March 27, 2024

US Says 737-Max8 Safe to Fly; UK Says Not There

Boeing 737-Max8

Morning Coffee is a robust blend of links to news around the internet concerning the Naval Air Station Patuxent River Morning Coffee logoeconomic community. The opinions expressed here do not reflect opinions of the Leader’s owners or staff.

FAA says the Boeing 737-Max8 is safe to fly, despite two crashes of the model in five months, reports Business Insider. The FAA says any links between Sunday’s crash of an Ethiopian Airlines plane and the Lion Air disaster in October have yet to be determined. The UK Civil Aviation Authority, however, cited insufficient information from the flight data recorder and issued instructions to stop any commercial passenger flights from any operator arriving, departing, or overflying UK airspace, reports Aviation Week.

Defense News reports Democrats will be unwilling to pass the White House’s fiscal 2020 budget request for $750 billion for national defense while cutting non-defense funds by 9 percent to $563 billion. The budget seeks “to preserve peace through strength,” says OMB’s acting director. Of the $34 billion increase above FY19’s national defense budget, $33 billion will go to the Defense Department for its $718 billion share of the defense request.

Feds vow to clean up Navy, industrial dump site, reports Navy Times, agreeing to spend about $65 million to clean up land in Virginia’s Hampton Roads region polluted by a wood treatment facility and military dump site.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order, Military.com reports, helping seafaring service members transition to the Merchant Marine. The order is designed to bolster the ranks of the Merchant Marine and increase job opportunities for transitioning troops.

A flotsam of lockers sheared away by the collision of the Fitzgerald, may have blocked escape paths, reports Navy Times. A Navy board of inquiry found “no basis” to remove from the Navy Lt. Irian Woodley, the surface warfare coordinator in the combat information center aboard Fitzgerald at the time of the collision, reports USNI. An initial inquiry had not recommended criminal for Lt. Woodley or the ship’s tactical action officer, Lt. Natalie Combs. The consolidated disposition authority (CDA) ADM Frank Caldwell did not accept that finding for Lt. Combs, who along with Cmdr. Bryce Benson, faces criminal negligence charges. Cmdr. Benson’s case is on hold while the Navy replaces the CDA after ADM Caldwell showed he believed the commander directly responsible for the collision.

Lawmakers to invite NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg to address Congress, reports Defense News. The invitation comes as NATO celebrates its 70th anniversary in April, but also comes at a tense time in the alliance. Bloomberg reports on Trump’s notion to demand nations hosting US troops pay their costs, plus 50 percent.

Norway accuses Russia of jamming its military systems, with continued “electronic harassment” of critical communications systems and networks, reports Defense News. The Norwegian Armed Forces exploration of new methods and technologies to better protect military communications was triggered by intelligence reports that link the jamming of GPS signals during the Trident Juncture joint exercises in the High North with NATO in 2018.

US SecState Mike Pompeo said the US would defend the Philippines if it came under attack from China in relation to a years-long island dispute in the South China Sea. This is a policy departure with ramifications for regional peace and stability, reports Asia Times.

Lockheed Martin touts reliability gains in British Army’s Warrior vehicle upgrade, reports Defense News.

Air Force to extend lives of some KC-135s, reports Defense News, to make up for delays in the KC-46 program.

Coast Guard officers pleads not guilt to gun and drug charges in alleged terrorism plot, reports NPR. Christopher Hasson, 49, pleaded not guilty to charges of illegal possession of firearm silencers, possession of firearms by a drug addict and unlawful user, and possession of a controlled substance. Mr. Hasson was arrested last month in the parking lot of the Coast Guard headquarters where he had worked for three years. A search of his Silver Spring, Md., apartment turned up 15 firearms, including seven rifles, and over 1,000 rounds of ammunition.

Contracts:

Northrop Grumman Systems Corp. – Marine Systems, Sunnyvale, California, is awarded a $273,053,534 cost-plus incentive-fee, cost-plus-fixed-fee, firm-fixed-price contract for technical engineering services, design and development engineering, component and full scale test and evaluation engineering, and tactical underwater launcher hardware production to support the development and production of the Common Missile Compartment. Work will be performed in Sunnyvale, California (55 percent); Ridgecrest, California (20 percent); Cape Canaveral, Florida (10 percent); Bangor, Washington (5 percent); Kings Bay, Georgia (5 percent); Barrow-In-Furness, England (2 percent); New London, Connecticut (1 percent); Quonset Point, Rhode Island (1 percent); and Arlington, Virginia (1 percent), and is expected to be completed by March 31, 2024. Fiscal 2019 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funding in the amount of $39,631,234 will be obligated on this award. Fiscal 2019 United Kingdom Common funding in the amount of $24,369,442 will be obligated on this award. No funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively solicited pursuant to 10 U.S. Code. Strategic Systems Programs, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity (N00030-19-C-0015).

Smartronix Inc., Hollywood, Maryland, is awarded a $72,374,593 cost-plus-fixed-fee, cost reimbursable, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract. This contract provides information management and information technology support services to sustain the analysis, design, development, integration, test, deployment and operations of information technology systems and services. This contract includes help desk, software engineering, financial and business application, server operations, application hosting, desktop, audiovisual and video teleconferencing support services. Work will be performed in China Lake, California (80 percent); and Point Mugu, California (20 percent), and is expected to be completed in March 2024. 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 via an electronic request for proposal; six offers were received. The Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division, China Lake, California, is the contracting activity (N68936-19-D-0027).

Ch2m Hill Inc., Englewood, Colorado, is awarded a $68,000,000 cost-plus-award-fee modification to increase the maximum dollar value of an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for comprehensive long-term environmental architect-engineering services on Navy and Marine Corps installations at sites in the Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Atlantic area of responsibility. The work to be performed provides for architectural and engineering services to provide program management and technical environmental services in support of the Department of the Navy’s Environmental Restoration Program, Munitions Response Program, and other similar programs at any Navy and Marine Corps activity in the area of responsibility covered by NAVFAC Atlantic. After award of this modification, the total cumulative contract value will be $308,000,000. Work will be performed primarily in Puerto Rico (35 percent); California (18 percent); Virginia (15 percent); Washington (12 percent), North Carolina (8 percent); Maryland (7 percent); Mississippi (3 percent); and Washington, District of Columbia (2 percent), and is expected to be completed by March 2020. No funds will be obligated at time of award; funds will be obligated on individual task orders as they are issued. Task orders will be primarily funded by environmental restoration, (Navy). The contractor was chosen using federal acquisition regulation Part 36, Architect-Engineer Services on an unrestricted basis. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Atlantic, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity (contract number N62470-16-D-9000).

iWorks Corp., Reston, Virginia, was awarded a $48,980,260.80 firm-fixed-price contract for the Defense Security Service (DSS) Vetting Risk Operations Center (VROC) and Consolidated Adjudications Facility (CAF) Personnel Security Support Services. The contract provides for the Personnel Security Support Services to assist in successfully executing the vetting mission for the Defense Vetting Directorate. Work will be performed at the DSS VROC office located in Hanover, Maryland; and the Department of Defense CAF office in Ft. Meade, Maryland, with an expected completion date of Feb. 4, 2024. Fiscal  2019 operations and maintenance funding in the amount of $7,310,770 are being obligated at time of award. This contract was a competitive acquisition and multiple proposals were solicited on government-wide point of entry (https://www.fbo.gov) and four proposals were received. The Defense Security Service Office of Acquisitions, Quantico, Virginia, is the contracting activity (HS0021-19-C-0001). 

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