DefSec: Here’s How Navy Reaches 355-Ship Fleet

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.

The Navy is requesting $4 billion less for new ships, reports Bloomberg. Despite cuts to shipbuilding programs in the FY 2021 budget request, DefSec Mark Esper says he is committed to a bigger, but much lighter, naval force, reports Defense News. He lays out the steps on how the Navy can reach the 355-ship fleet goal. The defense secretary is looking to move billions in the defense budget away from programs that don’t fit his modernization plan, reports Breaking Defense. He says he will ask Congress to get rid of aging programs and roles he deems redundant or outdated. President Donald Trump’s fiscal 2021 budget is calling for $740 billion in defense spending, reports UPI News.

Lockheed Martin has delivered the future USS St. Louis, Freedom-class Littoral Combat Ship 19, to the Navy, reports Navy Recognition. LCS 19 will be commissioned in Pensacola, FL, this summer.

Four members of the Chinese military have been charged with breaking into the networks of the Equifax credit reporting agency and stealing the personal information of tens of millions of Americans, NPR News reports.

A Green Beret and a former Ranger turned cryptologic linguist were killed Saturday in Afghanistan, reports Army Times. Sgt. 1st Class Javier J. Gutierrez and Sgt. 1st Class Antonio R. Rodriguez were killed in an apparent insider attack.

Officials have identified the midshipman who died following the US Naval Academy’s Physical Readiness Test over the weekend, reports Navy Times. Midshipman 3rd Class Duke Carrillo, 21, was from Flower Mound, Texas. Six others were injured in the firefight.

Kaman Corp. has developed a new commercial uncrewed aircraft system kit that makes it possible to remotely pilot the recently relaunched K-1200 K-Max heavy-lift helicopter, reports Journal Inquirer (CT). Kaman already produces uncrewed K-Max variants for the US military, but up until now, that option was not available to civilian operators.

Military families and retirees receiving care through 38 military hospitals nationwide will soon be forced to go off-base instead, reports Military.com, and some pharmacies at those hospitals will stop providing drugs to those not on active duty.

 

 

The US Air Force is planning major cuts to its fleet of fighters and bombers, reports Popular Mechanics. The cuts are designed to divert funds away from keeping older, less capable planes in service while funding a new generation of fighters and bombers.

The newest branch of the armed services has just one member: Gen. Jay Raymond, the Space Force chief, reports Breaking Defense. To make him less lonely will take some heavy legislative lifting. Gen. Raymond assumed his Space Force duties in December.

Sunday’s first attempt to launch an Antares rocket from NASA Wallops Flight Facility was scrubbed just three minutes before the scheduled take-off, reports delmarvanow.com. WTOP News says the launch was nixed because of problems with ground equipment.

The third satellite of the GPS 3 constellation arrived last week at Cape Canaveral in Florida, where it will undergo final testing before its scheduled launch in April aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, reports Space News.

The maiden voyage of Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne is expected to take place in early spring, Breaking Defense reports. After that, the plan is to move rapidly on a launch for NASA of a group of tiny Cubesats (miniature satellites) mid-year, and Virgin’s first satellite launch for DoD by the end of the year.

Investigators found no indication that engine failure contributed to the helicopter crash in Calabasas, CA, that killed LA Laker legend Kobe Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter and seven others, reports Patch.com.

Contracts:

Carahsoft Technology Corp., Reston, Virginia, is one of eight companies to be awarded a multiple-award, firm-fixed-price Department of Defense (DoD) Enterprise Software Initiative (ESI) blanket purchase agreement (BPA) in accordance with the firms’ General Services Administration (GSA) Federal Supply Schedule contracts. This agreement is being awarded as part of a multi-reseller/multi-software publisher software category management award for commercial-off-the-shelf information technology asset management software; software maintenance support; information technology professional services; and related services in support of DoD ESI and under the direction of Office of Management and Budget, Enterprise Software Category. The software publisher under this agreement is Splunk. The BPA provides for the purchase of Splunk products and services by the DoD, US intelligence community, and the Coast Guard. The overall potential value of this category of BPAs is $820,450,000. The ordering period will be for a maximum of 10 years from Feb. 10, 2020, through July 13, 2029. This BPA is issued under DoD ESI in accordance with the policy and guidelines in the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement, Section 208.74. This BPA will not obligate funds at the time of award. Funds will be obligated as task orders using operations and maintenance (DoD) funds. Requirements will be competed among the awardees in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation 8.403-3(c)(2), and the successful contractor will receive firm fixed-price orders. This BPA was competitively procured via the GSA E-Buy web site among 679 vendors. Eight offers were received and eight were selected for award. Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific, San Diego, California, is the contracting activity (N66001-20-A-0022).

Capital Currency Team, Washington, District of Columbia, was awarded a $100,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract for multi-discipline architectural engineering services. Bids were solicited via the internet with seven received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Feb. 5, 2030. US Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore, Maryland, is the contracting activity (W912DR-20-D-0007).

ECS Federal LLC, Fairfax, Virginia, was awarded an $85,422,289 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for research and development of artificial intelligence algorithms. Bids were solicited via the internet with one received. Work will be performed in Fairfax, Virginia, with an estimated completion date of Jan. 26, 2023. Fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation funds, Army in the amount of $85,422,289 were obligated at the time of the award. US Army Contracting Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, is the contracting activity (W911QX-20-C-0019).

Accura Engineering and Consulting Services Inc., Atlanta, Georgia (W91278-20-D-0012); ACT Services LLC, Columbia, Maryland (W91278-20-D-0013); Health Facility Solutions Co., San Antonio, Texas (W91278-20-D-0014); Moca Systems Inc., Boston, Massachusetts (W91278-20-D-0015); Parsons Government Services Inc., Washington, District of Columbia (W91278-20-D-0016); Thompson Engineering Inc., Mobile, Alabama (W91278-20-D-0017); and Wood Environment & Infrastructure Solutions Inc., Blue Bell, Pennsylvania (W91278-20-D-0018), 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 Construction Management Program. Bids were solicited via the internet with 46 received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Feb. 10, 2025. US Army Corps of Engineers, Mobile, Alabama, is the contracting activity.

Cape Fox Facilities Services LLC, Manassas, Virginia, was awarded a $22,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract for behavioral health support services. Bids were solicited via the internet with one received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Feb. 9, 2025. US Army Health Contracting Activity, San Antonio, Texas, is the contracting activity (W81K04-20-D-0004).

SigmaTech Corp., Colorado Springs, Colorado, has been awarded a hybrid labor hour and firm-fixed-price with cost reimbursement elements task order under General Services Administration One Acquisition Solution for Integrated Services (OASIS) Small Business Pool 5B indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity for the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Space Acquisition and Integration (SAF/SP) systems, engineering, and technical assistance (SETA). The base period total award amount is $14,440,691. The total amount for the base period and four one-year periods is $74,386,746. This task order provides SAF/SP technical, acquisition-related, and support advisory and assistance services in support of space activities. This task order shall also be utilized to focus on the following categories: business and staff support, secretariat and fusion, policy and integration, space control, programs and analysis, architectures and space support, and program management. Work will be primarily done in the Washington, District of Columbia, area, specifically the Pentagon and within the National Capitol Region, and is expected to be complete by Feb. 23, 2025. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $9,271,413 are being obligated at time of award. The Air Force District of Washington, Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, is the contracting activity (FA7014-20-F-0028).

Aerojet Rocketdyne Inc., Huntsville, Alabama, was awarded a $12,131,241 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for the base period of the Glide Breaker program. Work will be performed in Huntsville, Alabama (46%); Sacramento, California (29%); Orange, Virginia (14%); Healdsburg, California (8%); and Sunnyvale, California (3%), with an expected completion date of February 2021. Fiscal 2019 research, development, test and evaluation funding in the amount of $12,131,241 are being obligated at the time of award. This contract is a competitive acquisition in accordance with the original broad agency announcement, HR001119S0008. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Arlington, Virginia, is the contracting activity (HR001120C0030).