Inauguration Day: What It Took to Get Here

It’s a small cup of Morning Coffee today, Inauguration Day, second federal holiday of the week. Morning Coffee is a robust blend of links to news around the internet concerning the Naval Air Station Patuxent River economic community. We will be back percolating full-strength Thursday, January 21, 2021.

Patch.com reports on the DC roads, bridges, and other openings and closing for Inauguration Day — the second federal holiday in a week beginning Monday with Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Arlington National Cemetery will be closed Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, among many public spaces closed amid a massive security lockdown in the District of Columbia. The cemetery, just across the Potomac from DC, is closed to the public today and no funerals or family pass holder visitations will be permitted. The cemetery will reopen to the public at 8 am Jan. 21, reports Military.com. It normally draws a stream of visitors on the nation’s quadrennial Inauguration Day.

The FBI has been vetting Guard troops in DC amid fears of insider attack, reports Military Times. Concerns prompted the FBI to vet all of the 25,000 National Guard troops coming into Washington for the inauguration of the new president and vice-president Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. It was inevitable, according to Military Times, some Guard troops in DC test positive for COVID-19.

 

 

An Associated Press review of public records, social media posts, and videos identify at least 21 current or former members of the US military or law enforcement at or near the Capitol riot, with more than a dozen others under investigation but not yet named, reports Military Times.

Military Times reports soldiers at both ends of the political spectrum are among those recently arrested: an Army Reserve sergeant described in charging documents as “an avowed white supremacist” was arrested New Jersey for taking part in the riot and a former soldier who fought with the YPG in Syria was arrested in Florida for allegedly threatening Trump supporters ahead of upcoming protests in Tallahassee.

The Pentagon is investigating its response to the deadly Capitol riot, reports Military Times. Engulfed by a cacophony of accusations and blame-assigning over the deadly Jan. 6 security situation at the Capitol building and the response to the mob who breached it. The DoD is examining its own role in offering National Guard support to federal law enforcement.

GEN Mark Milley is the key to military continuity as Biden takes office, reports Military Times. He has been a staunch defender of the military’s apolitical tradition, reassuring Congress that the military would stay out of the elections and, in no uncertain terms, told troops that the Capitol riot was an act of sedition. Last summer, he put his own job on the line by apologizing for being part of the entourage that accompanied then president Donald Trump to a photo-op outside a church near the White House after peaceful protesters were forcibly removed from the area.

Contracts:

Federal Prison Industries Inc., Washington, DC, has been awarded a maximum $24,708,000 modification (P00011) exercising the first one-year option period of a one-year base contract (SPE1C1-20-D-F056) with four one-year option periods for various types of trousers.  This is a firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract. Locations of performance are Texas, Alabama, Mississippi, and Washington, DC, with a Jan. 20, 2022, ordering period end date. Using military services are Army and Air Force. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2021 through 2022 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Melbourne, Florida, is awarded a $29,776,196 firm-fixed-price, cost-plus-fixed-fee order (N00019-21-F-0064) against previously issued basic ordering agreement N00019-20-G-0005. This order procures five aerial refueling retrofit kits and installation on the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye. Work will be performed in Ronkonkoma, New York (44.53%); Baltimore, Maryland (16.62%); Irvine, California (6.48%); Hauppauge, New York (5.85%); Columbia, Maryland (4.75%); Dorset, England (3.17%); East Aurora, New York (2.64%); North Hollywood, California (2.02%); and various locations within the continental US (13.94%), and is expected to be completed in May 2022. Fiscal 2021 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $29,776,196 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.

Range Generation Next LLC, Sterling, Virginia, has been awarded a $14,600,345 cost-plus-fixed-fee modification (P000327) to contract FA8806-15-C-0001 for a telemetry end-to-end processing system. This modification supports an increase in launch and test range requirements. Work will primarily be performed at Eastern Range, Patrick Air Force Base, Florida; Cape Canaveral Air Station, Florida; and Kennedy Space Center, Florida, and is expected to be completed May 11, 2023. Fiscal 2020 Air Force space procurement funds in the full amount are being obligated at the time of award. Space and Missile Systems Center, Peterson AFB, Colorado, is the contracting activity.

Transportation Management Services Inc., Sandy Spring, Maryland, was awarded a $13,874,720 firm-fixed-price contract to provide transportation services throughout the National Capital Region from Jan.16, 2021, through Jan. 31, 2021. Bids were solicited via the internet with eight received.  Work will be performed in Washington, DC, with an estimated completion date of Jan. 31, 2021. Fiscal 2021 operation and maintenance (National Guard) funds in the amount of $13,874,720 were obligated at the time of the award. US Army National Guard Bureau, Operational Contracting Division, Arlington, Virginia, is the contracting activity (W912R1-21-F-0002).