Report Evaluates STEM Labor Force in US

Engineering technician Ryan Fischer torques the force gauge ring on to the vibe table in preparation for vibration testing of the PACE spacecraft bus at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD, in June 2021. (NASA photo)

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 National Science Foundation has published its latest report on the STEM labor force. Nearly one of every four workers in the United States is involved in a STEM occupation, and 41% of those STEM workers do not have an associate’s degree or higher, according to The STEM Labor Force: Scientists, Engineers, and Skilled Technical Workers report. The STEM workforce now translates to 36.8 million people across the country, and the Department of Labor projects growth in STEM occupations through 2032 will outpace non-STEM positions by annual rates of 7% and 2%, respectively. Demographically, while 24% of the workforce may be in STEM, the NSF indicators report reveals men are still more likely to be in the field.

Del. Carl Anderton Jr., a Republican from Wicomico County, is the new director of rural economic strategy, a newly created role within the Maryland Department of Commerce, reports delmarvanow.com. In this new position, Anderton will be the department’s principal adviser on rural economic development, including in Western Maryland, Southern Maryland, and the Eastern Shore.

Maryland will be able to access more than $267 million in federal funds — part of the Biden administration’s $42.45 billion Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment plan — to help expand broadband access across the state, reports Maryland Matters. BEAD is designed to help state and local governments bring high-speed internet service to remote or underserved areas.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has chosen the University of Texas at Austin to house microelectronics manufacturing hub, reports Defense News. The $1.4 billion, five-year partnership will establish the first US hub for advanced microelectronics manufacturing.

The Senate Armed Services Committee wants DoD’s Defense Innovation Unit to expand its presence across the US and is calling on the Pentagon’s commercial technology hub to develop a plan to partner with universities and tech companies around the country, reports C4ISRNET.

University of Maryland researchers enhancing food preservation technologies have engineered a seafood-waste material that removes chemical pesticides from produce and extends its shelf life, according to the A. James Clark School of Engineering. This work offers a viable solution to improve food safety, a UM professor noted.

George Kurtz, CEO of cybersecurity company CrowdStrike, said Friday morning his company is “deeply sorry” for the global internet outage that hit airlines and businesses worldwide, reports The Hill. According to flight-tracking website FlightAware, more than 27,000 flights were delayed worldwide, with more than 2,700 of them in the US.

Maryland Matters noted that many state agencies grappled with CrowdStrike outages and problems varied across the state.

Leslie Beavers is the new acting chief information officer for the US Defense Department, reports C4ISRNET. She is taking over from former CIO John Sherman, who has taken the job as dean of the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University.

The 2024 Farnborough International Airshow near London has begun. The show runs from today, July 22, to July 26. AeroTime offers a sneak peek at the aircraft that will be on display this year. While some will be on static display only, others will be participating in traditional daily flying displays.

Boeing says it has tailored its presence at Farnborough to focus on strengthening safety and quality and meeting customer commitments, while also highlighting next generation technologies and capabilities, according to a company news release.

Brazilian aerospace company Embraer hopes to boost its C-390 Millenium tactical airlifter cargo plane sales from the Farnborough event, reports Defense News.

Altair, an information technology company headquartered in Troy, MI, will showcase cutting-edge AI-powered engineering at Farnborough, reports PR Newswire.

The Defense Department’s inspector general finds that military burn pit exposure has not been tracked properly, reports Air Force Times. During the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, American personnel regularly used these sites — essentially giant piles of trash set on fire — to dispose of waste. Its main finding was a missing piece of the policy. DoD does not require military commanders to monitor burn pits created by locals rather than the US military, the report said. Without such a policy, American service members exposed to toxic smoke might not have that listed in their health records.

The Pentagon will likely continue to use PFAS-based firefighting foam for two more years, reports Military.com. The foam, which contains hazardous “forever chemicals,” is used at more than 1,500 military facilities and in thousands of vehicles and equipment worldwide. DoD said last year it had identified a fluorine-free foam that met its needs for replacing its current firefighting foam, known as aqueous film forming foam, or AFFF, which contains per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, commonly known as PFAS. DoD will likely ask for an extension of its Oct. 1 deadline to transition to the new foam.

NavSec Carlos Del Toro said the US Navy has exonerated 256 Black sailors unjustly punished after a deadly 1944 port explosion, reports The Hill. The explosion, which took place 80 years ago on July 17, 1944, at Port Chicago Naval Magazine outside San Francisco, killed 320 people and injured 400 others when munitions being loaded onto a cargo ship detonated. The sailors had been punished for refusing to go back to work in what they considered to be an unsafe environment, reports ABC News via MSN.

Despite programs across the US, the overall condition of child care in America is a “dumpster fire,” according to family policy expert and author Elliot Haspel, reports Capital News Service. “The US treats child care like a private market good, much more like a restaurant or a gym, than it does like a social or public piece of infrastructure, like a library or a school,” said Mr. Haspel, author of “Crawling Behind: America’s Childcare Crisis and How to Fix It.”

John Bentivegna, chief master sergeant of the US Space Force, attended a premiere of Sony Pictures’ “Fly Me to the Moon” at the US Navy Memorial in Washington, DC, earlier this month, the service reports. Bentivegna spoke about the Space Force’s role in the making of the film and how films about space exploration can inspire people to pursue careers in the space domain. Production of the film was supported by both Space Force Guardians and NASA since many of the movie’s sets were filmed on what are now Space Force installations.

Maryland’s Gov. Wes Moore (D) recently noted the impact the film industry has had on the state shortly before an Apple TV+ limited series was released on July 19.  The production of “Lady in the Lake” created 1,132 Maryland jobs; utilized goods and services from 2,456 local businesses; and paid for more than 32,000 hotel room nights at local lodging establishments — generating more than $100 million during its production in Maryland, according to the state Department of Commerce. “Our administration is unafraid to make big bets on the industries we can lead in – and that includes the world of entertainment,” Moore said.

Archaeologists have found musket balls from an early Revolutionary War battle in Concord, MA, reports Navy Times. The latest evidence of that firefight is five musket balls dug up in Minute Man National Historical Park. Early analysis of the balls — gray with sizes ranging from a pea to a marble — indicates colonial militia members fired them at British forces on April 19, 1775.

Contracts:

Lockheed Martin Corp., Fort Worth, Texas, is awarded a not-to-exceed $30,833,156 cost-plus-fixed-fee, level of effort, undefinitized contract to provide systems engineering, data configuration, quality management, cybersecurity, and site stand up support, as well as assessment of the current government equipment to determine what is adequate, needs repaired, upgraded, and/or replaced in support of Phase I of the Principal Enterprise Reprogramming Lab redesign for F-35 Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customers. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas (98%); Baltimore, Maryland (1%); and Amherst, New York (1%), and is expected be completed in February 2026. FMS funds in the amount of $8,136,915 will be obligated at the time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured pursuant to 10 U.S. Code 3204(a)(4). Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity (N0001924C0027).

Textron Systems Corp., New Orleans, Louisiana, is awarded a $312,389,283 cost reimbursable, not-to-exceed modification to a previously awarded contract (N00024-23-C-2452) for the procurement of material and recurring and non-recurring activities for up to nine future ship to shore connector landing craft air cushion (100 class) craft. Work will be performed in New Orleans, Louisiana (35%); Camden, New Jersey (21%); Gloucester, United Kingdom (13%); Harahan, Louisiana (8%); Huntington Beach, California (8%); Cincinnati, Ohio (6%); Portsmouth, Virginia (3%); Riverdale, Iowa (2%); Gold Beach, Oregon, (2%); and Jupiter, Florida (2%), and is expected to be completed by October 2025. Fiscal 2024 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funds in the amount of $163,538,958 (69%); fiscal 2022 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funds in the amount of $43,990,734 (18%); and fiscal 2023 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funds in the amount of $30,554,948 (13%), will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, DC, is the contracting activity.

Nixon & Nixon Inc., San Antonio, Texas (N4523A24D1301); SEW Inc., Washington, DC (N4523A24D1302); Madison Hospitality, Leesburg, Virginia (N4523A24D1303); Stress Free Corporate Housing, Weston, Florida (N4523A24D1304); and Lima Charlie Inc., Riverbank, California (N4523A24D1305), are awarded a combined $44,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract for long term lodging services in San Diego, California. Each awardee will be awarded $1,000 (minimum contract guarantee) at contract award. Work will be performed in San Diego, California, and is expected to be completed by July 2029. Fiscal 2024 operations and maintenance (Navy) funds in the amount of $8,716,000 will be obligated at the time of award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via the System for Award Management website, with 25 offers received. Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility Contracting Department, Bremerton, Washington, is the contracting activity.

Systems Planning & Analysis Inc., Alexandria, Virginia, is awarded an $11,996,620 firm-fixed-price order to previously awarded contract (N00024-23-C-2103) for procurement of an Industrial Base study. Work will be performed in Alexandria, Virginia, and is expected to be completed by July 2025. Foreign partner funds in the amount of $11,996,620 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured and is a sole-source award pursuant to 10 US Code 3204(a)(1) and (4). The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, DC, is the contracting activity.

R&I Construction, Aiea, Hawaii (W912CN-24-D-0020); North Star Government Services, San Diego, California (W912CN-24-D-0021); NC JV LLC, Honolulu, Hawaii (W912CN-24-D-0022); Mashima Electric, Kapolei, Hawaii (W912CN-24-D-0023); Landan Construction, Kapolei, Hawaii (W912CN-24-D-0024); EPC Service Inc., Aiea, Hawaii (W912CN-24-D-0025); D&D Construction, Waipuhu, Hawaii (W912CN-24-D-0026); Auli’i Construction Inc., Kaneohe, Hawaii (W912CN-24-D-0027); Amethyst Builders LLC, Ewa Beach, Hawaii (W912CN-24-D-0028); and 2A LLC, Aberdeen, Maryland (W912CN-24-D-0029), will compete for each order of the $137,500,000 firm-fixed-price contract for repair, maintenance, minor construction, demolition, and other work. Bids were solicited via the internet with 13 received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of July 31, 2029. 411th Contracting Support Brigade, Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, is the contracting activity.

Elbit Systems of America, Roanoke, Virginia, was awarded an $8,409,488 firm-fixed-price contract to test, inspect and repair monocular assemblies. Bids were solicited via the internet with one received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of July 18, 2029. Army Contracting Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, is the contracting activity (W15P7T-24-D-0006).

Manta Group LLC, Purcellville, Virginia, has been awarded a $21,510,973 firm-fixed-price contract for Pacific Air Forces (PACAF) exercise planner. This contract provides for personnel, expertise in exercise planning support, budget analyst support, administrator support, supervision, and services necessary to support Headquarters PACAF exercise planning requirements. Work will be performed at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii; and Osan Air Base, Republic of Korea, and is expected to be completed by Aug. 14, 2029. This contract was a competitive acquisition, and 13 offers were received. Fiscal 2024 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $3,761,899 are being obligated at time of award. The 766th Enterprise Sourcing Squadron, Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Honolulu, Hawaii, is the contracting activity (FA521524F0030).

American Rheinmetall Munition Inc., Stafford, Virginia, is awarded a $24,772,000 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for the purchase of M1110 40MM Low Velocity Day/Night practice cartridges. Work will be performed in Camden, Arkansas, and is expected to be completed in July 2029. Fiscal 2023 procurement of ammunition (Marine Corps) funds in the amount of $3,061,565 will be obligated on the first delivery order following contract award and will expire end of Fiscal 2025. Fiscal 2024 procurement of ammunition (Marine Corps) funds in the amount of $9,290,984 will be obligated on the first delivery order following contract award and will expire end of Fiscal 2026. This contract was not competitively procured pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1. The Marine Corps Systems Command, Quantico, Virginia, is the contracting activity (M67854-24-D-5203).

Hexagon US Federal Inc., Huntsville, Alabama, is awarded a $17,736,272 firm-fixed-price modification (P00008) to previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract (M67854-23-C-4902) for sustainment of the Consolidated Emergency Response System (CERS) to provide hardware, software, and services to sustain and maintain CERS at Marine Corps installations. The total cumulative face value of this contract is $34,732,868. The contract modification is to exercise option year one, second-six-month period for the sustainment of the existing CERS. Work will be performed at Iwakuni, Japan (8.8%); Cherry Point, North Carolina (7.6%); Quantico, Virginia (7.6%); Camp Butler, Okinawa, Japan (7.6%); Beaufort, South Carolina (7.6%); Parris Island, South Carolina (7.6%); Albany, Georgia (7.6%); Camp Pendleton, California (7.6%); Barstow, California (7.6%); Twentynine Palms, California (7.6%); Miramar, Florida (7.6%); Camp Lejeune, North Carolina (7.6%); and Yuma, Arizona (7.6%), with an expected completion date of March 31, 2027. Fiscal 2024 operations and maintenance (Marine Corps) funds in the amount of $4,251,020 are obligated at time of award. Contract funds in the amount of $4,251,020 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This procurement is a sole source award to a large business in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1, authorized or required by statue. The Marine Corps Systems Command, Quantico, Virginia, is the contracting activity.

SERCO Inc., Herndon, Virginia, was awarded a $323,067,968 firm-fixed-price contract for facility repairs and upgrades. Bids were solicited via the internet with one received. Work will be performed in Greenland, with an estimated completion date of Sept. 30, 2028. Fiscal 2024 operation and maintenance, defense-wide funds in the amount of $323,067,968 were obligated at the time of the award. US Army Corps of Engineers, New York, New York, is the contracting activity (W912DS-24-C-0022).