Pilots & Crew Safe After Hawkeye Crash
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.
An E-2C Hawkeye aircraft crashed near Wallops, reports Navy Times. The Hawkeye was conducting a training flight when it crashed northeast of Norfolk. Two pilots and two crew members bailed out of the aircraft safely and sustained “no major injuries,” said Naval Air Force Atlantic spokeswoman CMDR Jennifer Cragg.
The 2020 Washington Technology Top 100 is out: Ranking the largest government contractors according to their prime contracts for IT, systems integration, professional services, and other technology products and services, reports Washington Technology. These are the companies that dominate the market, not only for their size but for the skills and capabilities that they bring to the market. Check out the list here. Local-grown Smartronix climbed to 46th place in 2020.
The Government Accountability Office accepted a request from Army veteran Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) to conduct an independent review of the Army’s Sexual Harassment/Assault Response and Prevention, reports Army Times. Sen. Duckworth asked the GAO to survey soldiers’ views on the SHARP program’s effectiveness and shortcomings, as evaluated against the Army’s stated objectives for the program.
A respected, combat-tested Black colonel in the Marine Corps has been passed over three times for promotion to brigadier general, reports The New York Times. Col. Anthony Henderson has what the corps says it takes to be a Marine general: multiple combat tours, leadership experience, and the respect of those he commanded and most who commanded him. Maybe Col. Henderson’s personality is an explanation for why he has been passed over, including what has been called a tendency to speak his mind — traits that have not disqualified White Marine colonels.
About 200 soldiers from Joint Base Lewis-McChord, WA, traveled Monday to northern California to help combat wildfires burning in the Mendocino National Forest, reports Stars and Stripes. The soldiers, part of the 2nd Infantry Division’s 14th Brigade Engineer Battalion, 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, spent the weekend training with instructors from the National Interagency Fire Center. Troops were fitted for personal protective equipment, including fire retardant clothing, boots, gloves and hard hats, and began training that included the use of fire shelters.
As the Category 4 hurricane made landfall near Cameron, LA, 3,000 Coast Guard members, including 32 aircraft crews and nearly 40 boat crews, deployed to the region to assist with rescues, evacuations, and survey flights. Military Times reports that with that portion of the mission complete, the service is turning to the more than 2,100 buoys, beacons, lights, and other navigational aids wrecked or displaced by the storm near Lake Charles, LA, and Port Arthur, TX.
The Space Development Agency has selected Lockheed Martin and York Space Systems each to build 10 satellites for the first part of network key to the Pentagon’s plans to connect on-orbit sensors with terrestrial shooters, reports C4ISRNET. While York Space Systems will receive $94 million to build its 10 satellites, Lockheed Martin will receive $188 million for the same number. According to SDA Director Derek Tournear that difference reflects the agency’s firm-fixed-price contract approach to this solicitation, where they asked companies to give them a price point to meet SDA’s detailed specifications.
The first of an anticipated 36-satellite constellation promising global on-demand radar imagery, deployed to orbit Aug. 31, reports C4ISRNET. This first publicly available satellite will be able to deliver synthetic aperture radar, or SAR, imagery of the Middle East, the Korean Peninsula, Japan, Europe, Southeast Asia, Africa, and the United States. SAR advantages over traditional imagery include producing images regardless of inclement weather and the ability to collect data on material properties, moisture content, precise movements, and elevation. Customers for this imagery include the US government.
Four South Korean civilians died Sunday after a crash with a US armored vehicle, reports Military Times. According to Yonhap News, a sport utility vehicle with two couples in their 50s rear-ended the US armored vehicle Sunday evening in Pocheon. They were taken to a hospital where they were pronounced dead. Police have asked for an autopsy of the driver.
Under the siege of the coronavirus pandemic, classes have begun at all service academies, reports Military Times. Most students are on campus and many will attend classes in person at the Naval Academy, the Air Force Academy, and the Military Academy at West Point. Military leaders are treating the virus like an enemy that must be detected, deterred, and defeated. They view the students as the next generation of commanders who must learn to lead troops through any crisis, including this one.
The Air Force’s new chief of staff Gen. Charles “CQ” Brown warns the service can’t expect significant strength growth, and must better assign the airmen it has if it wants to win a war against a major adversary. Air ForceTimes reports that will mean moving airmen out of jobs that aren’t really helping accomplish the Air Force’s mission and into jobs that are undermanned or emerging as crucial requirements issued in his document “Accelerate Change or Lose.”
RIMPAC ends with a bang as ships and aircraft sink retired Navy vessel, reports Stars and Stripes. A decommissioned amphibious cargo ship was sunk during a two-day, live-fire drill serving as a finale (video here) for the Rim of the Pacific maritime exercise near Hawaii. The two-week exercise, joined by navies from 10 nations with 22 surface ships and one submarine, concluded Monday.
Victoria Coleman, an artificial intelligence and microelectronics specialist, has been named director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, reports Military.com. She will be the third woman to head DARPA, the Pentagon’s secretive research arm. since its creation in 1958. Ms. Coleman had been serving as chief executive officer of Atlas AI, which offers what it calls “cutting-edge artificial intelligence” to analyze trends in developing countries.
The Navy’s new ship-to-shore connectors are coming off the production lines, reports Defense News. The second vessel was delivered last week. The new air-cushioned landing craft built by Textron replaces the current generation, adding payload capacity and range. There are 12 of the new ship-to-shore connectors in production at Textron Systems’ New Orleans, LA, shipyard since the $386 million contract was awarded.
A man arrested last week and charged with capital murder in the deaths of three roommates, including a Fort Hood soldier, was linked to the crime through ballistics analysis and an anonymous soldier, who told police he sold the suspect a 9mm handgun matching the one used in the Killeen, TX, slayings, reports Army Times.
Contracts:
Zenetex LLC, Herndon, Virginia, is awarded a $78,779,262 for a cost-plus-fixed-fee (CPFF), indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, single award contract with CPFF ordering provisions on behalf of Naval Supply Systems Command (NAVSUP) Weapon Systems Support (WSS) and applicable customers of NAVSUP WSS to provide security cooperation/assistance and Foreign Military Sales (FMS) technical and program/project management support to NAVSUP WSS Code N52 and other applicable Security Assistance Corporation organizations in areas such as project management; financial and logistical analysis and management; international training and education; special programs and information technology services and consulting; cooperative programs; protection of key technologies; facilitating release authority for transferable technologies; and the management of FMS, leases and grants of defense articles and services. The contract will include a five-year ordering period that will be completed by September 2025. Work will be performed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (60%); Washington, DC (25%); Patuxent River and Lexington Park, Maryland (5%); Dayton, Ohio (5%); and Pensacola, Florida (5%). Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance (Navy) funds in the amount of $50,000 will be obligated at the time of award to fund the contract’s minimum amount and funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Individual task orders will be subsequently funded with appropriate fiscal year appropriations at the time of their issuance. This contract resulted from a full and open competitive solicitation through the Federal Business Opportunities website, with four offers received. Naval Supply Systems Command Fleet Logistics Center Norfolk, Contracting Department Philadelphia Office, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is the contracting activity (N00189-20-D-Z030).
Reliance Test and Technology LLC, Crestview, Florida, is awarded a $78,079,182 cost-plus-fixed-fee, cost reimbursable contract. This contract provides research, development, test, evaluation, engineering, fleet support and management support services required to perform aircraft engineering and developmental flight test and fleet training events for Navy and Marine Corps air vehicle systems and trainers in support of the Atlantic Ranges and Targets Department. Work will be performed at Patuxent River, Maryland (99%); and various locations within the continental US (1%), and is expected to be completed in December 2030. Fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $15,000 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via an electronic request for proposal; six offers were received. The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity (N00421-20-C-0033).
Argus Consulting, Inc., Overland Park, Kansas (N39430-20-D-2241); Austin Brockenbrough and Associates, Richmond, Virginia (N39430-20-D-2242); Enterprise Engineering Inc., Anchorage, Alaska (N39430-20-D-2243); GTP Consulting Engineers Inc., Duluth, Georgia (N39430-20-D-2244); Robert & Co., Atlanta, Georgia (N39430-20-D-2245); Burns & McDonnell Engineering Co. Inc., Kansas City, Missouri (N39430-20-D-2246); Pond & Co., Peachtree Corners, Georgia (N39430-20-D-2247); Tetra Tech Inc., Collinsville, Illinois (N39430-20-D-2248); and Wood-HDR JV, Blue Bell, Pennsylvania (N39430-20-D-2249), are awarded a firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity multiple award contract for a 60 month ordering period with a maximum dollar value of $150,000,000 for all nine contracts providing engineering and design services for petroleum, oils and lubricants systems and supporting facilities at various Navy and Marine Corps installations, worldwide. No task orders are being issued at this time. Work on this contract will be performed at various Navy and Marine Corps installations worldwide. The term of the contract is not to exceed 60 months, with an expected completion date of August 2025. Fiscal 2020 defense working capital funds in the amount of $90,000 are obligated on this award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Future task orders will be primarily funded by defense working capital funds. This contract was competitively procured via the Federal Business Opportunities website with 11 proposals received. The nine contractors selected may compete for task orders under the terms and conditions of the awarded contract. The Naval Facilities Engineering and Expeditionary Warfare Center, Port Hueneme, California, is the contracting activity.
Liberal Construction LLC, McLean, Virginia (N33191-20-D-0004); Consorzio Continental Soc Consortile A RL, Napoli, Italy (N33191-20-D-0005); Rocks GmbH, Hessen, Germany (N33191-20-D-0006); Kooheji Contractors WLL, Manama, Bahrain (N33191-20-D-0007); Relyant Global LLC, Maryville, Tennessee (N33191-20-D-0008); and Macro Vantage Levant DMCC, Dubai, United Arab Emirates (N33191-20-D-0009), are awarded an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, multiple award, design build and design bid-build contract for the maximum dollar value including the base period and four option years for all six contracts combined for $95,000,000 providing construction projects located primarily within the Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Europe Africa Central (EURAFCENT) area of operations. The work to be performed provides for general building type projects including new construction, renovations, alterations, demolition, repair work and any necessary design work. Liberal Construction is being awarded the initial task order at $404,250 for the roofing repair for various buildings at Naval Support Activity (NSA) I and NSA II, Bahrain. Work for this task order is expected to be completed by August 2021. All work on this contract will be performed in Manama (Northern) Bahrain, including NSA I Bahrain and NSA II (Waterfront); Bahrain International Airport (AV Unit); Juffair Compound, Southern Bahrain, including Isa Air Base; Bahraini Defense Force Main and United Arab Emirates, including Jebel Ali; and Al Dhafra Air Base, Fujairah, Abu Dhabi. The term of the contract is not to exceed 60 months with an expected completion date of September 2025. Navy and fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance (Navy) (O&M) contract funds in the amount of $25,000 for the guaranteed minimums are obligated on these awards and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Future task orders will be primarily funded by Navy O&M funds. This contract was competitively procured via the beta.SAM website with 22 proposals received. These six contractors may compete for task orders under the terms and conditions of the awarded contract. NAVFAC EURAFCENT, Naples, Italy, is the contracting activity.
AT&T Government Solutions Inc., Vienna, Virginia, is awarded an $8,207,565 modification to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract to exercise an option for continuation of services and sustainment support of Navy Enterprise 911 routing and management service. This modification increases the estimated value of the contract from $21,978,526 to $30,186,091. The overall potential value of the contract is $39,509,592 if the final option is exercised. Work will be performed throughout the continental U.S.; Navy Region Hawaii; and Joint Region Marianas. The period of performance of this option period is from Sept. 1, 2020, to Aug. 31, 2021. If the final option is exercised, the period of performance may extend through Aug. 31, 2022. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance (Navy) funds will be obligated. Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific, San Diego, California, is the contracting activity (N66001-17-C-0295).
Dominion Privatization Texas LLC, Richmond, Virginia, has been awarded a $15,031,665 modification (P00041) to a 50-year contract (SP0600-16-C-8312) with no option periods for electric and natural gas utility systems at Fort Hood, Texas. This is a firm-fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment contract. Locations of performance are Virginia and Texas, with a June 30, 2067, performance completion date. Using military service is Army. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2017 through 2067 Army operations and maintenance funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Energy, Fort Belvoir, Virginia.
Jacobs Technology Inc., Tampa, Florida, has been awarded a $28,699,264 modification (P00037) for contract HTC711-17-C-D001. This modification provides continued information technology service management enterprise support to the U.S. Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM). Work will be performed primarily on-site at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, and these other locations: Defense Information Systems Agency, Defense Enterprise Computing Center, St. Louis, Missouri; USTRANSCOM Office, Washington DC; Joint Enabling Capabilities Command, Norfolk, Virginia; and the Pentagon. The option period of performance is from Oct. 1, 2020, to Sept. 30, 2021. Fiscal 2021 transportation working capital funds; operations funds; and operations and maintenance funds are expected to be obligated at award. This modification brings the total cumulative face value of the contract to $103,856,869 from $75,157,605. US Transportation Command, Directorate of Acquisition, Scott AFB, Illinois, is the contracting activity.
