Who Has the Highest Share of High-Tech Jobs in US?

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.

A 24/7 Wall St. study shows the top areas across the US known for their output of high-tech products and services. No. 1 is California-Lexington Park, MD, with the highest share of high-tech jobs, reports USA Today.

Pentagon officials say no service members have been forced out of the ranks under the new “deploy or get out” policy put in place last fall, reports Military Times, despite Acting DefSec Patrick Shanahan’s remarks suggesting tens of thousands of service members were removed from the force in recent months.

The Department of Defense is testing ways to extend its own cybersecurity expertise and infrastructure to businesses that don’t have the wherewithal to adequately secure their systems against attacks, reports Federal News Radio. DoD wants a secure cloud to house data its contractors need, instead of requiring them to store it themselves.

The Navy will make changes to the bridges and control systems on its ships to increase crew efficiency and help them avoid collisions like those that killed 17 sailors on the USS Fitzgerald and USS John S. McCain, reports Stars and Stripes.

The Pentagon’s plan to mothball the Norfolk-based aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman halfway through its intended 50-year service life, has some Virginia officials confused, reports The Virginian-Pilot. “It’s just very short-sighted what the president’s budget wants to do,” said Republican Rep. Rob Wittman.

The Air Force is offering the Federal Aviation Administration support and assistance from service safety resources, in the wake of the crash earlier this month of a Boeing 737 Max 8 plane in Africa, reports Air Force Times. The service has ordered a review of mishaps and pilot training.

US-backed forces declared military victory over the Islamic State group in Syria over the weekend after liberating the last pocket of territory held by the militants, marking the end of a brutal self-styled caliphate the group carved out in large parts of Iraq and Syria in 2014, reports Military Times. When the final ISIS enclave was cleared, there is still hope that the group’s elusive leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi will be captured or killed, reports Washington Examiner. Retired Marine Gen. John Allen says, “We’ll get him.”

The Air Force wants to demolish 5 percent of the infrastructure in place across its 180 bases worldwide as the service rethinks its approach to maintaining its buildings, runways, and silos, reports Stars and Stripes.

Air Force officials have said the service will need a total of 386 operational squadrons to take on future threats posed by Russia and China. A new study says that number might not be enough, reports Defense News.

Breaking Defense reports military space programs have to navigate a maze of 60 agencies so creating a space force may not make things simpler.

March Madness continues. With all 12 teams seeded 1-3 and only one team seeded lower than fifth advancing to the Sweet 16, chalky brackets are ruling the roost after the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament, reports The Washington Post. But according to the NCAA, there’s only one perfect bracket remaining out of the millions submitted in contests run by the organization, along with ESPN, Yahoo, CBS, Fox, and Sports Illustrated.

Contracts:

Gartner Inc., Stamford, Connecticut (N66001-19-A-0049); Forrester Research Inc., Cambridge, Massachusetts (N66001-19-A-0050); and FEDmine LLC, Rockville, Maryland (N66001-19-A-0013), are awarded a multiple-award, firm-fixed-price Department of Defense (DoD) Enterprise Software Initiative (ESI) blanket purchase agreement (BPA) in accordance with the firms’ General Services Administration (GSA) Federal Supply Schedule contracts. The overall estimated value of this BPA is $446,000,000. The three individual agreements are awarded in the DoD ESI category of Information Technology (IT) Research and Informative Services. The BPAs will provide commercially available technology in this category for the DoD, US intelligence community, and Coast Guard activities worldwide. The ordering period will be for a maximum of 10 years, and the expected date of completion is March 24, 2029. This BPA is issued under DoD ESI in accordance with the policy and guidelines in the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement, Section 208.74. This BPA will not obligate funds at the time of award. Funds will be obligated as task orders using operations and maintenance (DoD) funds. Requirements will be competed among the awardees in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation 8.403-3(c)(2), and the successful contractor will receive firm-fixed-price orders. This BPA was competitively procured via the GSA E-Buy website among 679 vendors. Three offers were received and three were selected for award. Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific, San Diego, California, is the contracting activity.

Austal USA, Mobile, Alabama, is being awarded a $261,776,539 fixed-price-incentive (firm target) modification to previously awarded contract N00024-19-C-2227 for the detail design and construction (DD&C) of the 13th and 14th Expeditionary Fast Transport (EPF) ships, and to definitize the long-lead-time material undefinitized contract actions for EPFs 13 and 14. This modification will award the DD&C effort for EPF 13 and EPF 14 and definitize and subsume the long-lead-time material undefinitized contract actions for EPFs 13 and 14. Note: the funding obligated covers the DD&C award and also definitizes the UCAs — which results in a total greater than the face value of the award. The EPF class provides high-speed, shallow-draft transportation capability to support the intra-theater maneuver of personnel, supplies and equipment for the US Navy, Marine Corps, and Army. This contract includes options which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this contract to $370,733,399. Work will be performed in Mobile, Alabama (54 percent); Novi, Michigan (13 percent); Fairfax, Virginia (7 percent); Houston, Texas (4 percent); Franklin, Massachusetts (3 percent); New Iberia, Louisiana (3 percent); Kingsford, Michigan (2 percent); Chesapeake, Virginia (2 percent); and Theodore, Alabama (1 percent), with other efforts performed at various locations throughout the United States below one percent (7 percent) and at various locations outside the U.S. below one percent (4 percent). Work is expected to completed by July 2022. Fiscal 2018 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funding in the amount of $134,609,225; and fiscal 2019 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funding in the amount of $161,815,453 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively solicited via the Federal Business Opportunities website, with one offer received. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity.

Professional Contract Services Inc., Austin, Texas, is being awarded a $26,684,510 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract modification for the exercise of Option Number Four for base operations support services at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth, Virginia, and its outlying support sites all located in Virginia. The work to be performed provides for all labor, supervision, management, tools, materials, equipment, facilities, transportation, incidental engineering, and other items necessary to provide facilities maintenance and equipment repair services in support of Naval Medical Center Portsmouth and its outlying support sites. After award of this option, the total cumulative contract value will be $120,671,131. Work will be performed in Portsmouth, Virginia. This option period is from April 2019 to March 2020. No funds will be obligated at time of award. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance, (Navy) contract funds in the amount of $24,334,266 for recurring work will be obligated on individual task orders issued during the option period. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Mid-Atlantic, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity (N62470-15-D-4009).

Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Annapolis, Maryland, is being awarded a $10,242,891 firm-fixed-price and cost-plus-fixed-fee modification to a previously awarded contract (N61331-15-D-0011) to exercise options for the accomplishment of depot level repair, maintenance, and modifications of the AN/AQS-24 Mine Detecting System to support the Navy for the currently deployed airborne mine countermeasures legacy systems. Northrop Grumman Undersea Systems will provide depot repairs and incorporation of engineering change proposals, including the updates of all integrated logistics support documentation to support the conversions and sustainment. Work will be performed in Annapolis, Maryland, and is expected to be completed by April 2020. No funding will be obligated at time of award. Naval Surface Warfare Center, Panama City Division, Panama City, Florida is the contracting activity.

American Ordnance LLC, Middletown, Iowa, was awarded an $89,418,245 modification (P00022) to contract W15QKN-15-C-0044 for the acquisition of M918E1 40mm High Velocity Target Practice – Day/Night/Thermal (HV TP-DNT) – cartridge. Work will be performed in Middletown, Iowa; Coachella, California; Radford, Virginia; Santa Margarita, California; O’Fallon, Missouri; Lynchburg, Virginia; Mountainside, New Jersey; and St. Bonaparte, Iowa, with an estimated completion date of Nov. 30, 2021. Fiscal 2017, 2018 and 2019 other procurement, Army funds in the amount of $89,418,245 were obligated at the time of the award. US Army Contracting Command, New Jersey, is the contracting activity.

General Dynamics Information Technology Inc., Fairfax, Virginia (HT0014-19-C-0004), has been awarded a $44,165,348 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to provide support to the Defense Health Agency’s Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center (DVBIC). The work includes support promoting access to state-of-the-science care for service members, veterans, and their families to prevent and mitigate the consequences of traumatic brain injury (TBI). DVBIC supports a network of 21 sites operating out of 16 military treatment facilities (MTFs) and five Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Centers (VAMCs). Specific activities vary at each site and can include conducting clinical research and conducting education and outreach activities and assessing TBI injury data, while command and control exist within the DVBIC Headquarters for continuity of services. The contract will be performed at DVBIC HQ, Silver Spring, Maryland; MTFs at Fort Belvoir, Virginia; Fort Bliss, Texas; Fort Bragg, North Carolina; Fort Campbell, Kentucky; Fort Carson, Colorado; Fort Drum, New York; Fort Hood, Texas; Camp Lejeune, North Carolina; Camp Pendleton, California; Naval Medical Center San Diego, California; Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Maryland; San Antonio Military Medical Center, Texas; US Special Operations Command, MacDill Air Force Base, Florida; Landstuhl (Germany); Joint Bases Lewis-McChord, Washington, and Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska; and VAMCs in Palo Alto, California; Tampa, Florida; Minneapolis, Minnesota; San Antonio, Texas; and Richmond, Virginia. The contract end date is Sept. 25, 2020. This contract includes a six-month base period with four three-month option periods. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $14,336,163 are obligated on this award. This was a sole-source acquisition. The Defense Health Agency, Falls Church, Virginia, is the contracting activity.