Up to $864M to Henry Schein for U.S. Military Dental Supplies

Henry Schein Inc. in Melville, NY received a maximum $864 million fixed-price with economic price adjustment, indefinite-delivery/ indefinite quantity contract for various general dental supplies and a web-based ordering system.

Henry Schein will provide the dental supplies and ordering system to the U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Marine Corps and federal civilian agencies. This contract has a base period with 4 additional option periods. The date of performance completion is Aug. 31/10. The Defense Supply Center Philadelphia (DSCP) in Philadelphia, PA manages the contract (SPM2DE-09-D-7444).

$8.9M to Eyak for Brain Injury Testing for Deploying U.S. Troops

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Eyak Development Corp. in Falls Church, VA received a $8.9 million firm-fixed-price contract to provide testing services for the U.S. Army’s Automated Neuropsychological Assessment Metrics (ANAM) program for deploying service members of the U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, U.S. Air Force, and U.S. Marines.

The ANAM program was set up to provide cognitive assessment for U.S. service members because of concern about brain injuries caused by explosions, resulting in concussions. A concussion may cause changes which include a slower reaction time, headaches, irritability, memory impairments, and sleep difficulty. These symptoms may result in decreased performance. One reason that such a concussion can go unnoticed is that symptoms may not be obvious.

DID has more on the ANAM tool and the Eyak contract…

$9.2M to General Dynamics for U.S. Army MEDCOM Lean Six Sigma Support

General Dynamics Information Technology, a business unit of General Dynamics, received a 3-year, $9.2 million task order to improve business processes at the U.S. Army Medical Command (MEDCOM) and Office of the Surgeon General. The task order (GS-23F-8094H – W81XWH-09-F-0198) was awarded under the General Services Administration’s Mission Oriented Business Integrated Services (MOBIS) contract vehicle.

General Dynamics IT will support the Army MEDCOM Lean Six Sigma program by providing instruction and consulting services to internal organizations for MEDCOM’s Director of Strategy and Innovation. The company will perform training, coaching and mentoring to organizational leaders and designated personnel.

DID has more on Lean and 6 Sigma and their origins in private industry…

InGenesis Arora Wins $110M U.S. Army Dental Staffing Contract

InGenesis Arora received a $110 million single-vendor contract to provide an estimated 270 dentists and other dental personnel to 10 U.S. Army dental treatment facilities in Georgia (Fort Stewart, Fort Benning, Hunter Army Base, Fort McPhearson, Fort Gordon); Alabama (Fort Rucker, Redstone); Mississippi (Camp Shelby); Kentucky (Fort Campbell); and South Carolina (Fort Jackson). The US Army Medical Command (MEDCOM) Center for Health Care Contracting manages the contract (W81K0408R0013), which takes effect October 1/09, for a period of 5 years.

DID has more on the types of dental personnel that InGenesis Arora will provide…

Up to $43.7M for Medical Equipment and Training to U.S. Services

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Welch Allyn Holdings in Skaneateles Falls, NY, won a maximum $43.7 million fixed-price-with-economic-price-adjustment contract for medical equipment, spare parts and training to the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and federal civilian agencies.

There were originally 17 proposals solicited with 9 responses. Welch Allyn expects to complete the work by June 23/10. The Defense Supply Center Philadelphia (DSCP) in Philadelphia, PA manages the contract (SPM2D1-09-D-8350).

Army Awards up to $1.3B in Healthcare Staffing Contracts

Walter Reed Army Hospital

The U.S. Army Medical Command (MEDCOM) awarded 12 healthcare staffing contracts worth up to $48 million to InGenesis Arora Staffing in San Antonio, Texas, to provide physician, nursing, and related medical services at Army medical facilities throughout the United States.

The 12 InGenesis Arora contracts are part of 3 larger multiple award task order contracts (MATOCs) worth up to $1.27 billion:

U.S. Navy, UCLA FOCUS on Supporting Military Families

The University of California, Los Angeles, received a $7.2 million firm-fixed-price contract to provide family support services for U.S. military personnel being deployed overseas. The services include group level briefings for pre- and post-deployment military and family, individual consultations, skill-building sessions for families, and multi-session family interventions. The services also include consultation to military staff, schools, family, and community on parenting and combating stress, traumatic grief, and other deployment-related stresses.

The contract awarded by the Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery (BUMED) is part of the FOCUS Project (Families OverComing Under Stress), which is a resiliency-building program designed for military families and children facing the challenges of combat operational stress during wartime. DID has more on the FOCUS program…

DARPA Program Reaches for Better Prosthetics

LeTourneau U project-
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A February 2008 Pentagon DefenseLINK story touted the progress of prosthetic limb development, fueled by a combination of combat need and the steadily advancing capabilities inherent in modern electronics and robotics. Army Col. Geoff Ling manages DARPA’s Revolutionizing Prosthetics programs.

For instance, researchers at Dean Kamen’s DEKA Research and Development Corp. in Manchester, NH (inventors of the Segway, the stair-climbing iBot wheelchair, and those PowerSwim fins that I want), have developed a “strap-and-go-arm” that requires no surgery, just 1-2 hours of training. The process of picking up a pen, key, coffee cup, or power drill obviously differs. Embedded electronics in DEKA’s arm enable the wearer to activate a switch with a foot or chin, to cycle through 5 different gripping actions to match the task at hand. One tester who lost his arm at the shoulder was reportedly able to field strip and reassemble an M-16 rifle using the prosthesis, which comes in 3 models: [1] amputees who have lost a complete arm, [2] amputations above the elbow, and [3] amputations below the elbow. See a picture here.

A recent program begins the first large-scale testing of an advanced artificial arm that can pick up a key or hold a pencil…

$46.7M in Flu Vaccine Contracts Awarded

The Defense Supply Center Philadelphia, PA has awarded 2 contracts, worth a total of $46.7 million, to supply influenza vaccine to the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and federal civilian agencies.

One contract went to MedImmune Vaccines Inc. of Gaithersburg, MD, which received a maximum $32.3 million firm-fixed-price, sole source contract. There was one response to the original solicitation. The date of performance completion is June 30/10 (SPM2DP-09-D-0005).

Another contract went to Sanofi Pasteur in Swiftwater, PA, which received a maximum $12.4 million firm-fixed-price contract. There were eight proposals originally solicited for this contract, with one response. The date of performance completion is May 26/10 (SPM2DP-09-D-0007).

USA’s MURI Issues $260M in University Research Awards

The US Department of Defense’s Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) program works to support research that involves more than one traditional science and engineering discipline. Traditional research grants can be hard to come by in these cases, and few extend over multiple years but many complex problems require this approach. So, too, does talent development.

Hence MURI’s recent FY 2009 slate, involving $260 million awarded to 69 academic institutions, in order to fund 41 projects over the next 5 years. Exact amounts for each project will be negotiated between the winning institutions and the DoD research offices that will make the awards: the Army Research Office (ARO), the Office of Naval Research (ONR), and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR).

ARO, ONR, and AFOSR solicited proposals in 32 topics important to the DoD, and received a total of 152 proposals. Some of the project topics and titles included: