COVID-19 Precautions Spreading in Region

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.

Historic St. Mary’s City canceled its annual Maryland Day ceremony due to coronavirus concerns, reports The BayNet. The celebration of the founding of Maryland was scheduled for March 21. HSMC also canceled the Maryland Dove symposium which had been scheduled for March 14.

The Trump administration is racing to develop contingency plans that would allow hundreds of thousands of employees to work remotely full time, an extreme scenario to limit the coronavirus that would test whether the government can carry out its mission from home offices and kitchen tables. The Washington Post reports that the administration has not issued a widespread mandate, but some offices already have acted.

At least a dozen US universities, colleges have canceled face-to-face classes and moved to online instruction amid coronavirus fears, reports Aljazeera.com. The cancellations have been focused in states hardest hit by COVID-19 cases, including, California, New York, and Washington state.

The Army has signed an agreement on experimental treatment for US forces confirmed to have COVID-19, reports Military Times.  Gilead Sciences’ investigational coronavirus drug, remdesivir, was approved for clinical research in February by the Food and Drug Administration. The medicine, given intravenously, is currently being tested for safety and effectiveness in two separate clinical trials in China and one by the National Institute of Allergy and Infection Diseases.

DefSec Mark Esper postpones his overseas trip to lead Pentagon’s coronavirus response, reports The Hill. “Out of an abundance of caution” his travel to India, Uzbekistan, and Pakistan is postponed until a later date.

Plans to move tankers, special operations wing from Mildenhall to Germany were put on hold, reports Stars and Stripes, as DoD reassesses a previous closure decision and makes a decision on the future of the installation.”

CENTCOM boss says military plans for a full withdrawal from Afghanistan are not developed yet, reports Military Times, despite a signed agreement with the Taliban to draw down all American forces within 14 months. Marine Gen. Kenneth McKenzie Jr., commander of Central Command, told lawmakers he is skeptical the Taliban will honor their part of the peace deal.

A Maryland man was one of the two Marine Raiders killed in Iraq, reports Marine Corps Times. Capt. Moises A. Navas, 34, of Germantown, MD, and Gunnery Sgt. Diego D. Pongo, 34, of Simi Valley, CA, were killed in Iraq while clearing a tunnel complex full of Islamic State fighters.

 

 

The federal government is giving local officials nationwide a painful choice, reports The New York Times, agree to use eminent domain to force people out of flood-prone homes, or forfeit a shot at federal money they need to combat climate change. That choice, part of an effort by the US Army Corps of Engineers to protect people from disasters, is facing officials from the Florida Keys to the New Jersey coast.

This woman is the Army’s only female salvage diver, reports Army Times. Not many outside of the occupation are likely to associate the job of a salvage diver with the minimally aquatic US Army. Even fewer would identify the job as one ordinarily occupied by an enlisted woman. Sgt. Stephanie Johnson is no ordinary soldier. The 28-year-old currently serves as the lead salvage diver for the 569th Engineer Dive Detachment, 53rd Engineer Battalion out of Virginia’s Joint Base Langley-Eustis.

US and international efforts to combat violent extremist organization in West Africa aren’t working, according to Africa Command commander Army Gen. Stephen Townsend. The Military Times reports that Townsend credited violent extremist groups’ gains to African partners’ lack of capacity or capability to tackle such issues, coupled with uncoordinated and insufficient assistance from Western and international allies.

SLS moon rocket costs could reach nearly $23B by 2023, reports Spaceflight Now. The Space Launch System rocket being built for NASA’s Artemis moon program by Boeing, using solid-propellant boosters from Northrop Grumman and main engines from Aerojet Rocketdyne, will have cost more than $18 billion by the time it blasts off on its maiden flight in 2021, says NASA’s Office of Inspector General. Already two years behind schedule and $2B over budget,  the rocket’s second mission — the first to carry astronauts — could reach nearly $23 billion by 2023.

Contracts:

Raytheon Missile Systems, Tucson, Arizona, is awarded a $109,607,857 firm-fixed-price modification to previously-awarded contract N00024-19-C-5406 for MK 15 Close-In Weapon System upgrades and conversions, system overhauls and associated hardware. Work will be performed in Louisville, Kentucky (29%); Tucson, Arizona (20%); El Segundo, California (9%); Melbourne, Florida (5%); Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (3%); Andover, Massachusetts (2%); Ottobrunn, Germany (2%); Williston, Vermont (2%); Tempe, Arizona (1%); Grand Rapids, Michigan (1%); Hauppauge, New York (1%); Ashburn, Virginia (1%); East Syracuse, New York (1%); Camarillo, California (1%); Phoenix, Arizona (1%); Joplin, Missouri (1%); Murray, Utah (1%); Dallas, Texas (1%); Corona, California (1%); Huntsville, Alabama (1%); Minneapolis, Minnesota (1%); Valencia, California (1%); Palo Alto, California (1%); and various places below one percent (13%). Work is expected to be complete by October 2023. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance (Navy); fiscal 2020 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy); and fiscal 2020 weapons procurement (Navy) funding in the amount of $109,607,857 will be obligated at time of award and were not competitively procured. Funds in the amount of $61,492,849 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity.

M.A. Mortenson Co., doing business as Mortenson Construction, Minneapolis, Minnesota (N62473-18-D-5850); RQ Construction LLC, Carlsbad, California (N62473-18-D-5851); R. A. Burch Construction Co. Inc., Ramona, California (N62473-18-D-5852); Harper Construction Co. Inc., San Diego, California (N62473-18-D-5853); Sundt Construction Inc., Tempe, Arizona (N62473-18-D-5854); SOLPAC Construction Inc., doing business as Soltek Pacific Construction Co., San Diego, California (N62473-18-D-5855); Bethel-Webcor Pacific JV, Anchorage, Alaska (N62473-18-D-5856); and The Whiting-Turner Contracting Co., Baltimore, Maryland (N62473-18-D-5858), are awarded $92,000,000 to increase the aggregate capacity of the previously awarded suite of firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, multiple award construction contracts. The contracts are for new construction, renovation and repair of commercial and institutional building construction projects at various government installations located in California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico. All work will be performed at various federal sites within the Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Southwest area of responsibility. The maximum dollar value, including the base year and four option years for all eight contracts combined has increased from $750,000,000 to $842,000,000. No funds are being obligated on this award and contract funds will not expire. Future task orders will be primarily funded by military construction (Navy); operations and maintenance (O&M) (Navy); O&M Marine Corps; and Navy working capital funds. The original contract was competitively procured via the Navy Electronic Commerce Online website and 22 proposals were received. The NAVFAC Southwest, San Diego, California, is the contracting activity.

American International Contractors Inc., Arlington, Virginia, is awarded a $10,017,893 firm-fixed-price contract for alterations to the operation control center at Naval Support Activity I Bahrain. The work to be performed provides for the construction of a secure area requiring adherence to the National Counterintelligence and Security Center technical specifications for construction and management of sensitive compartmented information facilities, Version 1.4. Work will be performed in Manama, Bahrain, and is expected to be completed by August 2021. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance, (Navy) contract funds in the amount of $10,017,893 are obligated on this award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured via the Federal Business Opportunities website. This proposed contract action will be awarded pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-2, Unusual and Compelling Urgency. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Europe Africa Central, is the contracting activity (N33191-20-C-0002).

Cubic Defense Applications Inc., Austin, Texas, was awarded a $9,027,588 performance-based, cost-plus-fixed-fee, completion contract (N65236-20-C-8007). This contract is for research to develop and demonstrate software for real-time logistics and supply chain system situational awareness, future state prediction and assessment of resilience at unprecedented scale and speed. The contract includes an 18-month base period. Contract funds in the amount of $100,000 were obligated at the time of award. Work will be performed in Austin, Texas (61%); Minneapolis, Minnesota (22%); and Reston, Virginia (17%), and is expected to be completed by September 2021. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The contract was competitively procured, by full and open competition under the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Strategic Technology Office broad agency announcement HR0011-19-S-0053 via the Federal Business Opportunities website, with nine timely offers received. Naval Information Warfare Center Atlantic, Charleston, South Carolina, is the contracting activity. (Awarded March 9, 2020)

AECOM Technical Services Inc., Los Angeles, California (W91278-20-D-0004); HDR Environmental, Operations and Construction Inc., Englewood, Colorado (W91278-20-D-0005); MSE Group LLC, San Antonio, Texas (W91278-20-D-0006); Jacobs Engineering Group Inc., Dallas, Texas (W91278-20-D-0007); Phe-Baker JV LLC, Rockville, Maryland (W91278-20-D-0008, W91278-20-D-0009); Tetra Tech Inc., Pasadena, California (W91278-20-D-0010); and Trinity/Jacobs JV LLC, Shalimar, Florida (W91278-20-D-0011), will compete for each order of the $49,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract for architect and engineering services to support the US Army Corps of Engineers South Atlantic Division. Bids were solicited via the internet with 20 received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of March 10, 2023. US Army Corps of Engineers, Mobile, Alabama, is the contracting activity.

Salient CRGT, Fairfax, Virginia, was awarded a $38,078,488 modification (P00012) to contract W52P1J-18-C-0020 to provide mission critical information technology communications infrastructure and services in support of US Special Operations military forces. Work will be performed in Fayetteville, North Carolina, and in Afghanistan, with an estimated completion date of March 14, 2023. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance, Army funds in the amount of $38,078,488 were obligated at the time of the award. US Army Contracting Command, Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois, is the contracting activity.