Navy to Require Oath to US Reaffirmed

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.

The Navy will require its sailors to reaffirm their oaths to the US Constitution, reports Stars and Stripes, during daylong unit stand-downs ordered by DefSec Lloyd Austin to address extremism, including white supremacy. Each service, military and civilian personnel, must complete the stand-downs before April 2. In a video message Austin encouraged service members in all branches to “revisit the oath that you took” when they joined the military.

Sailors engaging with an offensive post regarding white supremacism on social media could themselves be viewed as contributing to extremism in the service, according to Chief of Naval Personnel VADM John Nowell Jr. on a video posted to Facebook, Navy Times reports.

Despite pandemic costs and pressure from some lawmakers to reduce the Pentagon’s $700 billion budget, Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Jack Reed (D-RI) said, “Arbitrary reductions would not be the right way to go.” Congress will weigh President Joe Biden’s first budget request and review the military services’ proposals to see if they cut unnecessary, so-called “legacy” weapons programs and facilities, Reed said.

Age alone should not condemn legacy systems, says Defense News. The report of the House Armed Services Committee’s Future of Defense Task Force argued that “Congress and the Department of Defense must identify, replace, and retire costly and ineffective legacy platforms,” noting the “legacy” moniker must center on the platform’s contribution, its relevance not age.

DoD has still failed to address 2016 acquisition issues, reports FCW, and has yet to develop clear plans that manage spending services acquisitions over future fiscal years, according to a recent Government Accountability Office report.

NAVAIR reports, two scientists from the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Aaron Hendrickson and Dr. Gary Lohman,  recently earned a patent for the Focal Plane Illuminator, an instrument and technique that tests the image-capturing sensor in digital cameras helping buyers determine the quality of the camera before purchase.

 

 

USNI Marine Tracker: Feb. 22, 2021.

Victims of the 2019 shooting at a NAS Pensacola and their families are suing Saudi Arabia, claiming the kingdom knew the gunman had been radicalized and that it could have prevented the killings, reports Navy Times.

C4ISR.net reports, the IT issues awaiting DoD’s next chief information officer are daunting and include reevaluating DoD’s cybersecurity approach which just got hit with a big hack, taking a new tack if the cloud services contract isn’t resolved in court, and changing how employees think.

The Russian corporation TMH Group is acquiring Norway’s Bergen Engines which produces  large ship engines for a series of Norwegian coast guard vessels, reports High North News. The Norwegian Armed Forces are now assessing how the acquisition may affect contracts.

US B-1B Lancers arrived in Norway this week for a “long-planned training mission” and marked the first time these bombers operated out of the European country, reports Fox News. The move has been seen by some military experts as a clear message to Moscow.

Israel has formally approved plans for its first order of troubled KC-46 Pegasus aerial refueling tankers from Boeing, as well as the third squadron of F-35I “Adir” stealth fighters. Despite reported Israeli interest, there was no mention of any planned purchases of advanced versions of the F-15 Eagle. However, the Israeli government has also given the green light to purchases of “advanced munitions” and a new heavy-lift helicopter, either a variant of the H-47 Chinook or CH-53K King Stallion, reports The Drive.

Contracts:

ASRC Federal Field Services LLC,* Beltsville, Maryland, has been awarded a $457,544,235 firm-fixed-price contract for Vance Air Force Base, Oklahoma, base operation support. The contract will have a base period of one year, followed by four one-year option periods, with a possibility of two additional one-year incentive option periods. Award start date is April 1, 2021, and the work is expected to be completed by March 30, 2028. This award is the result of a competitive acquisition and four offers were received. Fiscal 2021 operation and maintenance funds in the amount of $65,209,068 are being obligated at the time of award. The 338th Enterprise Sourcing Squadron, Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph, Texas, is the contracting activity (FA3002-21-C-0003).

SigmaTech, Corp., Colorado Springs, Colorado, has been awarded a $14,655,755 modification (P00007) to contract FA7014-20-F-0028 for the principal assistant to the Secretary of the Air Force for Space Office’s (SAF/SP) systems engineering and technical assistance task order for the exercise of Option One. This modification provides technical, acquisition-related and support advisory and assistance services for the SAF/SP in support of its space- related activities. Work will be performed in Washington, D.C., at the Pentagon, and is expected to be completed by Feb. 23, 2025. Fiscal 2021 operation and maintenance funds in the full amount are being obligated at time of award. Total cumulative value of the contract is $29,096,446. Air Force District of Washington, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity.

Kearney & Company PC, Alexandria, Virginia, has been awarded a $9,007,187 modification (P00015) to contract FA7014-18-F-5009 for the Secretary of the Air Force/Financial Management Office’s (SAF/FM) workforce development services task order for the exercise of Option Three. This modification provides strategic and tactical functional expertise; workforce development program planning, implementation and sustainment; financial analysis support; administration and executive support; training and education development; general accounting training and support; and corporate support to SAF/FM. Work will be performed in Washington, D.C., at the Pentagon, and is expected to be completed by Feb. 28, 2023. Fiscal 2021 operation and maintenance funds and working capital funds in the full amount are being obligated at time of award. Total cumulative value of the contract is $24,641,117. Air Force District of Washington, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity.

Textron Systems, Hunt Valley, Maryland, is awarded a $34,381,542 cost-plus-fixed fee modification to previously awarded contract N00024-14-C-6322 for engineering and technical support for the Unmanned Influence Sweep System Unmanned Surface Vehicle program. The Unmanned Influence Sweep System (UISS) will allow the Littoral Combat Ship to perform its mine countermeasure sweep mission. UISS will target acoustic, magnetic and magnetic/acoustic combination mine types. 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%); and Slidell, Louisiana (30%), and is expected to be completed by March 2022. Fiscal 2021 other procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $24,039,180 (97%); and research, development, test, and evaluation funds in the amount of $772,730 (3%), 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, D.C., is the contracting activity.

Booz Allen Hamilton, McLean, Virginia, is awarded a $33,115,147 task order with cost-plus-fixed-fee and cost-with-no-fee pricing to provide engineering, technical and programmatic support for networking, communications and computer systems and associated certification and information assurance for current operations, planned upgrades and future capabilities. This one-year contract includes four, one-year option periods which, if exercised, would bring the overall potential value of this contract to an estimated $189,986,894. Work will be performed in San Diego, California (85%); and outside the continental U.S. (15%). The period of performance of the base award is from Feb. 24, 2021, through Feb. 23, 2022. If all options are exercised, the period of performance would extend through Feb. 23, 2026. Fiscal 2021 operation and maintenance (Navy); and other procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $779,617, will be obligated at the time and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via a request for proposal (N66001-20-R-3502) published on the Navy’s SeaPort Next Generation contract portal. Three offers were received and one was selected for award. Naval Information Warfare Center, Pacific, San Diego, California, is the contracting activity (N66001-21-F-3501).

Computational Physics Inc.,* Springfield, Virginia, is awarded a $17,426,549 single-award, firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for technical and analytical support in the disciplines of physics, astronomy, astrophysics, aerospace, instrumentation and electrical engineering and information technology/computer sciences in support of the U.S. Naval Observatory. The contract will include a five-year base ordering period with a six-month ordering period option, which if exercised, will bring the total value to $19,243,394. The base ordering period is expected to be completed by February 2026; if the option is exercised, the ordering period will be completed by August 2026. All work will be performed in Washington, D.C. Fiscal 2021 operation and maintenance (Navy) funds in the amount of $121,000 will be obligated to fund the contract’s minimum amount and funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured with the solicitation posted on Navy Electronic Commerce Online and beta.SAM.gov as a 100% small business set-aside, with three offers received. Naval Supply Systems Command, Fleet Logistics Center Norfolk, Contracting Department, Philadelphia Office, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is the contracting activity (N00189-21-D-Z023).

Blind Industries & Services of Maryland,** Baltimore, Maryland, has been awarded a maximum $11,505,000 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for wind cold weather jackets.  This was a sole-source acquisition using justification 10 U.S. Code 2304 (c)(2), as stated in Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-5.  This is a one-year base contract with four one-year option periods. Location of performance is Maryland, with a Feb. 22, 2022, ordering period end date. Using military service is Army.  Type of appropriation is fiscal 2021 through 2022 defense working capital funds.  The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency, Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE1C1-21-D-B107).

BreakPoint Labs LLC, Herndon, Virginia, was awarded an $8,328,841 firm-fixed-price contract for risk assessment and security engineering services. Bids were solicited via the internet with six received. Work will be performed in Vicksburg, Mississippi, with an estimated completion date of Feb. 23, 2022. Fiscal 2010 revolving funds in the amount of $8,328,841 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Vicksburg, Mississippi, is the contracting activity (W912HZ-20-F-0007).