Is Acting DefSec Playing Favorites?
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.
Acting DefSec Patrick Shanahan’s remarks during his 18 months at the Pentagon have spurred accusations that he is boosting his former employer Boeing, Politico reports, fueling questions about whether he harbors an unfair bias against other big military contractors. We Are The Mighty says Shanahan has been critical of Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Lightning II in private meetings.
The Pentagon doesn’t appear to have as many facilities as it had thought, a recent first-ever government audit found, reports Defense One. This calls into question whether it needs a new round of base closures, as frequently requested by D0D leaders in recent years.
The Air Force will accept its first KC-46A Pegasus tankers from Boeing, The Washington Post reports, marking a significant milestone in a long-troubled program that is years behind schedule. Defense officials said the tanker was ready to begin operational testing and was safe to fly. But they acknowledged there are still major flaws with the tanker.
The Navy will expand its role in the Arctic as climate change opens up more ocean waterways and the US vies with rivals Russia and China for influence in the far north, reports The Wall Street Journal.
The Air Force Voluntary Retired Return to Active Duty program designed to help alleviate the shortage of pilots and others in related fields might just be working, reports Air Force Times. The service says 125 retired pilots, combat systems officers, and air battle managers have applied to return to active duty since May.
The military is finalizing plans to eliminate more than 17,000 uniformed medical billets — physicians, dentists, nurses, technicians, medics, and support personnel, reports Military.com. The reduction will allow those billets in the Army, Navy, and Air Force to be repurposed as war fighters or combat-support skills.
A special peace envoy to the Afghan president expressed hope last week that the war that has ravaged Afghanistan for more than 17 years and cost the US about $1 trillion will end in 2019, reports Military Times.
The US began moving military equipment out of Syria, ABC News reports, but no US troops had left as of Friday. Other officials said there is still no timeline for the pullout of the 2,000 troops.
Fox News lists the top defense stories Americans should keep an eye on this year.
Purdue University announces that one of its professors has published a non-fiction book on the program history of the F-35 program. The university provides a question-and-answer session with Bert Chapman on his book, “Global Defense Procurement and the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.”
Military Times provides its list of the most unforgettable military-related books of the past year. Here is its list of some fiction and nonfiction books.
The Maryland General Assembly opened Wednesday. The big news came on the session’s second day when Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller, 76, announced he had advanced prostate cancer and had started chemotherapy treatments a few days before. Maryland Matters reports on the announcement, reaction from his colleagues, and the potential implications. Also, here’s a quick look at some of the first bills filed in the 2019 session of the legislature.
Contracts:
Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Linthicum Heights, Maryland, was awarded an $86,200,000 hybrid cost-plus-fixed-fee and firm-fixed-price contract for Starlite system support. One bid was solicited with one bid received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Jan. 31, 2023. US Army Contracting Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, is the contracting activity (W56KGY-19-D-0002).
Fourteen companies have been awarded Option Year 1 modifications under the following Category A III, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, fixed-price contracts: ABX Air Inc., Wilmington, Ohio (HTC711-18-D-C002); American Airlines, Fort Worth, Texas (HTC711-18-D-C003); Air Transportation International, Irving, Texas (HTC711-18-D-C004); Atlas Air of Purchase (HTC711-18-D-C005); Delta Air Lines Inc., Atlanta, Georgia (HTC711-18-D-C006); FedEx, Washington, DC (HTC711-18-D-C007); Hawaiian Airlines Inc., Honolulu, Hawaii (HTC711-18-D-C008); JetBlue Airways, Long Island City, New York (HTC711-18-D-C009); Miami Air International, Miami, Florida (HTC711-18-D-C010); National Air Cargo Inc., Orlando, Florida (HTC711-18-D-C011); Polar Air Cargo Worldwide Inc., Purchase, New York (HTC711-18-D-C012); United Parcel Service Co., Louisville, Kentucky (HTC711-18-D-C013); USA Jet Airlines, Belleville, Michigan (HTC711-18-D-C014); and Western Global Airlines, Estero, Florida (HTC711-18-D-C015). The companies are eligible to compete at the task order level for an option year estimated amount of $41,441,067. The program’s cumulative value increased from $41,441,067 to $82,882,134 (estimated). This modification provides international commercial scheduled air cargo transportation services. Services encompass time-definite, door-to-door pick-up and delivery, transportation, in-transit visibility, government-approved third party payment system participation, and expedited customs processing and clearance of less than full planeloads for the movement of regular and recurring hazardous, refrigerated/cold chain (perishable), life and death, narcotics, and other regular recurring cargo shipments. Work will be performed world-wide. Option Year 1 period of performance is Feb. 1, 2019, to Jan. 31, 2020. US Transportation Command, Directorate of Acquisition, Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, is the contracting activity.
MA Federal Inc., doing business as iGov, Reston, Virginia, is awarded a $22,238,503 firm-fixed-price task order from a previously awarded contract for the purchase of Small Form Factor suite production, acquisition, engineering management support, logistics, and sustainment support services. Work will be performed in Tampa, Florida (80 percent); and Herndon, Virginia (20 percent), and is expected to be completed by January 2024. Fiscal 2018 procurement (Marine Corps) funds in the amount of $15,971,649; and fiscal 2019 procurement (Marine Corps) in the amount of $6,266,854 will be obligated at task order award and no funds will expire the end of the current fiscal year. This task order was competitively procured via the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement, with three offers received. The Marine Corps Systems Command, Quantico, Virginia, is the contracting activity (M67854-19-F-2025.)
AAI Corp. Hunt Valley, Maryland, is awarded a $10,839,582 cost-plus-fixed-fee, cost-only, firm-fixed-price modification to previously awarded contract N00024-14-C-6322 to exercise options for engineering and technical services for the Unmanned Influence Sweep System (UISS) unmanned surface vehicle platform. The UISS is one of the systems, which will allow the littoral combat ship to perform its mine warfare sweep mission. UISS will target acoustic, magnetic, and magnetic/acoustic combination mine types only. The UISS program will satisfy the Navy’s need for a rapid, wide-area coverage mine clearance capability, required to neutralize magnetic/acoustic influence mines. UISS seeks to provide a high area coverage rate in a small, lightweight package with minimal impact on the host platform. Work will be performed in Hunt Valley, Maryland (70 percent); and Slidell, Louisiana (30 percent), and is expected to be complete by September 2019. Fiscal 2019 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funding in the amount of $10,839,582 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.
Raytheon Co., Marlborough, Massachusetts, is being awarded $9,347,391 for cost-plus-fixed-fee, firm-fixed-price order N6339419F0002 under a previously awarded basic ordering agreement (N6339417G5103) for engineering services in support of the Aegis SPY-1 radar and Mk 99 fire control system. This order will provide technical, logistical and engineering services from the original equipment manufacturer. This contract includes options which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this order to $19,497,003. Work will be performed in Yorktown, Virginia (90 percent); and at various ship locations (10 percent), and is expected to be completed by January 2021. Fiscal 2018 other procurement (Navy) funding in the amount of $960,282 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Port Hueneme Division, Port Hueneme, California, is the contracting activity.
CACI NSS Inc., Chantilly, Virginia, was competitively awarded a firm-fixed-price contract for $8,582,382 on Jan. 11, 2019. Contract has an effective date of Jan. 29, 2019. This award provides for non-personal Information Technology services in support of the legacy Theater Enterprise-Wide Logistics System (TEWLS) application to be known in the future as the systems, applications and products in the LogiCole application. The award will provide for pre-planned product improvement, life cycle management, and business process, and technical integration support and reengineering services for TEWLS. The contractor will provide software maintenance services to support Joint Medical Logistics Functional Development center in the configuration, technical sustainment and continued enhancement of the TEWLS as part of the Defense Medical Logistics – Enterprise Solution. The contractor place of support is Fort Detrick, Maryland. This contract has an additional four option periods, if exercised. This contract is an acquisition under General Service Administration’s IT schedule 70 with fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $8,582,382 obligated at time of award. The Defense Health Agency, Contract Operations – Health Information Technology,San Antonio, Texas, is the contracting activity (HT0015-19-F-0018).
