White House Objects to 2nd LCS in 2019

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.

The full Senate is getting ready to take up the 2019 Defense Appropriations Bill, reports Defense News. However, the White House has made clear it does not approve of a provision that made it out of committee that funds two littoral combat ships in 2019, one more than the Navy asked for in its budget. The White House says the additional ship is not needed.

The bomb used by the Saudi-led coalition in a devastating attack on a school bus in Yemen was sold as part of a US State Department-sanctioned arms deal with Saudi Arabia, munitions experts told CNN. The weapon that left dozens of children dead Aug. 9 was a 500-pound, laser-guided MK 82 bomb made by Lockheed Martin.

An American special operations helicopter has crashed in Iraq, injuring several US service members onboard, Newsweek  reported. It is unclear why the MH-60 Blackhawk went down, but US military sources with knowledge of the crash said the helicopter was returning to base after conducting a small-scale raid in an undisclosed region.

The Fat Leonard scandal widens, reports Navy Times. A federal grand jury in San Diego has charged three retired sailors — a captain and two senior enlisted personnel — with involvement. Prosecutors so far have charged 32 defendants and 20 have pleaded guilty to public corruption charges over the past five years.

DefSec Jim Mattis says he will dispatch the US Navy hospital ship Comfort to the Colombian coast to help treat Venezuelan refugees that have overwhelmed the Colombian medical system, reports the Miami Herald. “It is absolutely a humanitarian mission. We’re not sending soldiers, we’re sending doctors,” Mattis told reporters.

Huntington Ingalls Industries, the sole US builder of aircraft carriers, continues to fall short of the Navy’s demand to cut labor expenses to stay within an $11.39 billion cost cap mandated by Congress on the second in a new class of warships, reports Bloomberg.

The remains of a Utah Marine who died during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor are finally coming home, reports Marine Times. Marine Pfc. Robert Kimball Holmes was 19 when he died while serving aboard the USS Oklahoma on Dec. 7, 1941. Nearly 77 years after his death, the Marine is finally returning to Salt Lake City thanks to a recent DNA match.

Guardsmen are using 22 aircraft to help civil authorities fight the California wildfires, reports ABC News. One is the MQ-9 Reaper, a remotely piloted drone that can fly up to 24 hours each day. The Reaper maps the behavior of a fire in real time, recording thermal imagery that can be analyzed and shared with California fire chiefs.

If President Donald Trump wants his proposed Space Force to have a life beyond a campaign rally applause line his administration will have to win over skeptics in both parties, especially in the Senate, reports Defense News. When Vice President Mike Pence laid out plans last week for a new space-focused military branch to be created by 2020, the White House had not obtained buy-in ahead of time from two key constituencies: Senate GOP leaders and members of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Al-Qaida’s chief bomb maker Ibrahim al-Asiri was killed in a US drone strike, reports Military Times. He was was behind the 2009 Christmas Day plot to down an airliner over Detroit and other foiled aviation-related terror attacks.

The US Army wants supply trucks that can drive themselves off-road in a war zone, reports Breaking Defense.

Contracts:

AOC Program Solutions LLC, Chantilly, Virginia (W15QKN-18-D-0057); Sumaria Systems Inc., Danvers, Massachusetts (W15QKN-18-D-0058); PSI Pax Inc., California, Maryland (W15QKN-18-D-0059); Management and Engineering Technologies International, El Paso, Texas (W15QKN-18-D-0060); AM Pierce & Associates Inc., California, Maryland (W15QKN-18-D-0061); X Technologies Inc., San Antonio, Texas (W15QKN-18-D-0062); DKW Communications Inc., Washington, District of Columbia (W15QKN-18-D-0063); Advanced Concepts and Technologies International, Waco, Texas (W15QKN-18-D-0070); Andromeda Systems Inc., Virginia Beach, Virginia (W15QKN-18-D-0064); Naval Systems Inc., Lexington Park, Maryland (W15QKN-18-D-0065); Ricardo Control Point, Goleta, California (W15QKN-18-D-0066); Technology Security Associates Inc., California, Maryland (W15QKN-18-D-0067); Spalding Consulting Inc., Lexington Park, Maryland (W15QKN-18-D-0068); and AVIAN LLC, Lexington Park, Maryland (W15QKN-18-D-0069), will compete for each order of the $499,267,406 hybrid (cost and firm-fixed-price) contract for project, program and portfolio management; business, cost estimating and financial management; life cycle logistics (integrated product support) systems engineering; business analytics; information technology; facilitation, education and training; and technical editor, writing and illustration; and physical security operations. Bids were solicited via the internet with 47 received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Aug. 19, 2023. US Army Contracting Command, New Jersey, is the contracting activity.

BAE Systems Technology Solutions and Services, Rockville, Maryland, was awarded a $70,809,966 modification (P00019) to contract W911W4-16-C-0008 for intelligence support services. Work will be performed in Kabul, Afghanistan, with an estimated completion date of Feb. 28, 2020. Fiscal 2018 operations and maintenance Army funds in the amount of $13,783,108 were obligated at the time of the award. US Army Contracting Command, Warren, Michigan, is the contracting activity.

BAE Systems Norfolk Ship Repair, Norfolk, Virginia, is awarded a $146,342,267 firm-fixed-price contract for the execution of USS Gettysburg (CG 64) fiscal 2018 modernization period availability. The purpose of this availability is a combination of maintenance, modernization and repair of USS Gettysburg. This is a “long-term” availability and was competed on a coast-wide (West coast) basis without limiting the place of performance to the vessel’s homeport. BAE will provide the facilities and human resources capable of completing, coordinating and integrating multiple areas of ship maintenance, repair and modernization. This contract includes options which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this contract to $151,342,267. Work will be performed in Norfolk, Virginia, and is expected to be completed by March 2020. Fiscal 2018 operations and maintenance (Navy); and fiscal 2018 other procurement (Navy) funding in the amount of $146,342,267 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured using full and open competition via the Federal Business Opportunities website, with one offer received in response to solicitation N00024-18-R-4439. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity (N00024-18-C-4440).

Camber Corp., Huntsville, Alabama, is awarded $15,278,843 for cost-plus-fixed-fee modification P00009 to exercise option period one under previously awarded contract M95494-17-F-0021. The work to be performed provides Headquarters Marine Corps, Plans, Policies and Operations; and Marine Corps Installations Command, with technical and engineering support for the Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and High-Yield Explosive Consequence Management Program. Work will be performed in Washington, District of Columbia, and is expected to be completed Aug. 22, 2019. Fiscal 2018 operations and maintenance (Marine Corps) funds in the amount of $1,390,842 will be obligated at the time of award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year, Sept. 30, 2018. Marine Corps Installations Command, Arlington, Virginia, is the contracting activity.

Jacobs Technology Inc., Tampa, Florida, is awarded a $13,879,811 cost-plus-fixed-fee-term contract. This is a bridge contract that provides for uninterrupted contractor support services, most importantly in the areas of information technology (IT) and information assurance (IA), for the F-35 Joint Program Office. Services to be provided under this contract include program management, IT, IA, enterprise architecture, emerging capabilities and requirements, operations management, enterprise management, and asset management support. Work will be performed in Arlington, Virginia (77 percent); Edwards Air Force Base, California (6 percent); Patuxent River, Maryland (4 percent); Eglin AFB, Florida (4 percent); Wright Patterson AFB, Ohio (3 percent); China Lake, California (2 percent); Fort Worth, Texas (2 percent); and Jacksonville, Florida (2 percent), and is expected to be completed in January 2019. Fiscal 2018 aircraft procurement (Air Force) funds in the amount of $7,545,000 will be obligated at the time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-2. The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Lakehurst, New Jersey, is the contracting activity (N68335-18-C-0674).