March 29, 2024

VADM Sawyer to Lead 7th Fleet

Sawyer

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.

VADM Phillip G. Sawyer, the new leader of the Navy’s troubled 7th Fleet, has arrived in Japan, according to Navy Times. He replaces fellow three-star Joseph Aucoin, who was relieved last week after a second fatal collision involving one of his ships claimed the lives of 10 sailors.

The outlook for FY18 appropriations is chaotic and unpredictable, says FCW, noting that when Congress returns Sept. 5 it will have less than two weeks to pass an appropriations package or continuing resolution to keep the government open, plus an increase on the debt ceiling is needed. And if the FY18 House version appropriations pass, special legislation will be needed to halt automatic sequestration caps which would take more than $70 billion from the defense budget and $3.8 billion for the non-defense category. Without another budget agreement in place, DoD faces automatic across-the-board cuts of 9 percent to 10 percent starting in mid-January, reports Bloomberg.

President Donald Trump reinstated a controversial program to ship a wide array of surplus military equipment to local police departments, reports The Washington Times. The action repeals restrictions on a DoD program that sent billions of dollars of equipment to SWAT teams and public school police.

A gaffe by President Trump has cast confusion over Finland’s fighter replacement program, FRP-HX, and the connected integral process, reports Defense News. “There are still years to run in the fighter replacement competition before a final decision is reached. If the leadership of the United States harbors the idea that the matter is a done deal, then this is not good,” said Matti Vanhanen, chairman of the Finnish national parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee.

A trio of advocacy groups sued President Trump over his ban on transgender individuals serving in the military, calling it unconstitutional and un-American, reports Military Times.

FAA and Texas state officials are struggling with commercial drone aircraft endangering efforts of airborne rescue teams helping victims of Hurricane Harvey, reports FCW. The Texas Military Department tweeted out an alert Aug. 26 that its personnel in the area were “seeing civilian drones that pose extreme risks to our rescue pilots and crews in high need areas.”

The entire Texas National Guard has been activated in response to the flooding that has left a million people homeless after Hurricane Harvey, reports Military Times. National Guard units from Arizona, Florida, Louisiana, New Mexico, New York, and Oklahoma also are helping. The New York Times compares Harvey with Katrina. Politico reports on a 1998 “Higher Ground” report detailing how the US  government’s dysfunctional flood insurance program makes catastrophes worse by encouraging Americans to build and rebuild in flood-prone areas.

Tropical Storm Harvey has drifted into the Gulf of Mexico, poised to recharge, reports Bloomberg, and is expected to crash ashore again Wednesday on the Texas-Louisiana border. As much as 30 percent of the nation’s refining power is imperiled.

The US Air Force acknowledged running an air war out of Al Dhafra Air Base, United Arab Emirates, reports DoD Buzz.

SpaceX gained approval to make changes to its landing zone at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, reports Florida Today, in anticipation of increased activities related to its Dragon spacecraft.

Japan warned residents in the path of a ballistic missile launch out of North Korea to take cover, reports The New York Times. Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called  “North Korea’s reckless action of launching a missile that passed over Japan is an unprecedented, serious, and grave threat.”

Contracts:

AAI Corp. Textron Systems, Hunt Valley, Maryland, is the fourth company awarded a previously announced $499,000,000 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, shared ceiling contract for six companies for the Aerospace Systems Air Platform Technology Research program. These contracts provide research for affordable, revolutionary capabilities for the warfighter. Work will be performed in Hunt Valley, Maryland, and is expected to be completed by Aug. 31, 2025. This award is the result of competitive acquisition and six offers were received. Fiscal 2017 research and development funds in the amount of $100,000 are being obligated at time of award. Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting office (FA8650-17-D-2714).

National Technologies Associates Inc., Arlington, Virginia, is being awarded a $23,437,244 cost-plus-fixed fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract to provide production support services for depot-level maintenance, modernization, conversion, in-service repair, and overhaul provided to Fleet Readiness Center (FRC) Southwest, Naval Air Station (NAS) North Island, San Diego, California. The scope of work to be performed is for production support, master work execution plans development and support, aircraft modification/overhaul requirements determination and analysis support, depot level repair capability development support and program/project management support. Work will be performed at FRC Southwest, NAS North Island, San Diego, California, and is expected to be completed in September 2022. Fiscal 2017 working capital funds (Navy) funds in the amount of $50,000 are being obligated at time of award, none of which expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via an electronic request for proposals as a 100 percent Small Business Set-Aside, two offers were received. The Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division, China Lake, California, is the contracting activity (N68936-17-D-0026).

Zodiac Data Systems Inc., Alpharetta, Georgia, is being awarded a $20,000,000 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract to procure airborne instrumentation modular data recorder system hardware and associated repair services for use on Navy F/A-18, V-22, F-35, C130, Triton, and Fire Scout aircraft, and various helicopter platforms. Work will be performed at the Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland, is expected to be completed in August 2022. No funds will be obligated at time of award. Funds will be obligated on each delivery order as they are issued. This contract was not competitively procured pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1. The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity (N00421-17-D-0044).

Management Services Group Inc., doing business as Global Technical Systems, Virginia Beach, Virginia, is being awarded $11,855,248 for cost-plus-fixed-fee delivery order N6833517F0280 against a previously issued basic ordering agreement (N68335-17-G-0019) to provide Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) Phase III work which continues efforts stemming from SBIR topic N141-043, entitled “Improved, Flexible Infrastructure (FI) Compatible, and Open-Loop Air Cooled Computer Rack/Cabinet.” This effort includes a continuation of initiatives in smart cooling of integrated electronic components, FI technology, and small platform cooling enhancements.  Work will be performed in St. Petersburg, Florida (55 percent); Brentwood, California (35 percent); and Virginia Beach, Virginia (10 percent), and is expected to be completed in August 2020. Fiscal 2016 research, development, test, and evaluation (defense-wide) funds in the amount of $1,282,496 are being obligated on this award, all of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Lakehurst, New Jersey, is the contracting activity.  

Parra Consulting Group Inc., Gaithersburg, Maryland, was awarded a labor hour contract with a maximum ceiling value of $18,907,017 to facilitate the operations of the Defense Intelligence Agency’s (DIA) Center Processing Center (CPC). The contract will support DIA’s candidate onboarding process, including candidate outreach, processing, scheduling, and screening. Work is to be performed at the CPC in Reston, Virginia, with an expected completion date of Nov. 30, 2022. Fiscal 2017 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $737,036 are being obligated at time of award. This was a competitive small business (8a) acquisition, and three offers were received. The Virginia Contracting Activity, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity.

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