Vet Benefits Tied to Big Social Security Raise
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Vets benefits are poised for the biggest cost-of-living boost in 40 years, reports Military Times. Veterans could see the boost after Congress finalizes plans to guarantee that veterans’ checks see the same cost-of-living increase as Social Security payouts. The Social Security benefits adjustment is expected to be announced in mid-October. The nonprofit Senior Citizens League predicted a cost-of-living hike around 8.7% for 2023, based on inflation data through the first eight months of the year. If that estimate is correct, it would be the highest annual increase since 1981.
Space junk worries prompt new action by NASA and Congress, reports Space.com. In Congress, a bipartisan bill has been introduced focusing on development and demonstration of technologies for debris removal and creation of a market for these services. The Orbital Sustainability (ORBITS) Act is led by Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA), committee chair on Commerce, Science and Transportation.
NASA scratched today’s launch date (Tuesday) for the Artemis moon rocket, reports Spaceflight Now. Faced with stormy weather ahead of Hurricane Ian, NASA ruled out a third attempt to launch the Artemis 1 moon rocket on Tuesday but held open the option of Oct. 2. That would require leaving the $4.1 billion 330-foot-tall Space Launch System rocket exposed to the elements atop pad 39B, assuming assurances from forecasters winds would not exceed 74 knots, the certified safety limit.
NASA tests the world’s first planetary defense from an astroid, reports NASA.gov. NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test is the first spacecraft to autonomously target an asteroid for collision; its mission is altering the asteroid’s trajectory sufficiently to be seen with ground-based telescopes. Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, MD, is the builder and manager of the DART spacecraft for NASA.
The US military is buying electric jet-ski robots that can be converted into autonomous drones, according to Defense Innovation Unit and electric jet ski maker T3MP3ST. The agency and company have inked a deal, reports Defense One to help the military experiment with Nico Sell’s Maverick GT Ski. An electric jet ski solves multiple fueling issues that have dissuaded naval use of personal watercraft.
USS Bonhomme Richard failed on fire safety, reports ProPublica. The command investigation uncovered and detailed an astonishing array of failures — broken or missing fire hoses, poorly trained sailors, improperly stored hazardous material — that had primed the ship for a calamitous fire. But the Navy says the culprit for the billion-dollar loss was then-20-year-old Ryan Mays, now in the second week of his court-martial in a military trial in San Diego for aggravated arson and willfully hazarding a vessel.
US veterans, captured fighting in Ukraine, are returned home to Alabama, reports Military Times. Alex Drueke, 40, and Andy Huynh, 27, had disappeared June 9 in the Kharkiv region of northeastern Ukraine near the Russian border. The Alabama residents were released as part of a prisoner exchange. They’d traveled to Ukraine on their own and bonded over their shared home state.
The Pentagon launches an effort to assess crypto’s threat to national security, reports The Washington Post. The military office that developed the earliest technology undergirding the internet, DARPA, has hired the crypto intelligence firm Inca Digital to develop tools for the military to see into the crypto markets’ inner workings, in part to help authorities crack down on illicit uses of digital assets. “The program underway here involves mapping out the cryptocurrency universe in some detail,” said Mark Flood, a program manager with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
The US and South Korea began joint naval drills Monday, one day after a North Korean fired a short-range ballistic missile, reports UPI. The four days of joint naval exercises are the first of their kind in five years and feature the nuclear-powered USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier and its strike group.
Marines clear ACVs to return to open water – with restrictions, reports USNI. An internal review set the maximum surf limit at four feet for Amphibious Combat Vehicles to operate safely. The service took the ACVs out of the water off the coast of Camp Pendleton in July, days after heavy surf of 8 to 10 feet tipped over two of the vehicles, disabling them.
The Air Force is on track to meet Sept. 30 recruiting goals, but not with the cushion it wants. Air Force Times reports, as of Sept. 15, the active duty Air Force had brought in more than 25,000 new enlisted airmen, or about 97% of its goal of 26,151 people. “The big question culturally centers around the tension between expanding the pool of eligible candidates without lowering standards,” said Katherine Kuzminski, a military personnel expert at the Center for a New American Security.
Contracts:
Atlantic Commtech Corp., Norfolk, Virginia (W912DY-22-D-0073); BCF Solutions Inc., Chantilly, Virginia (W912DY-22-D-0074); Convergint Technologies LLC, Schaumburg, Illinois (W912DY-22-D-0075); Evigilant.com LLC, Manassas, Virginia (W912DY-22-D-0076); KBR Wyle Services LLC, Lexington Park, Maryland (W912DY-22-D-0077); M.C. Dean Inc., Tysons, Virginia (W912DY-22-D-0078); PTSI Managed Services Inc., Pasadena, California (W912DY-22-D-0088); Siemens Government Technologies Inc., Reston, Virginia (W912DY-22-D-0089); Xator Corporation, Reston, Virginia (W912DY-22-D-0090); Alamo-Evergreen JV LLC,* San Antonio, Texas (W912DY-22-D-0091); Chenega Security International LLC,* Chantilly, Virginia (W912DY-22-D-0092); GCS Versar JV,* Tacoma, Washington (W912DY-22-D-0093); Infotec Systems Corp.,* Summerville, South Carolina (W912DY-22-D-0094); Integrated Security Solutions Inc.,* Kalispell, Montana (W912DY-22-D-0095); Locurrent Systems LLC,* Cooperstown, New York (W912DY-22-D-0096); Low Voltage Wiring,* Colorado Springs, Colorado (W912DY-22-D-0097); Phoenix Integrated Technologies LTD,* Gambrills, Maryland (W912DY-22-D-0098); Red Peak Technical Services LLC,* Anchorage, Alaska (W912DY-22-D-0099); Sei Group Inc.,* Huntsville, Alabama (W912DY-22-D-0100); Security and Energy Technologies Corp.,* Chantilly, Virginia (W912DY-22-D-0101); Johnson Controls Building Automation Systems LLC, Huntsville, Alabama (W912DY-22-D-0103); and Indyne Inc., Lexington Park, Maryland (W912DY-22-D-0104), will compete for each order of the $675,000,000 contract to provide all personnel, equipment, tools, materials, supervision, non-personal services, and other necessary items for electronic security systems. Bids were solicited via the internet with 34 received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Sept. 25, 2029. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Huntsville, Alabama, is the contracting activity.
General Dynamics Electric Boat Corp., Groton, Connecticut, is awarded a $43,037,033 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract modification to previously awarded contract N00024-20-C-2120 for lead yard support and development studies and design efforts related to Virginia-class submarines. Work will be performed in Annapolis, Maryland, and is expected to be completed by August 2025. Fiscal 2022 research, development, test, and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $4,000,000 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity.
Coastal Design & Construction Inc.,* Gloucester, Virginia, was awarded a $43,197,022 firm-fixed-price contract for mid Chesapeake Bay ecosystem restoration. Bids were solicited via the internet with three received. Work will be performed in Fishing Creek, Maryland, with an estimated completion date of Oct. 11, 2024. Fiscal 2022 civil construction funds in the amount of $43,197,022 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore, Maryland, is the contracting activity (W912DR-22-C-0041).
Grunley Construction Co. Inc., Rockville, Maryland, was awarded a $40,616,000 firm-fixed-price contract for National Defense University, Building 59 renovations. Bids were solicited via the internet with seven received. Work will be performed in Washington, D.C., with an estimated completion date of March 19, 2024. Fiscal 2022 operation and maintenance, Army funds in the amount of $40,616,000 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore, Maryland, is the contracting activity (W912DR-22-C-0051).
Verizon Business Network Services Inc., Ashburn, Virginia, is awarded an $8,591,829 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract to provide Naval Computer and Telecommunications Area Master Station Atlantic with integrated voice and data services via central office based facilities to defense activities at Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia, to include the Naval Support Activity Hampton Roads; Lafayette River Annex; and Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek/Fort Story, Norfolk/Virginia Beach. The contract will include a three-year base with no options. The base ordering period is anticipated to begin October 2022, and is expected to be completed by October 2025. Work will be performed in Norfolk, Virginia (72%); and Virginia Beach, Virginia (28%). Fiscal 2023 operation and maintenance (Navy) funds in the amount of $3,000 will be obligated to fund the contract’s minimum amount and funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Individual task orders will be subsequently funded with appropriate fiscal year appropriations at the time of their issuance. One company was solicited for this sole-source requirement in accordance with Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1 and one offer was received. Naval Supply Systems Command Fleet Logistics Center Norfolk, Contracting Department Norfolk Office, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity (N00189-22-D-0025).
Tactical Air Support Inc., Jacksonville, Florida, is awarded a $13,824,000 cost-plus-fixed-fee modification (P00002) to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price, cost reimbursable, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract (N0042122D0095). This modification adds scope and increases the ceiling for the procurement of spare kits, components, consumables, as well as provides software sustainment support for F-5N and F-5F Tiger II aircraft in the F-5N+/F+ block upgrade configuration. Work will be performed in Jacksonville, Florida (32%); Emen, Switzerland (16%); Carlsbad, California (8%); Clarksburg, Maryland (7%); Grand Rapids, Michigan (6%); Olathe, Kansas (5%); Woodland Hills, California (5%); Stead, Nevada (5%); Salt Lake City, Utah (3%); Waco, Texas (2%); Minneapolis, Minnesota (2%); Nashville, Tennessee (1%); Franklin, North Carolina (1%); Warner Robbins, Georgia (1%); Camarillo, California (1%); Jupiter, Florida (1%); Avenel, New Jersey (1%); Fairborn, Ohio (1%); Deerfield, Illinois (1%); and Auburn, Alabama (1%), and is expected to be completed in June 2027. No funds will be obligated at the time of award; funds will be obligated on individual orders as they are issued. The Naval Air Warfare aviation Division, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.
RQ Construction, Carlsbad, California, is awarded a $22,518,882 firm-fixed-price task order (N4008522F6568) under a multiple award construction contract to replace substations A through L, Building NH-95, Naval Support Activity Hampton Roads, Virginia. The work to be performed provides for replacing 12 substations, bushings for the secondary side of the transformers, transformers, switchgear and underground duct banks. The task order also contains one unexercised option, which if exercised, would increase cumulative task order value to $32,600,882. Work will be performed in Norfolk, Virginia, and is expected to be completed by October 2025. Fiscal 2022 operation and maintenance (Navy) funds in the amount of $22,518,882 are obligated on this award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Seven proposals were received for this task order. The Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command, Mid-Atlantic, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity (N40085-21-D-0081).
AeroVironment Inc.,* Simi Valley, California, is awarded a $7,594,455 cost-plus-fixed-fee order (N6833522F0246) against a previously issued basic ordering agreement (N6833519G0059). This order provides for continued research, development, test, and evaluation of advanced image and video analytics capabilities, persistent observation, target recognition framework, and to support the operation and maintenance of products containing these software based technologies already deployed in operational systems in support of Small Business Innovation Research Phase III topic N08-077 titled “Automated Entity Classification in Video Using Soft Biometrics”. These efforts include applied research and development of image and video analytics technologies, creation of application-specific computer vision and active perception capabilities, verification and validation of technology in demonstrations, operational system development, user manual writing, and acquisition of any requisite certifications required for deployment. Work will be performed in Simi Valley, California (50%); Manassas, Virginia (45%); and Minneapolis, Minnesota (5%), and is expected to be completed in September 2024. Fiscal 2022 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $3,597,303 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, Lakehurst, New Jersey, is the contracting activity.
Science Applications International Corp., Reston, Virginia, was awarded a $757,406,851 firm-fixed-price contract to support a software platform and management system requirements. Bids were solicited via the internet with two received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Sept. 25, 2032. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois, is the contracting activity (W52P1J-22-D-0040).
Parsons Government Services Inc., Pasadena, California (W912PP-22-D-0014); FPM-AECOM JV1,* Oneida, New York (W912PP-22-D-0015); Weston Solutions Inc., West Chester, Pennsylvania (W912PP-22-D-0016); Arcadis U.S. Inc., Highlands Ranch, Colorado (W912PP-22-D-0017); Tetra Tech Inc., Oakland, California (W912PP-22-D-0018); EA Engineering, Science, and Technology Inc. PBC,* Hunt Valley, Maryland (W912PP-22-D-0019); and Sundance-CTI Affiliates LLC,* Pocatello, Idaho (W912PP-22-D-0020), will compete for each order of the $50,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract for environmental remediation services in support of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers South Pacific Division. Bids were solicited via the internet with 12 received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Sept. 25, 2027. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Albuquerque, New Mexico, is the contracting activity.
Intel Federal LLC, Fairfax, Virginia, was awarded an $8,344,048 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for an Advanced Graphic Intelligence Logical computing Environment program proposal. Bids were solicited via the internet with 16 received. Work will be performed in Fairfax, Virginia, with an estimated completion date of March 31, 2024. Fiscal 2022 operations and maintenance, Army, funds in the amount of $6,462,192 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, is the contracting activity (W911NF-22-C-0081).
Coggins International Corp., Alexandria, Virginia, has been awarded a maximum $35,000,000 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for a fuel asset visibility IT infrastructure. This was a competitive acquisition with two responses received. This is an 18-month base contract with one six-month option period and eight one-year option periods. Locations of performance are throughout the U.S., with a March 31, 2024, ordering period end date. Using customers are Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, National Guard and Coast Guard. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2022 through 2024 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Contracting Services Office, Columbus, Ohio (SP4702-22-D-0005).
Kudu Dynamics LLC, * Chantilly, Virginia, was awarded a $17,246,538 change-order modification (P00022) to previously awarded, research and development, cost-plus-fixed-fee contract HR001118C0135 to extend the scope of work on a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency project. Work will be performed in Chantilly, Virginia (69%); Sterling, Virginia (25%); Reston, Virginia (1%); and Falls Church, Virginia (5%), and is expected to be completed by May 2024. Fiscal 2022 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $10,003,804 were obligated at time of award. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Arlington, Virginia, is the contracting activity.
NCS Technologies Inc.,* Gainesville, Virginia, has been awarded an $11,340,530 modification (P00001) to delivery order HE1254-22-F-3022 for Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) Computer Acquisition Program (DCAP) computer lifecycle management worldwide. This contract provides for life-cycle replacement of laptop and desktop computers with storage carts to be delivered to multiple DoDEA schools and offices in the U.S., Europe, and Pacific areas. Delivery is expected to be completed 60 days after exercise of the optional contract line item numbers. Fiscal 2022 operations and maintenance funding in the amount of $11,340,530 are being obligated at the time of award. DoDeA – Information Technology Procurement Division, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity.
