NAWCAD to Lead So. MD Tech Bridge

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.

NAWCAD is named to lead Southern Maryland’s Tech Bridge to help local leverage and fund innovations of non-traditional military partners such as startups, small businesses, non-profits, and academia. James Geurts, assistant secretary of the Navy for Research, Development, and Acquisition, made the announcement during a virtual press event May 12 from NavalX facilities in Arlington, VA.

The good news out of the 20.5 million lost jobs in April is that nearly four in five are not permanent losses, but furloughs, reports Quartz. The share of unemployed Americans on furlough surged to 78.3% up from 26.5% in March, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Defense firms continue hiring as US unemployment reaches historic levels amid the coronavirus pandemic, says Defense One. Some of America’s largest defense firms are hiring thousands of workers to build fast-flying missiles, satellites, and nuclear weapons.

DefSec Mark Esper says the burst of deficit spending to prop up a damaged economy will force belt tightening at the Pentagon and accelerate the shedding of older weapons, reports Military Times. The four economy-sustaining programs Congress passed lead to a record budget deficit of $3.7 trillion this year; the government’s accumulated annual deficits will equal 101% of the US gross domestic product at the Sept. 30 end of the federal fiscal year.

The Navy’s response to prevention and mitigation of COVID-19 outbreaks on the service’s ships and submarines is the subject of a DoD inspector general evaluation which will also assess implementation of preventative measures across the fleet, reports Navy Times.

 

 

Maryland opened the week with its worst yet five-day streak of new coronavirus cases yet, confirming more than 1,000 new cases each day, reports The Hill. The case numbers as well as proximity to Washington, DC, and Northern Virginia, complicate Maryland reopening plans.

Maryland Matters reports while Maryland’s 6-week-old stay-at-home order remains in effect, many residents have come to regard the order as mere suggestion. Based on data released Monday, Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania rank in the top 10 for increases in recent out-of-state travel.

The Trump administration’s top infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci warns of dire consequence if country is reopening too  too early, reports Politico. It could be “really serious” if states don’t have the capability to respond to new coronavirus infections.

For the first time since the end of the Cold War, the US Navy is making regular trips to the Arctic Circle, with the four-ship patrol sailing in the Barents Sea, reports Defense News. Melting ice is opening more time-efficient shipping routes and greater access to natural resources. Russia has core economic interests there and defends them with building icebreakers with cruise missiles and deck guns to patrol frozen waters.

Democrats on the House Foreign Affairs Committee demand an immediate halt to funding a wall on the US southern border with money meant to deter Russian aggression in Europe, reports The Hill. When DoD shuffled its budget last month, $545.5 million was moved to 22 stateside projects delayed by the wall. The reallocations will now come from 19 mostly overseas projects, 10 part of the European Deterrence Initiative created in 2014 to reassure US allies shaken by a resurgent Russia.

Sporting “Class of Quarantine 2020” face masks, nine military teens who are employees of the exchange food court at Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany, wore their prom finery to work on the day when they should have been going to their prom, reports Military Times.

It takes tens of thousands of dollars to get a new service member through recruiting and initial training, and costs the services hundreds of millions a year when new troops are discharged from the military before the end of their first contracts, reports Military Times. But the latest report of military attrition still fails to closely predict who will stay and who will go.

The Marines will lose two officers this year, a colonel unpunished for substantiated misconduct in the twilight of his career, and a captain with many years of service left. This is one of many similar outcomes of military investigations of high ranking officers, reports Task & Purpose out of a months-long investigation of the Marine Corps’ fraught history with women in its ranks, and its tendency to conceal senior officer misconduct rather than weed it out.

Contracts:

Airborne Tactical Advantage Co. LLC, Newport News, Virginia, is awarded a $34,553,773 modification (P00023) to previously awarded firm-fixed-price, cost-reimbursable, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract N00019-15-D-0026. This modification extends the period of performance for contractor-owned and operated Type III high subsonic and Type IV supersonic aircraft. Work will be performed in Newport News, Virginia (44%); Point Mugu, California (37%); and various locations outside the continental US (19%). Work will provide airborne threat simulation capabilities and updates to the government furnished property list in support of the Contracted Air Services Program. Work is expected to be complete by November 2020. Funds will be obligated on individual delivery orders as they are issued. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.

Serco Inc., Herndon, Virginia, has been awarded a maximum $29,002,941 modification (P00021) exercising the third one-year option period of a one-year base contract (SP3300-17-C-5003) with four one-year option periods for chemical management services. This is a firm-fixed-price with cost-reimbursement and cost-plus-fixed-fee contract. Locations of performance are Virginia, North Carolina, Florida and California, with a May 15, 2021, performance completion date. Using customer is the Defense Logistics Agency Aviation. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2020 through 2021 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is Defense Logistics Agency Distribution, New Cumberland, Pennsylvania.

American Systems, Chantilly, Virginia, was awarded a cost-plus-fixed-fee task order with a value of $11,636,887. HT0038-20-F-0006 provides transformation planning of the Theater Medical Information Program-Joint into a modular and portable software suite with a unified architecture. This task order has a period of performance from May 13, 2020, to Sept. 30, 2020. The estimated completion date is Sept. 30, 2020. Work will primarily occur in Chantilly, Virginia. This award will be funded by fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance funds; and research and development funds. This task order is a Small Business Innovation Research Phase III award. The contracting activity is the Defense Health Agency, Falls Church, Virginia.

Verato Inc., McLean, Virginia, was awarded a firm-fixed-price delivery order (HS0021-20-F-0010) under HS0021-19-A-0005, for an estimated $8,735,669 for the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA). The delivery order provides for tri-merge credit reports and credit monitoring in support of the background investigation process. Work will be performed in McLean, Virginia. This delivery order is funded with fiscal 2020 DCSA working capital funds, with $2,183,917 obligated at time of award. The anticipated delivery period is from May 17, 2020, through May 16, 2021. DCSA Acquisition and Contracting, Quantico, Virginia, is the contracting activity.