Face Coverings Now Required on All DoD Property

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.

All people on DoD property, installations, and facilities must wear cloth face coverings, DefSec Mark Esper said Sunday. This applies to all service members, DoD civilians, contractors, families and all other people on DoD property, reads the release from DefSec Esper’s office.

Americans should brace for what the nation’s top doctor Dr. Jerome Adams warned Sunday would be “the hardest and saddest week” of their lives, reports The Baltimore Sun, while Britain assumed the unwelcome mantle of deadliest coronavirus hot spot in Europe after a record 24-hour jump in deaths that surpassed even hard-hit Italy’s. Britain Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been hospitalized in intensive care at a London hospital with the virus, reports The Daily Telegraph. Overall charge of the UK government has been handed to Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary, reports The Guardian.

The Pentagon is now pushing back on reports that it wanted to classify previously public information about future spending plans, reports Defense News, with the Defense Department insisting that the transparency of the information that is public as part of the regular budget rollout process will not change. In a March 6 proposal, the DoD had said that “attempting publication of unclassified FYDP date might inadvertently reveal sensitive information,” the Federation of American Scientists reported.

Lockheed Martin wants to add employees to its ranks, reports dc.citybizlist.com. Revealing its effort to support the struggling economy, the company said it has hired almost 1,000 workers over the past two weeks, and it has advertised 5,000 positions that it’s looking to fill. The company has been awarded a $512 million contract for the production of eight F-16 Block 70 jets for Bulgaria, reports The Aviationist.

Boeing is shuttering its Ridley Park, PA, production facility for two weeks due to the spread of the new coronavirus in the region, reports Defense News. That will halt production of the H-47 Chinook helicopter and the V-22 Osprey tilt-roto aircraft.

Seattle Times reports that 30,000 Boeing employees must start taking vacation or sick time, or apply for unemployment, after the company decided Sunday to keep its Puget Sound plants closed indefinitely. The US Air Force will release $882M to Boeing that it had retained due to ongoing technical problems involving the KC-46 tanker, reports Defense News. The move is meant to help the company make ends meet during the pandemic.

 

 

The need for telework due to the spread of the new coronavirus resulted in several unanticipated changes in cybersecurity policy and controls at the Transportation Security Administration, reports Fifth Domain.

Since Veterans Affairs reported the first death of a VA patient from coronavirus in mid-March, the number of positive cases — and fatalities — in the department’s health system has risen dramatically, reports Military Times. As of April 4, there have been 98 patients who have died from the illness.

As Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan calls for 6,000 new hospital beds to prepare the state for the COVID-19 outbreak, the University of Maryland Medical System is urgently searching for more staff, reports WTOP News.

As hospitals search for industry professional to treat those with the novel coronavirus, thousands of medical workers across the US are suddenly out of work as operating rooms and doctor’s offices go dark, reports The Associated Press, because elective procedures and appointments are being canceled or postponed.

The US has handed over the al-Taqaddum Air Base to Iraqi forces, reports Military Times. It’s the fourth base to be handed over to Iraqi Security Forces over the last several weeks.

Despite the COVID-19 outbreak, SpaceX says it Demo-2 mission to the International Space Station is moving forward, reports CNBC. The launch is scheduled for late May.

The Old Line state’s self-response rate to the US Census has outpaced the national average, reports Maryland Matters. According to the Census Bureau on Friday, 45.8% of Marylanders have filled out their Census forms so far, compared to the nationwide figure of 42.8%.

Contracts:

DCS Corp., Alexandria, Virginia, is awarded $7,584,179 for a cost-plus-fixed-fee order N00019-20-F-0703 against previously issued basic ordering agreement N00019-20-G-0001. This modification provides for the continued support and redesign of weapon and stores planning from version 4.1 to 5.0 (the beginning of the initial transition to micro-services architecture in support of Next Generation Naval Mission Planning). Work will be performed in Lexington Park, Maryland, and is expected to be complete by December 2021. Fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $3,000,000 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.

URS Federal Services International Inc., Cleveland, Ohio (FA8051-20-D-0001); DynCorp International LLC, Fort Worth, Texas (FA8051-20-D-0002); ECC International LLC, Virginia Beach, Virginia (FA8051-20-D-0003); Fluor Intercontinental Inc., Greenville, South Carolina (FA8051-20-D-0004); Kellogg Brown & Root Services Inc., Houston, Texas (FA8051-20-D-0005); PAE-Perini LLC, Arlington, Virginia (FA8051-20-D-0006); Readiness Management Support L.C., Panama City, Florida (FA8051-20-D-0007); and Vectrus Systems Corp., Colorado Springs, Colorado (FA8051-20-D-0008), have been awarded a combined ceiling $6,400,000,000, multiple award, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for worldwide contingency and humanitarian support. This contract provides contingency planning, deploying and training/equipping of forces; emergency and contingency construction; logistics/commodities and services. The location of performance is determined at the task order level and includes various locations worldwide. The work is expected to be completed by May 31, 2031. This award is the result of a competitive acquisition and eight offers were received. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $4,000 per contract are being obligated at the time of award. The 772nd Enterprise Sourcing Squadron, Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida, is the contracting activity.

Aecom Technical Service Inc., Los Angeles, California (W91278-20-D-0020); Aptim Federal Services LLC, Alexandria, Virginia (W91278-20-D-0021); Arcadis U.S. Inc., Highland Ranch, Colorado (W91278-20-D-0022); Cardno-EA JV, Charlottesville, Virginia (W91278-20-D-0023); HDR Environmental, Operation and Construction Inc., Englewood, Colorado (W91278-20-D-0024); Leidos Inc., Reston, Virginia (W91278-20-D0025); and Tetra Tech Inc., Pasadena, California (W91278-20-D-0026), 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 14 received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of April 5, 2023. US Army Corps of Engineers, Mobile, Alabama, is the contracting activity.

Lockheed Martin Corp., Manassas, Virginia, is awarded $29,485,050 for a cost-plus-fixed-fee and cost-reimbursement-type contract to provide systems engineering, software design/development, integration, testing, installation, training, management support and system documentation for continued modernization of the Office of Naval Intelligence Measurement and Signature Intelligence Enterprise for Global Acoustic Intelligence system. Work will be performed at the contractor’s facilities in Manassas, Virginia. This one-year contract includes four option periods which, if exercised, will bring the overall potential value of this contract to an estimated $90,314,266. The period of performance of the base award is from April 6, 2020, through April 5, 2021. If all options are exercised, the period of performance will extend through April 5, 2025. Fiscal 2020 funds will be obligated using research and development (Navy) funds and contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was awarded using other than full and open competition in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation Subpart 6.302-1 and 10 US Code 2304(c)(1), with only one responsible source. The Naval Information Warfare Center, Pacific, San Diego, California, is the contracting activity (N66001-20-C-0082).