UK Welcomes Huawei 5G
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.
UK gives Huawei the go-ahead to build parts of the country’s 5G network, reports CNET. The approval from the UK prime minister and National Security Council comes with some serious restrictions, but the UK’s Huawei decision shows the limits of US and Britain’s power to thwart the agreement, reports Politico. PM Boris Johnson’s embrace of Huawei is a potential tipping point in Washington’s faltering struggle with Beijing for global technological and economic dominance. For the United Kingdom, Tuesday’s decision is a pragmatic choice born of economic necessity. The British decision was crucial in a broader fight for tech supremacy between the US and China, reports The New York Times.
Fifty service members are diagnosed with traumatic brain injury following Iran ballistic missile attack, reports Military Times. The Jan. 8 ballistic missile attack by Iran struck two Iraqi bases housing coalition troops.
Coronavirus screening has expanded to 20 US airports; researchers start work on a new vaccine, reports Live Science. “Americans should not worry for their own safety,” HHS Secretary Alex Azar said. The expanded screening sites are to identify ill passengers returning from China and educate travelers about symptoms that should prompt medical attention. Here is the CDC map of the 20 impacted airports.
US cuts the number of Black Hawks earmarked for Afghanistan by two-thirds, reports Military Time, from 159 to 53. The US intention to provide rotary wing assets appears in a December 2019 DoD report, “Enhancing Security and Stability to Afghanistan.” The UH-60 Black Hawk program provides Afghan forces with troop and cargo transport and casualty evacuation. DoD also cut the number of armed fixed-wing AC-208 attack and reconnaissance aircraft it originally planned to deliver from 32 to 10.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was indicted in corruption cases, hours before he and President Donald Trump announced a Mideast peace plan, reports CNN. Netanyahu has been charged with bribery and fraud and breach of trust in three separate corruption cases.
The Pentagon plans to test hypersonic missiles at five times the speed of sound this year, reports MSN, with at least four initial flight tests of prototypes for glide bombs that can fly five times the speed of sound and maneuver en route.
DoD launches Gremlins, swarming drones, for the first time from a mothership, reports Defense News, moving closer the unmanned aircraft toward midair launch and recovery capabilities.
The Caribbean earthquake of 7.7 prompted office evacuations in Miami as well as Jamaica, reports BBC. The Tuesday quake hit between Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, and Cuba at a depth of 10 km (6.2 miles). Buildings shook and tremors were felt across the Caribbean, but there were no immediate reports of casualties.
Harvard’s chemistry department chair is charged with lying about ties to the Chinese government, reports The Washington Times. Charles Lieber is accused of concealing almost $2 million to hide his ties to a Chinese university linked to a program accused of stealing US intellectual property. By hiding his ties, Lieber was able to secure $18 million in research grant funding from the DoD and National Health Institute. The Harvard Crimson reports Lieber was placed on an “indefinite” paid administrative leave after being charged.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte threatens to end the defense agreement with the US, reports Stars and Stripes. Terminating the Visiting Forces Agreement that governs the deployment of US troops to the Philippines could harm US efforts to deter China in the South China Sea. Duterte began his term in 2016 by insulting US leaders and stating his intent to move closer to China and Russia.
The Navy’s surge sealift readines fleet is not ready, a September 2019 no-notice test found only 40% of the fleet able to leave port, reports USNI News, this despite harsh assessments in 2017 and 2018 IG reports. The Military Sealift Command spent $742.5 million to maintain the nation’s fleet of 50 surge sealift ships between fiscal years 2016 and 2018. The DoD’s Inspector General’s January 2020 report found numerous instances when contractors hired to maintain the fleet did not appropriately classify problems, misleading geographic combatant commanders about their ability to quickly receive equipment resupplies.
Contracts:
BAE Systems Technology Solutions & Services, Rockville, Maryland, is awarded a $10,536,004 modification (P00002) to a previously awarded cost-plus-fixed-fee contract (N00421-20-C-0003). This modification exercises an option to provide engineering and technical services for integrated communications and information systems radio communications for Navy ships, in support of the Naval Air Warfare Center, Webster Outlying Field, to support the integrated communications and information systems radio communications. Work will be performed in St. Inigoes, Maryland (60%); California, Maryland (30%); Bath, Maine (5%); and Pascagoula, Mississippi (5%), and is expected to be completed in July 2025. Fiscal 2020 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funds for $4,000,000 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.
Geocent LLC, Metairie, Louisiana (N66001-20-D-3417); M.C. Dean Inc., Tysons, Virginia (N66001-20-D-3418); McKean Defense Group LLC, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (N66001-20-D-3419); Parsons Government Services Inc., Pasadena, California (N66001-20-D-3420); Science Applications International Corp., Reston, Virginia (N66001-20-D-3421); Serco Inc., Herndon, Virginia (N66001-20-D-3422); Systems Technology Forum Ltd., Fredericksburg, Virginia (N66001-20-D-3423); Valkyrie Enterprises Inc., Virginia Beach, Virginia (N66001-20-D-3424); and VT Milcom Inc., Virginia Beach, Virginia (N66001-20-D-3425), are each awarded a $56,339,692 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, multiple-award contract with cost-plus-fixed-fee, firm-fixed-price and cost (no fee) pricing. Support includes project management, administration, drafting, technical integration, testing, maintenance, engineering, logistics, facilities and security for software and hardware of new and existing command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems and networks. All awardees will have the opportunity to compete for task orders during the ordering period. This two-year contract includes two three-year option periods, which, if exercised, would bring the overall potential value of this contract to an estimated $249,033,405. Work will be performed primarily in the Indo-Asia-Pacific Region and Navy Region Southwest including Hawaii, Guam, Japan, California, Nevada, Washington state, Oklahoma, South Korea, Singapore, Philippines, and Australia; and outside this region in Bahrain, Djibouti and Italy. Work will be performed outside the continental US (50%); and inside the continental US (50%) on a full-time basis. The period of performance of the base award is from Jan. 29, 2020, through Jan. 28, 2022. If all options were exercised, the period of performance would extend through Jan. 28, 2028. No funds will be obligated at the time of award. Funds will be obligated as task orders are issued using operations and maintenance (Navy); and other funding, which may include working capital funds (DoD); Department of Homeland Security funds; and research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funds. This contract was competitively procured via a request for proposal (N66001-19-R-0001) which was published on the Federal Business Opportunities website and the Naval Information Warfare Command e-Commerce Central website. Eighteen offers were received and nine were selected for award. The Naval Information Warfare Center, Pacific, San Diego, California, is the contracting activity.
Northrup Grumman Systems Corp., Linthicum Heights, Maryland, is awarded a $15,752,580 cost-plus-fixed-fee modification to exercise options to previously-awarded contract N00024-15-C-5319 for level of effort engineering services and associated travel to provide continuous support of two AN/SLQ-32(V)Y Surface Electronic Warfare Improvement Program (SEWIP) Block 3 System low rate initial production units. This option exercise is for the continued level of effort engineering services in support of SEWIP Block 3 low-rate initial-production units. SEWIP is an evolutionary acquisition and incremental development program to upgrade the existing AN/SLQ-32(V) electronic warfare system. SEWIP Block 3 will provide select Navy surface ships a scalable electronic warfare enterprise suite with improved electronic attack capabilities. Work will be performed in Linthicum, Maryland, and is expected to be completed by December 2020. Fiscal 2018 other procurement (Navy) funding in the amount of $60,000 will be obligated at time of award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington Navy Yard, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity.
AECOM Management Services Inc., Germantown, Maryland, was awarded a $17,000,000 modification (000260) to contract W52P1J-12-G-0028 for Army Prepositioned Stock (APS-2) logistics support services in support of maintenance, supply and transportation at Mannheim and Dulmen, Germany. Work will be performed in Mannheim and Dulmen, Germany, with an estimated completion date of Nov. 20, 2020. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance, Army funds in the amount of $17,000,000 were obligated at the time of the award. US Army Contracting Command, Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois, is the contracting activity.
Vision Point Systems Inc., Fairfax, Virginia, was awarded a $13,500,000 firm-fixed-price contract to provide corrosion engineering and logistics technical, analytical, programmatic, research and development, technical assistance, testing, training, and technical writing support for the US Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (CCDC) Ground Vehicle Systems Center (GVCS) and Tank-automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM) Life Cycle Management Center (LCMC). Bids were solicited via the internet with four received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Jan. 28, 2025. US Army Contracting Command, Detroit Arsenal, Michigan, is the contracting activity (W56HZV-20-D-0012).
Technica Corp., Sterling, Virginia, has been awarded a $13,591,345 cost-plus-fixed-fee modification to exercise the first option period, Feb. 15, 2020, through Feb. 14, 2021. The contract provides weapon system engineering and maintenance services to include incremental software version development and installation, security patch installations, preventative maintenance, trouble shooting and responsive Tier 1, 2 and 3 support for the Cyberspace Vulnerability Assessment/Hunter (CVA/H) weapon system. Work will be performed in Sterling, Virginia, and is expected to be complete by Aug. 14, 2025. This award is the result of a competitive acquisition. Offerors were solicited under the Network-Centric Solutions (NETCENTS) Network Operations and Infrastructure Small Business contract holders and seven offers were received. Fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation; operations and maintenance; and procurement funds in the amount of $13,591,345 are being obligated at the time of modification to exercise the first option period. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Cryptologic and Cyber Systems Division, Joint-Base San Antonio-Lackland, San Antonio, Texas, is the contracting activity (FA8732-14-D-0015, task order FA8307-19-F-0098).
