Rapid Fire: 2010-04-01

• US GAO releases 2010 Assessments of Selected Weapons Programs – about 70. The summary is finally up, and there is a lot of reading after that. Note that the GAO sets the bar higher for system development readiness – TRL(Technology Readiness Level) 7, not the Pentagon’s TRL 6.

• Newsweek calls Afghanistan’s police force a “$6 billion fiasco” that could cost us the war.

• EADS Defense and Security unit has war chest to expand abroad, invest in Talarion UAV development. Reuters | Dow Jones

• President Obama nominates California CIO Takai to head Pentagon’s IT operations. InformationWeek | National Journal | Government Technology | Computer World

• The USAF now has an “operationally significant quantity” of MALD air-launched decoys.

• The Pentagon is mulling sending surveillance UAVs and other military support to the Somali government for offensive against al-Qaida-linked insurgents, the Associated Press reports.

• Britain’s Nimrod MR2 maritime patrol planes end their service, though Nimrod MRA4 replacements aren’t yet ready.

• AeroVironment, maker of the Raven, Dragon Eye, Puma AE, and Wasp [pdf] small UAVs, says CFO has resigned to “pursue other business interests.” AeroVironment release | Associated Press

• You don’t have to speak Na’vi to use Northrop Grumman’s avatar training tool for the US Army’s Integrated Air and Missile Defense Battle Command System.

• Rrrrolll up the rrrim to win? Tim Hortons’ employees at Kandahar Airfield are now eligible for Canadian war medals.

US Navy Accounting Service Contracts Total up to $569.1M

The US Navy Fleet and Industrial Supply Center Norfolk’s Philadelphia Office awarded 3 cost-plus-fixed-fee, indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity multiple-award contract to provide accounting and financial management service to the Navy Office of Financial Operations.

The contracts will assist the office in implementing the Department of the Navy’s financial improvement program, which is design to improve the efficiency of the US Navy’s and USMC’s business processes and systems.

These contracts include a base ordering period with 4 one-year option periods. The maximum total value of all 3 contracts is $569.1 million.

The winners are:

Big Pharma: US Orders $3B+ for the Troops

$442 million in follow-on US military pharma contracts. (March 31/10)

Troops require medication of all kinds as a way of managing chronic conditions, handling the wear and ills that are a constant risk on military deployments, etc. Unsurprisingly, militaries tend to buy in bulk, often through middle-men offering wholesale margins on a wide variety of treatments.

In 2007, US DoD issued $3 billion in contracts for bulk pharmaceutical purchases, many of which are option periods from an original award…

Up to $300M to 7 Firms for US Navy Wet Utilities Construction

Puttin’ in a sewer line

The US Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Southwest awarded 7 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity multiple award construction contracts for wet utilities construction at various US Navy facilities in the US Southwest.

The maximum dollar value, including the base period and 4 option years, for all 7 contracts combined is $300 million.

Wet utilities construction involves work, additions, alteration, and repair of water, steam, and sewer networks. The 7 winners of the construction contracts are…

Rapid Fire 2010-03-31: Futenma Air Station

• US commission grills US military, KBR over waste, drawdown of 100,000 contractors in Iraq. C-SPAN coverage | Panel members’ statements | Commission release | Washington Post | Business Week | CBS News

• Updates RE: the sinking of the Pohang Class corvette Cheonan.

• Japan tells US it is opposed to plan to move Futenma air station, home of about 2,000 US Marines, to a remote location on Okinawa island. Reuters | Wall Street Journal | Xinhua | AFP

• UK upgrading all its Army Lynx helicopters to Lynx 9A configuration for Afghanistan. Program includes engines from its successor, the new AW159 Wildcat.

• US Marines step back on Web 2.0 ban, will allow wider use. The US Army’s 82nd Airborne says that those tools really helped on the ground in Haiti [PDF].

• US coast Guard Commandant on the service’s C4IT strategic modernization plan.

• Would you like camelina oil with that Warthog? USAF tests bio-fuel driven A-10 Thunderbolt II. USAF Video

• UK report notes progress in Russia on securing weapons of mass destruction. Global Threat Reduction Programme report | MoD release

• $13.5 million order. For FLIR, the future’s so BRITE, they gotta wear shades.

• US Army will allow Sikhs to serve in turbans. Hey, it worked fabulously for the British…

$40M to TEC-AECOM for Environmental Studies on US Navy Homeport Infrastructure

The US Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Atlantic awarded TEC-AECOM Joint Venture in Charlottesville, VA an indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity contract, worth a maximum of $40 million, for environmental planning and engineering services at various US Navy and US Marine Corps facilities and other US government facilities worldwide.

Part of the work will include environmental and engineering services for proposed infrastructure projects at US Navy homeports.

The US Navy operates 18 homeports around the world: Annapolis, MD; Baltimore, MD; Bangor, WA; Bremerton, WA; Everett, WA; Gaeta, Italy; Groton, CT; Guam; Kings Bay, GA; Little Creek, VA; Manama, Bahrain; Mayport, FL; Newport News, VA; Norfolk, VA; Pearl Harbor, HI; San Diego, CA; Sasebo, Japan; and Yokosuka, Japan.

Nowadays, any US military infrastructure project requires reams of environmental impact documents, and TEC-AECOM will assist NAVFAC in preparing those documents.

Rapid Fire 2010-03-30: RAF Contracts Update

• UK MoD details latest defense RAF contracts and agreements, including maintenance for Hawk T Mk2 jet trainers, a cut in its A400M transport order, and a contract signing for its future CH-47F Chinook helicopters.

• UK parliamentary committee warns that MoD’s military hospitals might not be ready to handle an increase in casualties from more intense fighting in Afghanistan. Committee of Public Accounts report | Telegraph | Daily Mail | Mirror.

DSCP Issues Patient Monitoring, Radiology Systems Contracts

Philips’ patient monitor
(click to view larger)

The USA’s Defense Supply Center Philadelphia (DSCP) in Philadelphia, PA recently issued 2 contracts for patient monitoring and radiology systems on behalf of the US Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Federal civilian agencies.

Date of performance completion for both contracts is March 29/07.

The maximum value of the 2 contracts is $89.2 million, and the winners are:

The US Army’s Mobile Parts Hospitals

MPH in Balad, Iraq

TV taught us what a “Mobile Army Surgical Hospital” was, but a “Mobile Parts Hospital”? Like a MASH unit that can go wherever it is needed, the MPH is designed as a front line resource for patching things up – but it is for machines, not men. Since their initial deployment in 2003, the MPHs have fabricated more than 100,000 replacement parts, replacement components, and special tools.

As Maj. Andris Ikstrums, 1st Battalion, 402nd Army Field Support Brigade support operations officer, puts it:

SPAWAR Awards L-3 $39M Order for US Navy C4ISR, C2 Support

Space and Naval Warfare Systems (SPAWAR) Center Atlantic, Charleston, SC awarded a a $39 million modification to a previously awarded indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to L-3 Services in Mount Laurel, NJ for integrated engineering support services for US Navy C4ISR and C2 systems.

This contract includes options which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of the contract to an estimated $269 million.