Proposals Sought for Blue UAS Refresh Challenge
US Marine Corps Sgt. Jacqueline Peguero-Montes, a combat videographer with the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, operates a SkyDio unmanned aircraft system at Camp Lejeune, NC, Nov. 29, 2023. (US Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Ryan Ramsammy)
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 Defense Innovation Unit has released a solicitation for an upcoming prize challenge for vendors to potentially have their unmanned aircraft systems and related capabilities added to a list of systems that can be purchased by the Defense Department, reports Aviation Today. The DIU will expand its lists of approved drones and National Defense Authorization Act-compliant UAS components and software through the Blue UAS Refresh Challenge. Product proposals will be accepted until August 19. DIU is the only DoD organization focused exclusively on fielding and scaling commercial technology across the US military at commercial speeds.
A battle has begun over the military records of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) and Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), reports The Hill. The two campaigns are attacking some of the specifics of the vice presidential candidates’ years in the armed forces. Walz retired from the National Guard two months before his unit was activated for an Iraq deployment, and Republicans want that timing to be a major issue, reports Task & Purpose. While Vance’s appearance on the Republican ticket is praised by many, there are some veterans who accuse Vance of political flip-flopping and criticize his isolationist stance toward foreign policy, reports Marine Corps Times.
An Ipsos poll released July 30 says that 47% of Americans believe veterans make the best elected officials when compared to people with prior public service or those currently working in law enforcement, business, academia, or news and entertainment. When it comes to confidence in elected officials, 76% believe that veterans elected to office would make good decisions.
ABC News says Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and his Democratic counterpart, Kamala Harris, have agreed to debate on September 10, reports NPR. Trump also said he wants his vice presidential candidate to debate Harris’ choice for veep on CBS. Discussions on potential dates continue.
Two NASA astronauts — Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore — whose weeklong mission to the International Space Station has now stretched into its second month could be left there until next year, reports WMAR2 News. Their initial one-week mission could potentially stretch into February 2025 as NASA works on a plan to bring them back to Earth.
A new crew of astronauts is scheduled to head to the ISS in just a few weeks, reports Digital Trends. Crew-9 will travel aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft. But ahead of that launch, NASA revealed the four astronauts who will make up the next crew, Crew-10. They will launch to the ISS next year, around February. Among the Americans on Crew-10 are NASA astronauts commander Anne McClain and pilot Nichole Ayers, according to NASA. McClain attended the US Naval Test Pilot School at Pax River, graduating with Class 143 in June 2013 at the same time she was selected as a NASA astronaut.
US Navy LT CMDR James Dickerson was court-martialed in June for a video he made lip-synching a profanity-laced parody of Frozen’s “Let it Go” and giving middle fingers to the camera, all while wearing his military uniform, reports Navy Times. Dickerson was charged with a violation of Article 133 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman. His charge sheet alleges that he “wrongfully and dishonorably” posted the video “showing himself acting in a contemptuous manner towards the Navy while in uniform.”
Federal prosecutors say two men linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard face terrorism charges in the US in connection with the interception of a vessel in the Arabian Sea that resulted in the deaths of two Navy SEALs in January, reports Navy Times. Brothers Shahab Mir’kazei and Yunus Mir’kazei, as well as a Pakistani boat captain, are charged with providing material support to Iran’s weapons-of-mass-destruction program. While boarding the vessel, Navy Special Warfare Operator 1st Class Christopher J. Chambers fell overboard, and Navy Special Warfare Operator 2nd Class Nathan Gage Ingram jumped in to try to save him.
US Army contract instructor pilot Daniel Munger died August 7 when the AH-64 Apache helicopter he was teaching a student to fly crashed at Fort Novosel, AL, reports Task & Purpose. Munger was a retired Army chief warrant officer. The Army student pilot suffered minor injuries.
The Pentagon announced a new policy Friday aimed at addressing US troop exposure to blasts as evidence mounts that mortar firing, including during training missions, creates an increased risk of brain damage, reports The Hill. The Warfighter Brain Health initiative will focus on identifying and implementing best practices to promote overall brain health and counter traumatic brain injury.
Maryland Technology Development Corp., the state’s venture capital agency for technology companies, announced last month the election of new executive officers and welcomed new members. The newly appointed chair of the board is College of Southern Maryland’s Ellen Flowers-Fields. Former Maryland delegate John Bohanan of Cornerstone Government Affairs is a TEDCO board member.
TEDCO also recently announced the 2024 Maryland Makerspace Initiative Program awardees. Funding will be awarded to 18 projects spanning across nine counties and Baltimore city. PaxSpace in Hollywood, MD, is among the 18 awardees.
ION Storage Systems of Beltsville was recently awarded a $20 million grant from the US Department of Energy to scale up its technology, reports Maryland Matters. The state of Maryland gave another $1 million, while TEDCO said it would provide $1.5 million. The 5-year-old company manufactures solid-state batteries for the defense, aerospace, medical, consumer, electric vehicle, and grid-storage industries.
Unmanned maritime tech company Saildrone and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have a fleet of unmanned/uncrewed surface vehicles that sail into hurricanes to better understand how the storms form, track, and intensify, reports Inside Unmanned Systems. They have deployed 12 vehicles in six areas identified by NOAA as having a high probability of intercepting a storm. USA Today via MSN offers drone footage from the eye of Hurricane Debby.
RADM. Chad Cary will lead the NOAA Commissioned Officer Corps and NOAA Office of Marine and Aviation Operations following confirmation by the US Senate, reports UPI. Part of Cary’s duties will be to oversee NOAA’s fleet of 15 research and survey ships and 10 specialized aircraft that include NOAA’s hurricane hunters.
Thousands of National Guardsmen throughout the Southeastern coast from Florida to North Carolina were activated as Hurricane Debby barreled north, reports Military.com. More than 3,000 Florida National Guard troops were activated as the state braced for Debby, the US Army reports.
The US Office of Personnel Management published new federal remote work guidance last week, reports Federal News Network. OPM said it views federal remote work as an opportunity to broaden workforce recruitment and retention, but agencies should still carefully evaluate their use of the flexibility. “Remote work is not suitable for all types of roles. Striking the right balance of in-person work and use of workplace flexibilities such as remote work is critical to support the long-term organizational health of federal agencies,” OPM Acting Director Rob Shriver writes in the document.
LawnStarter has ranked 2024’s Best Cities for Remote Workers. The lawn care company compared nearly 500 of the biggest US cities based on eight categories. It also factored in the number of remote job listings, internet access and quality, and incentives for remote workers.
US Army CAPT Samantha Sullivan, who was an All American at West Point, was one of the stars of the 2024 US women’s Olympic rugby team, reports Task & Purpose. The women’s team won a bronze medal at this year’s Olympic games.
A NASA sounding rocket will carry student-designed experiments to suborbital space as a part of NASA’s RockSat program, reports Wallops Flight Facility. The launch is scheduled for tomorrow, Tuesday, August 13, with the window opening at 6am EDT. The launch will also be live streamed on the Wallops YouTube channel. The livestream will begin 15 minutes before scheduled launch time.
The Perseids are back, reports The Associated Press. The annual meteor shower, active since July, peaks before dawn today, August 12. More than 50 meteors per hour are expected, according to the American Meteor Society. The shower lasts through September 1.
Contracts:
Technical Data Analysis Inc., Falls Church, Virginia, is awarded a $43,571,825 cost-plus-fixed-fee, cost, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract. This contract provides engineering and technical services to support aircraft structural life monitoring and air vehicle airworthiness certification to include Structural Appraisal of Fatigue Effects program, strength engineering, and loads and dynamics engineering in support of the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD) Structures Division for the Navy. Work will be performed in Patuxent River, Maryland, and is expected to be completed in August 2029. No funds will be obligated at the time of award; funds will be obligated on individual orders as they are issued. This contract was competitively procured as a small business set-aside; two offers were received. NAWCAD, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity (N0042124D0022).
Culmen International LLC, Alexandria, Virginia, was awarded an estimated $39,957,443 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract with cost-plus-fixed-fee and firm-fixed-price ordering provisions to provide bio surveillance and epidemiology research support services required to support the ongoing development, performance, and management of research across the Indo-Pacific region and in collaboration with host-country partners in support of Naval Medical Research Unit Indo-Pacific. The contract will include a five-year ordering period with an additional six-month ordering period pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 52.217-8 which, if exercised, will bring the total estimated value of the contract to $44,328,172. Work will begin September 2024 and be completed by September 2029; if the option is exercised, work will be completed by March 2030. Work will be performed in multiple geographic regions. The predominance of performance will occur in various locations within the and outside the contiguous US in the Indo-Pacific region (97%); and Alexandria, Virginia (3%). More specifics on locations of work cannot be determined at this time. Fiscal 2024 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) (RDT&E) funds in the contract’s minimum amount of $1,000 will be obligated at time of award and funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Subsequent task orders will be funded with appropriate fiscal year operations and maintenance (Navy) or RDT&E (Navy) funds. The requirement was competitively procured under a small business set-aside pursuant to FAR 16.504 with one offer received. Naval Supply Systems Command Fleet Logistics Center Norfolk Contracting Department, Bureau of Medicine and Surgery/Financial Management and Comptroller Directorate, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is the contracting activity (N00189-24-D-Z020). (Awarded Aug. 5, 2024)
Amentum Services Inc., Chantilly, Virginia, was awarded a $12,020,288 modification (P00371) to contract W58RGZ-19-C-0025 for aviation maintenance services. Work will be performed in Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, with an estimated completion date of Nov. 30, 2024. Fiscal 2024 operation and maintenance, Army funds in the amount of $12,020,288 were obligated at the time of the award. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity.
Lindstrom Excavating Contractors Inc., Worton, Maryland, was awarded a $8,900,435 firm-fixed-price contract for dike improvement. Bids were solicited via the internet with four received. Work will be performed in Wittman, Maryland, with an estimated completion date of Oct. 12, 2025. Fiscal 2017, 2018, 2019, 2010, 2021, and 2023 civil construction funds in the amount of $8,900,435 were obligated at the time of the award. US Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore, Maryland, the contracting activity (W912DR-24-C-0022).
Lockheed Martin Corp., Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, is awarded a $611,270,079 modification (P00005) to a previously awarded cost-plus-fixed-fee, cost-plus-incentive-fee contract (N0001923C0009). This modification exercises options to procure development of Multi-Ship Infrared Search and Track Increment 2 hardware and Band 5 Radar Warning Receiver hardware in support of Lot 18 US Reprograming Lab Development; Lot 18 Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom Reprogramming Lab Development; Lot 18 Norway and Italy Reprogramming Lab Development; Lot 18 Denmark, Netherlands, and Foreign Military Sales (FMS) mission data file updates; and F-35 In a Box development and licensing for the F-35A/B/C aircraft. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas (60%); Nashua, New Hampshire (16%); Baltimore, Maryland (9%); Orlando, Florida (5.5%); Torrance, California (2%); San Diego, California (2%); El Segundo, California (2%); Northridge, California (1%); Clearwater, Florida (1%); Buffalo, New York (1%); and Tucson, Arizona (0.5%), and is expected to be completed in June 2026. Fiscal 2024 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $5,724,622; fiscal 2024 research, development, test, and evaluation (Air Force) funds in the amount of $5,724,623; FMS customer funds in the amount of $1,201,206; and non-Department of Defense participants funds in the amount of $15,527,961, will be obligated at the time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.
G-W Management Services LLC, Rockville, Maryland (N40080-21-D-0022); Biscayne Contractors Inc., Alexandria, Virginia (N40080-21-D-0023); Tuckman-Barbee Construction Co. Inc., Upper Marlboro, Maryland (N40080-21-D-0024); C.E.R. Inc., Baltimore, Maryland (N40080-21-D-0025); Belt Built-CFM JV, Crofton, Maryland (N40080-21-D-0026); EGI HSU, JV, LLC Edifice Group, Gaithersburg, Maryland (N40080-21-D-0027); Desbuild EGMS JV LLC, Hyattsville, Maryland (N40080-21-D-0028); and Tidewater Inc., Elkridge, Maryland (N40080-21-D-0029), are awarded a combined $82,000,000 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity modification to increase the capacity of their previously awarded multiple award construction contracts. The work to be performed provides for design build and design-bid-build construction services, and may include new work, additions, alterations, maintenance, and repairs within the Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command (NAVFAC) Washington area of operations. The maximum dollar value, including the base period and four option years, is $398,000,000. Work will be performed within Washington, DC (30%); Virginia (35%); and Maryland (35%) and is expected to be completed by July 2026. No funds are being obligated at time of the award. NAVFAC Washington, Washington, DC, is the contracting activity.
Leidos Inc., Reston, Virginia, is awarded a $7,893,226 modification (P00019) to a previously awarded cost-plus-fixed-fee contract (N0001422C1004) for the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory Science and Technology Division Autonomous Littoral Connector (ALC) project. The ALC project will utilize autonomy to provide maneuver from seabases and throughout the littorals with an unmanned ship-to-objective maneuver connector that is in alignment with the Marine Corps Operating Concept: “How an Expeditionary Force Operates in the 21st Century” and the Marine Corps’ Force Design 2030 guidance for surviving in the weapons engagement zone. This effort integrates autonomy onto connectors (vessels) to deliver equipment, fuel, or supplies from ship-to-shore and throughout the littoral environment; improves autonomous beaching, well deck ops, and payload integration; conducts an Amphibious Assault Direction System spiral; and adds autonomous navigation to multiple vessels. This modification provides for the execution of an option. Work will be performed in Reston, Virginia, and is expected to be completed in August 2026. Fiscal 2024 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $3,799,398 are obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Office of Naval Research, Arlington, Virginia, is the contracting activity.
BAE Systems Ordnance Systems Inc., Radford, Virginia, was awarded a $55,994,895 modification (P00003) to contract W519TC-23-F-0174 for equipment and infrastructure repair. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Aug. 31, 2026. Army Contracting Command, Rock Island, Illinois, is the contracting activity (W519TC-23-F-0174).
Amentum Services Inc., Chantilly, Virginia, was awarded a $32,580,202 modification (0002 DL) to contract W52P1J-12-G-0028 for storage equipment. Work will be performed in Powidz, Poland, with an estimated completion date of Nov. 20, 2024. Fiscal 2024 operation and maintenance, Army funds in the amount of $32,580,202 were obligated at the time of the award. Army Contracting Command, Rock Island, Illinois, is the contracting activity.
Xometry Inc., North Bethesda, Maryland (W911QX-24-A-0002); and Proto Labs Inc., Maple Main, Minnesota (W911QX-24-A-0003) will compete for each order of the $10,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract for mechanical hardware prototypes. Bids were solicited via the internet with six received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Aug. 8, 2029. Army Contracting Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, is the contracting activity.
