March 28, 2024

DoD Reassessing Mideast Involvement

Middle East

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.

The Pentagon’s new chief is expected to review troop levels in Afghanistan and Iraq in an effort to examine American strategy in two conflicts, following former President Donald Trump’s drawdown of forces there, reports The Wall Street Journal. The Pentagon is exploring the possibility of using a Red Sea port in Saudi Arabia and an additional two airfields in the kingdom amid heightened tensions with Iran, reports Military Times. Forces from the US and the United Arab Emirates completed a joint training engagement in the UAE, reports UPI. The AE Presidential Guard and a special US Marine crisis response force participated in the live-fire training which included 60mm mortar systems, snipers, and small unit tactics.

Raytheon Technologies executives told investors to expect President Joe Biden’s administration will block at least one arms deal to a Middle Eastern ally as the US shifts its weapons export policy, reports Defense One. Raytheon CEO Greg Hayes said Raytheon has removed from its books a $519 million projected sale of an “offensive weapon system” to a “customer in the Middle East … we can’t talk about.”

A new study of more than 300,000 Vietnam-era US veterans has found those exposed to Agent Orange are nearly twice as likely to develop dementia as those who were not, reports Military.com.

Commissary savings slipped in US stores in 2020, down to 21.1%. Factoring in the overseas savings of 42.6% produces a 25% savings worldwide, reports Military Times, above the 2016 mandate that commissaries must maintain savings of 23.7% compared to grocery stores outside military bases.

Congress is asking the DoD to reinstate military infrastructure projects with the $2.67 billion remaining out of $3.6 billion diverted from local military base construction projects to fund a border wall, reports McClatchyDC. Biden canceled the national emergency declaration that shifted $3.6 billion from scores of domestic and overseas military construction projects.

The city of El Paso is set to receive a $4.5 million DoD grant for an aquifer project that supports Fort Bliss, reports KTSM.com. The grant is part of $16.3 million to assist Texas military communities impacted by potential BRAC actions. Other Texas entities receiving grants include Austin Community College to receive $5 million for a Software Factory and Innovation Center with Army Futures Command and the city of Corpus Christi  to receive $1 million to replace the natural gas system at NAS Corpus Christi.

USNI News Fleet and Marine Tracker: Jan. 25, 2021. Archives track the fleet back to summer 2017.

 

 

Biden is scheduled to take executive actions as early as today, Thursday to reopen federal marketplaces selling Affordable Care Act health plans and to lower recent barriers to joining Medicaid, reports The Washington Post. Biden’s executive orders are expected to set the stage for his presidency by reinforcing his belief that the federal government should make it easier for people to get health care, reports The Hill.

Biden tapped Chris DeRusha to be the federal government’s chief information security officer, reports FCW. DeRusha spent five years at DHS as a cybersecurity expert during the Obama administration and two years at the White House as senior cybersecurity advisor, briefly working for the Trump administration through May 2017.

The Justice Department rescinded the “zero tolerance” enforcement policy for migrants crossing the US-Mexico border illegally, reports PBS, returning to a longstanding previous policy instructing prosecutors to act on the merits of individual cases.

The commander of the District of Columbia National Guard said the Pentagon restricted his authority ahead of the riot at the US Capitol, requiring higher-level sign-off to respond that cost time as the events that day spiraled out of control, reports Stars and Stripes.

Former Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy testified this week that DoD officials could have done little to prevent security failures surrounding the deadly riot at the US Capitol building on Jan. 6, reports Military Times, because other agencies failed to properly include them in their planning ahead of the attack.

Congressman Ronny Jackson (R-TX) is appointed to the House Armed Services Committee, reports Stars and Stripes. Jackson served as White House physician for former presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump.

The Baseball Hall of Fame voters pitched a shutout for the first time since 2013, rejecting all 25 candidates for enshrinement in Cooperstown, NY, reports The New York Times. Candidates need to receive a minimum 75 percent of the vote to be elected, and many build support over time. In 2013  seven of the top 10 finishers eventually earned plaques.

After what it called “careful consideration” of current advisories and COVID-19 conditions, the Navy base canceled the 2021 NAS Jax Blue Angels Air Show set for April 10 and 11 in Jacksonville, FL, reports Jacksonville.com. The Blue Angels also cut their 2020 air tour short because of COVID-19.

The aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt and its strike group entered the South China Sea Saturday, a month into their second deployment in a year, reports Navy Times. Beijing and its regional neighbors all have competing claims to various swaths of the busy waterway, and the US Navy regularly sails into the sea to push back on Beijing’s expanding territorial claims and island building, and to reinforce that these waters are international.

Goldman Sachs cut chief executive David Solomon’s annual compensation by $10 million, or 36%, after the company agreed to pay nearly $3 billion and pleaded guilty to conspiring to violate US anti-bribery laws in a massive scandal with 1MDB, a Malaysian investment fund. Solomon’s compensation package was reduced to $17.5 million for 2020, down from the $27.5 million he received in 2019.

Localized, regional armed conflicts requires the ability to “see in the dark” to monitor what’s happening on the ground. C4ISRNET reports on a Los Alamos National Laboratory platform, synthetic aperture radar (SAR), which is able to gather ground data even through cloud cover.

Contracts:

Bay Ship & Yacht Co., Alameda, California (W56HZV-21-D-L002); Colonna’s Shipyard Inc., Norfolk, Virginia (W56HZV-21-D-L003); Conley Marine Services, Harvey, Louisiana (W56HZV-21-D-L004); Fairlead Boatworks Inc., Newport News, Virginia (W56HZV21DL005); GMD Shipyard Corp., Brooklyn, New York (W56HZV-21-D-L006); Gulf Copper & Manufacturing Corp., Galveston, Texas (W56HZV-21-D-L007); Lyon Shipyard Inc., Norfolk, Virginia (W56HZV-21-D-L008); Mare Island Dry Dock, Vallejo, California (W56HZV-21-D-L009); Metal Trades Inc., Yonges Island, South Carolina (W56HZV-21-D-L010); Murtech Inc., Glen Burnie, Maryland (W56HZV-21-D-L011); Platypus Marine Inc., Port Angeles, Washington (W56HZV-21-D-L012); Swiftships LLC, Morgan City, Louisiana (W56HZV-21-D-L013); Vigor Marine LLC, Portland, Oregon (W56HZV-21-D-L014); and Yank Marine Services, Dorchester, New Jersey (W56HZV-21-D-L015), will compete for each order of the $235,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract for the purpose of performing on-condition cyclic maintenance, modifications, modernizations and repairs, requiring the use of a dry dock as well as sustainment maintenance, modernization efforts on the Army Watercraft Fleet of vessels. Bids were solicited via the internet with 16 received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Jan. 26, 2026. US Army Contracting Command, Detroit Arsenal, Michigan, is the contracting activity.

Colonna’s Shipyard Inc., Norfolk, Virginia (W56HZV-21-D-L025); Conley Marine Services LLC, Harvey, Louisiana (W56HZV-21-D-L026); Continental Tide Defense Systems Inc., Wyomissing, Pennsylvania (W56HZV-21-D-L027); Epsilon Systems Solutions Inc., Portsmouth, Virginia (W56HZV-21-D-L028); Guam Industrial Services Inc., Agat, Guam (W56HZV-21-D-L029); Heavy Engineering Industries & Shipbuilding, Shuwaikh Port Area, Western Extension Shuwaikh, Kuwait (W56HZV-21-D-L030); HII Fleet Support Group LLC, Virginia Beach, Virginia (W56HZV-21-D-L031); L3 Unidyne Inc., Norfolk, Virginia (W56HZV-21-D-L032); Lyon Shipyard Inc., Norfolk, Virginia (W56HZV-21-D-L033); Metal Trades Inc., Yonges Island, South Carolina (W56HZV-21-D-L034); QED Systems Inc., Virginia Beach, Virginia (W56HZV-21-D-L035); Sumitomo Heavy Industries Ltd., Yokosuka, Kanagawa, Japan (W56HZV-21-D-L036); Sunjin Entech Co. Ltd., Pusan, South Korea (W56HZV-21-D-L037); and Yokohama Engineering Works Ltd., Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan (W56HZV-21-D-L038), will compete for each order of the $155,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract for unprogrammed maintenance, emergency repair, modification and modernization efforts that do not require the use of a dry dock. Bids were solicited via the internet with 15 received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Jan. 26, 2026. US Army Contracting Command, Detroit Arsenal, Michigan, is the contracting activity.

Indtai Inc., Vienna, Virginia, was awarded an $8,021,713 modification (P00004) to contract W9124J-20-C-0012 to provide educational support services in education centers located on over 60 Army garrisons in the continental US, Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Japan, and the Republic of Korea. Work will be performed in San Antonio, Texas, with an estimated completion date of July 27, 2021. Fiscal 2021 operation and maintenance (Army) funds in the amount of $8,021,713 were obligated at the time of the award. US Army Field Directorate Office, Fort Sam Houston, Texas, is the contracting activity.

CH2M Hill Inc., Englewood, Colorado, is awarded a maximum value $480,000,000 cost-plus-award-fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, architect-engineering contract for comprehensive long-term environmental action services in the Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command (NAVFAC) Atlantic area of responsibility (AOR). The work to be performed provides for architectural and engineering services to provide program management and technical environmental services in support of the Department of the Navy’s Environmental Restoration Program, Munitions Response Program and other similar programs at any Navy and Marine Corps activity in the AOR covered by NAVFAC Atlantic. Future task orders will be primarily funded by environmental restoration (Navy) funds. An initial task order is being awarded at $200,000 for architect-engineering services at the program management office in Virginia Beach, Virginia, and is expected to be completed by March 2022. All work on this contract will be performed within the NAVFAC Atlantic AOR including, but not limited to, North Carolina (25%); Puerto Rico (25%); Virginia (25%); Maryland (10%); California (5%); District of Columbia (3%); West Virginia (3%); Washington (2%); and Alaska (2%), and is expected to be completed by January 2026. Fiscal 2021 environmental restoration (Navy) funds in the amount of $200,000 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via the Federal Business Opportunities website, with two proposals received. The Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command, Atlantic, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity (N62470-21-D-0007).

L3Harris Technologies Inc., Colorado Springs, Colorado, has been awarded an $89,712,422 fixed-price-incentive-firm modification (P00024) to contract FA8823-20-C-0004 for system sustainment services Option Year Two. This modification updates and revises the Maintenance of Space Situational Awareness Integrated Capabilities system sustainment performance requirements for the current option year. Work will be performed in Colorado Springs, Colorado; and Dahlgren, Virginia, and is expected to be completed Jan 31, 2022. Fiscal 2021 operation and maintenance funds in the amount of $55,578,977 are being obligated at the time of award. Total cumulative face value of the contract is $315,420,730. Space and Missile Systems Center, Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado, is the contracting activity.

Gulfstream Aerospace Corp., Savannah, Georgia, has been awarded an $83,831,036 firm-fixed-price modification (P00014) to contract FA8106-18-D-0002 for C-20/C-37 fleet sustainment. The contract modification is for exercise of Option Year Four, to include issuance of task orders for a one-year extension of contract term to support the C-20 and C-37 fleet for the Air Force, Army, Navy, Marines and Coast Guard; funding uninterrupted continuation of contractor logistics. Work will be performed in Savannah, Georgia; Naval Air Station Sigonella, Italy; Ramstein Air Base, Germany; Joint Base Andrews, Maryland; Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii; Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Hawaii; and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Washington, DC. The work is expected to be completed Jan. 31, 2022. Fiscal 2021 operation and maintenance funds in the amount of $44,482,293 are being obligated at the time of award. Total cumulative face value of the contract is $594,429,554. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Tinker AFB, Oklahoma, is the contracting activity.

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