March 28, 2024

Do Your Tweets Have the Right Stuff?

Right Stuff

Morning Coffee is a robust blend of links to news around the internet concerning the Naval Air Station Patuxent River  Morning Coffee logoeconomic community. The opinions expressed here do not reflect opinions of the Leader’s owners or staff.

NASA’s Wallops Island flight facility wants to know if you have the right social media stuff to help document their next rocket launch. ABC News reports that 50 social media users will get a two-day, behind-the-scenes look at the launch set for April 17. You have until Monday the 18th to apply: more info here.

 The wreckage of the WW II carrier, USS Hornet is found in the Solomon Islands, reports USNI, by the crew of Paul Allen’s R/V Petrel. The Hornet launched the Doolittle Raid and participated in the Battle of Midway before being sunk in the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands by Japanese dive bombers, torpedo planes and ship-launched torpedoes.

Pentagon review calls for changes to how US investigates and reports civilian war casualties, reports Military Times. The Pentagon report says the US military should refine how it identifies and measures civilian casualties during combat operations, to include greater collaboration with humanitarian groups.

Navy proposes bold changes in its education plan, reports USNI, pushing reforms to better train enlisted sailors and officers to fight complex, high-end wars. The Education for Seapower study calls for strategic thinking as the core need of a dozen new initiatives.

A nuclear command-and-control aircraft was damaged while being moved at Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma. The E-6B Mercury would be used by the president to communicate in the event of a nuclear war. Business Insider reports that the incident has been labeled a Class-A mishap by the Naval Safety Center, meaning the damages to the aircraft likely total at least $2 million. 

Mark Kelly, an American astronaut, is running for US Senate in Arizona in 2020, reports Vox. Kelly, running as a Democrat, is the husband of former Rep. Gabby Giffords. He seeks the late John McCain’s seat, which Sen. Martha McSally (R-AZ) was appointed to last year.

How safe are e-cigarettes? Will they help me quit? Medical News summarizes the latest evidence concerning the use of e-cigarettes as aids to smoking cessation.

n concert the White House executive order that created the American Artificial Intelligence Strategy, reports Defense.com.

The Army has a pocket-sized drone in bulk for recon at platoon and below, reports Army Times.  It weighs 18 grams, can shoot video and take snapshots with its camera, and some versions have about a 25-minute flight time.

The Navy cruiser Monterey received a bomb threat while being overhauled at a private shipyard in Norfolk, reports Navy Times. Immediate security sweeps and inspections found nothing suspicious.

Contracts:

British Aerospace Engineering Systems Technology Solutions & Services Inc., Rockville, Maryland (N00421-D-0035); Coherent Technical Services Inc., Lexington Park, Maryland (N00421-D-0036); Engility Corp., Andover, Maine (N00421-D-0037); J.F. Taylor Inc., Lexington Park, Maryland (N00421-D-0038); KBRwyle Technology Solutions LLC, Columbia, Maryland (N00421-D-0039); Lockheed Martin Rotary and Mission Systems, Manassas, Virginia (N00421-D-0040); and Valkyrie Enterprises Inc., Virginia Beach, Virginia (N00421-D-0041), are each awarded indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contracts. The estimated aggregate ceiling for all contracts is $235,005,530, with the companies having an opportunity to compete for individual orders. These contracts provide for Air Traffic Control and Landing Systems Operations Onboard Ship and Shore support services for the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD) – Air Traffic Control and Landing Systems Division (NAWCAD 4.11.7). Services to be provided include operational, technical, logistical and system engineering support for system certification; technical assistance; systems analysis and engineering; test and evaluation; installation and maintenance; hardware design, development, technical logistics support; configuration management; training support; equipment manufacturing; quality control; and project management of Mobile Air Battle management systems and communication-electronic systems. Work will be performed in St. Inigoes, Maryland (20 percent); and at various contractor locations within the continental US (80 percent), and is expected to be completed in February 2024. No funds are being obligated at time of award, funds will be obligated on individual orders as they are issued. These contracts were competitively procured via an electronic request for proposals, with seven offers received. The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.

The Boeing Co., Huntington Beach, California, is awarded a $43,000,000 fixed-priced-incentive modification to previously awarded contract N00024-17-C-6307 for the fabrication, test, and delivery of four Orca Extra Large Unmanned Undersea Vehicles (XLUUVs) and associated support elements. The Orca XLUUV will be an open architecture, reconfigurable Unmanned Undersea Vehicle. The Orca XLUUV will be modular in construction with the core vehicle providing guidance and control, navigation, autonomy, situational awareness, core communications, power distribution, energy and power, propulsion and maneuvering, and mission sensors. The Orca XLUUV will have well-defined interfaces for the potential of implementing cost-effective upgrades in future increments to leverage advances in technology and respond to threat changes. The Orca XLUUV will have a modular payload bay, with defined interfaces to support current and future payloads for employment from the vehicle. The competition for XLUUV requirements is still in source-selection, and therefore the specific contract award amount is considered source-selection sensitive information (see 41 U.S. Code 2101, et seq., Federal Acquisition Regulation 2.101 and 3.104) and will not be made public at this time. Work will be performed in Huntington Beach, California (29 percent); Virginia Beach, Virginia (27 percent); Waukesha, Wisconsin (8 percent); East Aurora, New York (7 percent); Concord, Massachusetts (7 percent); Camden, New Jersey (5 percent); Smithfield, Pennsylvania (4 percent); Attleboro, Massachusetts (3 percent); City of Industry, California (3 percent); El Cajon, California (3 percent); Fairfield, New Jersey (2 percent); Ontario, California (1 percent); and Farmingdale, New York (1 percent), and is expected to be complete by June 2022. Fiscal 2019 research, development, test, and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $43,000,000 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, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity.

CompQsoft Inc., Leesburg, Virginia, has been awarded a $7,710,468 a hybrid contract which includes firm-fixed-price labor hour and time and materials contract line item numbers. The contract is to provide audio-visual/video conference support services, by Joint Service Provider to supported agencies in the most efficient manner possible. Work performance will take place primarily in the National Capital Region, including the Pentagon, Mark Center and Crystal City, Virginia. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $7,710,468 are being obligated on this award. The expected completion date is Sept. 29, 2023. Washington Headquarters Services, Arlington, Virginia, is the contracting activity (HQ0034-18-C-0118).
 
Solers Inc., Arlington, Virginia, was awarded an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (ID/IQ) contract for Systems Engineering, Technology, and Innovation. This was a competitive solicitation for a multiple-award ID/IQ contract, with an unrestricted pool and a pool set-aside for small businesses. The original awards for the unrestricted pool were initially made in June 2018. Four post-award protests were submitted to the Government Accountability Office (GAO). Following the GAO decisions, issued in October 2018, the agency took corrective action that resulted in the decision to award a contract to Solers Inc. The face value of this action is a ceiling amount of $7,500,000,000. The awardee will each receive a minimum guarantee of $500 applicable to the base ordering period only. All other funding will be obligated at the task order level. The primary performance will be at Defense Information Systems Agency Headquarters, Fort Meade, Maryland, as well as contractor facilities and DoD locations worldwide to be determined at the task order level. The period of performance is a five-year base period with one five-year option period. The Defense Information Technology Contracting Organization, National Capital Region, is the contracting activity (HC1047-19-D-2015).  
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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.

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