Trump Budget Ramps Up Defense Spending
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President Donald Trump said he will propose a budget that would ramp up spending on defense and infrastructure, Reuters reports. He is seeking a historic increase in military spending of more than 9 percent and is seeking to boost Pentagon spending in the next fiscal year by $54 billion. The majority of “lower priority programs and most federal agencies” will see a reduction in their budget as a result of the proposal, CNN reports.
US taxpayers are sending money to the Pentagon without knowing exactly where it goes, The National Interest reports, while billions of dollars are lost each year on wasteful programs that do not necessarily make the American people safer.
The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter has arrived on Australian soil, ABC News reports. On Monday, the Royal Australian Air Force landed two F-35s, after flying the fifth generation fighters from the US.
President Trump’s nominee for secretary of the Navy, Philip Bilden, has removed himself from consideration, UPI reports. Bilden said his ties to Asian financial markets could not meet ethics standards without harming his financial interests.
Folks at NAS Lemoore in California are confident the VFA-125 squadron will continue its legacy in the field of naval aviation as it starts to fly the Navy’s newest strike fighter aircraft, hanfordsentinel.com reports. On Jan. 25, four F-35C Lightning IIs arrived at the base. Lemoore has been home to the Navy’s West Coast strike fighter community since 1980, when VFA-125 was the first squadron established to train aviators in the F/A-18 Hornet. Early last month, the squadron had been reactivated as the first F-35C fleet replacement squadron.
The Air Force will deploy the F-35A to fight ISIS in the Middle East in the “not too distant future,” potentially a few years down the road, the outgoing head of Air Combat Command said Friday, reports Defense News.
DefSec James Mattis, Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, and Joint Chiefs Chairman Joseph Dunford have quickly formed a stabilizing alliance in President Trump’s administration, whose earliest days have been marked by turmoil, Military Times reports.
Defense Systems reports Hughes Defense is working with the Navy to develop a 360-degree, beyond-line-of-sight SATCOM terminal for helicopters that is designed to allow rotary aircraft to communicate without maneuvering into a specific position.
Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin believes negative reports might be hurting veterans access to care, Military Times reports. “I’m looking for a fair and accurate balance, and I really believe it is time we stop the constant berating on VA, by public officials, by the media, and everyone else. We need to join together with a singular commitment to making this a better organization.” Shulkin is expected to address The American Legion conference in Washington today, Feb. 28.
Glassdoor, a careers site, conducted a study to find out which industries have higher retention rates for employees. Government positions — currently about 22.2 million in the US — took the top spot for industries where people stay in their jobs the longest, MSN reports. See the Glassdoor study here.
Military Times is looking to honor the services’ everyday heroes. The publication is now accepting nominees for 2017 Service Members of the Year. Honor their dedication and commitment to fellow service members, their communities, and their country. Deadline is March 15.
Contracts:
Intercell USA Inc., Gaithersburg, Maryland, has been awarded a maximum $14,146,000 modification (P0001) exercising the one-year option period of a one-year base contract (SPE2DP-16-D-0003) with one one-year option period for the Japanese encephalitis vaccine. This is a firm-fixed-price, indefinite-quantity contract. Location of performance is Maryland, with a March 15, 2018, performance completion date. Using customer is Defense Logistics Agency. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2017 through 2018 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Distribution, New Cumberland, Pennsylvania.
Serco Inc., Reston, Virginia, is being awarded $27,094,715 modification to a previously awarded fixed-price contract (N39430-16-C-1811) to exercise the first option period under for lifecycle sustainment of physical security/access control and command, control, communications, computers, and intelligence systems in support of the Naval Facilities Engineering Command Anti-Terrorism/Force Protection Ashore program at various Navy installations worldwide. The work to be performed provides for preventive maintenance of hardware, associated firmware, and software; response and resolution of service calls for corrective maintenance to include equipment repair, overhaul, or replacement; information assurance vulnerability alert to include version control, patch management, and vulnerability scanning; asset management to track, maintain, upgrade, and dispose of systems; configuration management to establish and maintain consistency of the system attributes with operational requirements and evolving technical baseline; technical refreshments, upgrades and installation of new systems; and programmatic trend analysis to identify systemic sustainment issues such as technology obsolescence. After award of this option, the total cumulative contract value will be $50,937,586. Work will be performed at various installations worldwide, and is expected to be completed March 2018. Fiscal 2017 operations and maintenance (Navy) contract funds in the amount of $7,625,488 are obligated on this award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Facilities Engineering and Expeditionary Warfare Center, Port Hueneme, California, is the contracting activity.
Web LLC, Springfield, Virginia, is being awarded $21,818,107 for firm-fixed-price task order 0006 under a previously awarded design-build multiple award construction contract (N69450-15-D-0612) for repairs and renovation to the aircraft maintenance hangar Building 3741 and demolition of Building 2741, at Naval Air Station, Kingsville. The work to be performed provides for repairs of deficiencies in hangar Building 3741, consolidation of occupants from Building 2741 into Building 3741, and demolition of Building 2741. Repairs include roof replacement, roof decking, sealing roof penetrations, and renovation of the second floor. The repairs also include correction of architectural, structural, plumbing, heating, ventilation and air conditioning, fire protection, electrical deficiencies and any other incidental related work. Site improvements associated with the project are very limited. Work will be performed in Kingsville, Texas, and is expected to be completed by February 2019. Fiscal 2017 operations and maintenance (Navy) contract funds in the amount of $21,818,107 are obligated on this award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Two proposals were received for this task order. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Southeast, Jacksonville, Florida, is the contracting activity.
Dynamic Systems, Inc., El Segundo, California, is being awarded an $8,165,453 firm-fixed-price task order for R11i/R12 Solutions Development Environment (SDE) support. The objective of this task order is to produce an initial R11i SDE with a partitioned R12 SDE that supports a development environment, configuration management environment, test environment, integration environment and training development environment for both R11i and R12 applications simultaneously. In addition, this effort includes R11i and R12 hardware and software maintenance and sustainment. The maximum total award value under this contract is $21,511,033 including the basic award and additional options. Work will be performed in Kansas City, Missouri (95 percent); and Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia (5 percent), and is expected to be completed Aug. 26, 2017. If options are exercised, work will continue through February, 2020. Fiscal 2017 operations and maintenance funds (Marine Corps) in the amount of $8,165,453 will be obligated time of award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competed among woman-owned small businesses under the Chief Information Officer – IT Commodities/Solutions Government-wide Acquisition Contract with one offer received. Marine Corps Systems Command, Quantico, Virginia, is the contracting activity (M67854-17-F-7612).
National Industries for the Blind, Alexandria, Virginia, has been awarded a maximum $17,439,490 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for various uniforms. Other than full and open competition was used in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-5, mandatory source. This is a one-year contract with one one-year option period. Locations of performance are Virginia, Alabama, Maryland, New Jersey, and North Carolina, with an Aug. 31, 2018, estimated performance completion date. Using military service is Air Force. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2017 through 2018 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE1C1-17-D-B012).
Millennium Engineering and Integration Co., Arlington, Virginia, has been awarded an $8,478,961 firm-fixed price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for the Safety Hazard Analysis and Risk Processing system. Contractor will provide resources necessary to support launch safety functions for flight analysis software models used by 45th Space Wing analysts to produce operational products for flight control and risk analysis software models. Work will be performed at Patrick Air Force Base, Florida, and is expected to be complete by Sept. 30, 2020. This award is the result of a competitive acquisition with one offer received. Fiscal 2017 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $50,000 are being obligated at the time of award. The 45th Contracting Squadron, Patrick Air Force Base, Florida, is the contracting activity (FA2521-17-D-0002).
