and US Cyber Command, reports C4ISR.NET. Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) warned against severing the relationship between the two agencies. “As you know, NSA and CYBERCOM are uniquely intertwined and share many of the same resources. Any action to sever the dual-hat relationship could have grave impacts on our national security, especially during a time that the country is wrestling with what may be the most damaging cyber-attack in our country’s history,” Mr. Smith wrote.

Chinese warplanes and naval ships “tailed and monitored” the US destroyer USS Mustin as it sailed through the Taiwan Strait over the weekend, reports Fox News. China sailed one of its aircraft carrier through the strait a day later, reports South China Morning Post, after denouncing the US warship for traveling through the strategic waterway and “casting flirtatious glances” at Taiwanese independence supporters.

Rockets targeted the US Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq, on Sunday, reports Military Times, sparking fears of renewed unrest as next month’s anniversary of the US slaying of an Iranian general draws near. The US blames Iran-backed militias for the attack, reports Voice of America.

Five rockets were fired at Bagram Airfield north of Kabul, Afghanistan, on Saturday, but there were no casualties, Military Times reports. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack. US GEN Mark Milley held a meeting last week with Taliban leaders to discuss military aspects of last February’s US-Taliban agreement, reports ABC News. The Taliban have waged battles against ISIS fighters, particularly in eastern Afghanistan.

 

 

US Africa Command chief GEN Stephen Townsend said that American troops leaving Somalia are moving to other bases in East Africa, reports Task & Purpose. He didn’t specify which countries his forces would redeploy to, but emphasized that the mission against the insurgent group Al Shabaab continues.

The US Navy’s nuclear-powered guided-missile submarine USS Georgia transited the Strait of Hormuz entering the Arabian Gulf on Monday accompanied by two additional American warships, the USS Georgia and USS Philippine Sea, reports CNN.

Veterans Affairs officials will expand coronavirus vaccine distribution to 128 additional sites this week, reports Military Times, nearly quadrupling the locations where staff and veterans can receive the immunization. Maryland’s distribution sites for the Pfizer vaccine will be Maryland VA Health Care System and Perry Point VA Medical Center.

Maryland expects to have 90% of its frontline workers vaccinated by the end of the week, reports The Baltimore Sun. This week’s shipment from Moderna (100,000 doses), along with additional doses of the Pfizer vaccine, brings Maryland to 191,075 doses in total.

Replacement US Navy personnel were assigned to the USS Essex to fill in for a number of crewmen ill with COVID-19, reports UPI.

Reports from Britain and South Africa of new coronavirus strains that seem to spread more easily are causing alarm, reports The Associated Press. The World Health Organization said that the coronavirus is mutating “at a much slower rate” than seasonal flu, reports CNBC.

Will Roper, the US Air Force’s assistant acquisition secretary, said the service’s sixth-generation fighter jet that emerges from the Next-Generation Air Dominance program is almost certain to come with an artificial intelligence copilot, reports Breaking Defense. A flight test of AI technology working as a crew member on a U-2 spy plane took place last week.

The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory reported an eruption at Kilauea’s Halemaumau Crater on Sunday night and authorities issued an emergency message warning residents to stay inside to avoid ash exposure, reports UPI.

Most federal employees in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area will have the day off on Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, and most will have a three-day work week that week with the Jan. 18 Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, reports Federal News Network.

Lockheed Martin will purchase rocket engine manufacturer Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings for $4.4 billion in a deal that brings together companies that already had been working together in the aeronautics industry, reports The Associated Press.

General Electric will supply new wind turbines for a 1.2 gigawatt portion of the world’s largest offshore wind farm, located off the coast of the United Kingdom, reports The Hill.

Contracts:

Bowhead Base Operations LLC, Springfield, Virginia, is awarded a $9,178,182 firm-fixed-price contract. This contract procures logistics support services, including processing material and service requests, identifying alternative parts and sources of supply for materials and services, validating requirements utilizing technical publications, receiving and tracking all incoming materials and services, maintaining warehouse-stocking levels, receiving and transferring parts between Fleet Readiness Center Aviation Support Equipment locations. Work will be performed in Solomons Island, Maryland (80%); Portsmouth, Virginia (10%); and New Orleans, Louisiana (10%), and is expected to be completed in December 2024. Fiscal 2021 operation and maintenance (Navy) funds in the amount of $566,849 will be obligated at time of award, all of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured pursuant to 10 US Code 2304(c)(5). The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Lakehurst, New Jersey, is the contracting activity (N68335-21-C-0146).

RKF Engineering Solutions, Washington, DC, was awarded a competitive, single-award indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract with a ceiling value of $26,599,072 in support of the Defense Spectrum Organization, Electromagnetic Spectrum Services, Electromagnetic Environmental Effects program, Strategic Planning and Applied Engineering Support – Mobile Service Provider. The place of performance will be at the Defense Information Systems Agency headquarters, Fort Meade, Maryland; and the Mission Partner Defense Spectrum Organization, Annapolis, Maryland. The period of performance for the base period is Jan. 4, 2021, to Jan. 3, 2022, with four one-year option periods. Fiscal 2021 operation and maintenance funds will be used for the contract’s $500 minimum guarantee. The Defense Information Technology Contracting Organization, National Capital Region, Fort Meade, Maryland, is the contracting activity (HC1047-21-D-0001).

Lockheed Martin Corp., Lockheed Martin Rotary and Mission System, Orlando, Florida, is awarded a $101,001,289 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract. This contract procures instructor services and associated administrative support including control account managers, functional managers, program managers, security, operational planning, contract, finance and lab support to meet integrated weapons systems and Aegis training requirements for Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customers. Work will be performed in Dahlgren, Virginia (35%); Moorestown, New Jersey (35%); Maizuru (2%), Sasebo (3%), and Yokosuka (10%), Japan; Sydney, Australia (10%); Busan (1%), Chinhae (1%), and Jeju Island (1%), South Korea; and Bergen, Norway (2%), and is expected to be completed December 2025. FMS incremental funds in the amount of $9,451,623 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-4. The Naval Air Warfare Center, Training Systems Division, Orlando, Florida, is the contracting activity (N61340-21-C-0010).

Lockheed Martin Rotary and Mission Systems, Manassas, Virginia, is awarded a $27,986,162 cost-plus-fixed-fee and cost-only modification to previously awarded contract N00024-19-C-6400 for systems engineering and integration on Navy submarines. Work will be performed in Manassas, Virginia (68%); Waterford, Connecticut (10%); Groton, Connecticut (10%); Middletown, Rhode Island (7%); and Newport, Rhode Island (5%), and is expected to be completed by December 2021. Fiscal 2020 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funds in the amount of $11,758,838 (95%); and 2021 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $647,350 (5%), 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, D.C., is the contracting activity.

ASRC Federal Data Network Technologies, Beltsville, Maryland, was awarded a $249,000,000 hybrid (cost-plus-fixed-fee and firm-fixed-price) contract to support program management activities across the Department of Defense High Performance Computing Modernization program. Bids were solicited via the internet with nine received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Dec. 21, 2025. The US Army Corps of Engineers, Huntsville, Alabama, is the contracting activity (W912DY-21-D-0030).

Amentum Services Inc., Germantown, Maryland, was awarded an $11,622,300 modification (0001CG) to contract W52P1J-12-G-0028 for logistics support services. Work will be performed at Fort Polk, Louisiana, with an estimated completion date of Aug. 17, 2021. Fiscal 2021 operation and maintenance (Army) funds in the amount of $11,622,300 were obligated at the time of the award. The US Army Contracting Command, Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois, is the contracting activity.

AttainX Inc., Fairfax, Virginia (N39430-21-D-2305); Golden IT-JV, Olathe, Kansas (N39430-21-D-2306); OM Group Inc., Piscataway, New Jersey (N39430-21-D-2307); Stellar Innovations & Solutions Inc., Moraine, Ohio (N39430-21-D-2308); and Yakshna Solutions Inc., Herndon, Virginia (N39430-21-D-2309), are awarded an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract with a maximum amount of $151,000,000 to provide full information technology (IT) lifecycle support to Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command’s (NAVFAC) core facilities management, construction management and installation management systems. The work to be performed is IT services and solutions through the performance of broad ranges of services across multiple functional areas, including but are not limited to, systems development lifecycle support, cybersecurity support, business systems operations and support, IT operations management and enterprise, cloud operations/migration/system development, secure infrastructure and analysis and management services. No task orders are being issued at this time. Work on this contract could be performed in the following sites, but is not limited to, Port Hueneme, California; San Diego, California; Washington, DC; Pearl Harbor, Hawaii; Norfolk, Virginia; Kansas City, Missouri; Bremerton, Washington; and Yokosuka, Japan. The term of the contract is not to exceed 66 months with an expected completion date of August 2026. Fiscal 2021 operation and maintenance (Navy) (O&M,N) contract funds in the amount of $10,000 minimums for each contractor are obligated on this award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Future task orders will be primarily funded by O&M,N; and military construction (Navy). This contract was competitively procured via the Navy Electronic Commerce Online website and Federal Business Opportunities website with 28 proposals received. NAVFAC Engineering and Expeditionary Warfare Center, Port Hueneme, California, is the contracting activity.

Systems and Technology Research (STR), Woburn, Massachusetts, was awarded a $15,177,171 cost-plus-fixed-fee completion contract for a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency research project for the Joint All-Domain Warfighting Software (JAWS) program. JAWS seeks to develop a software suite to maximize the effectiveness of military force through theater scale battle management command and control with automation and predictive analytics. This capability would develop the enabling software for the warfighter to adaptably set up and execute synchronized kill webs encompassing the undersea, sea surface, land, air, space and electromagnetic domains. Work will be performed in Woburn, Massachusetts (54%); Alexandria, Virginia (15%); Dayton, Ohio (14%); Menlo Park, California (13%); Columbia, Maryland (2%); and Fairfax, Virginia (2%), with an expected completion date of March 2022. Fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $1,420,486; and fiscal 2021 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $3,979,425 are being obligated at the time of award. This contract was a competitive acquisition in which 12 offers were received. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Arlington, Virginia, is the contracting activity (HR0011-21-C-0011).