Tastes like (Parmesan) Chicken…

The Defense Supply Center Philadelphia (DSCP) in Philadelphia, PA issues contracts for American field rations, known as Meals Ready to Eat (MREs), and for Humanitarian Daily Rations (HDRs) used when providing aid in emergency situations abroad.

While there are reports that the French RCIR (Ration de Combat Individuelle Réchauffable) has superior trade value on the front lines, MREs are generally considered to be a significant improvement over earlier US rations. DID readers with a high fright threshold might wish to view a set of comparative photos of modern army rations from various militaries. Even if you knew nothing about China, you could guess that their soldiers are draftees – but scroll down in the post, as well as look at the link; things may be improving.

In the USA, see below for field anecdotes, including MREs as RPG defenses, and what happens when celebrity chefs try MREs. We also have contracts from FY 2007 – Present, including almost half a billion dollars in recent contracts…

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The US Air Force Center for Engineering and the Environment (AFCEE) in Brooks City-Base, TX awarded indefinite delivery/ indefinite quantity contracts worth up to $350 million to 7 small business qualifiers to provide environmental restoration and remediation support.

The awards are under the Environmental, Construction and Operations & Services 2009 (ECOS09) contract vehicle, which is a tool for AFCEE to provide US government customers’ access to competent small business contractors to satisfy their construction and environmental operations and services needs.

And the small business winners are…

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The Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) awarded 6 small business qualifiers firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity multiple award contracts with a combined maximum value of $151.1 million to suppport and maintain US Navy barges.

The companies will provide management, administrative and production services, materials, tools, equipment, facilities and required support for depot level troubleshooting, repair, renewal, refurbishment, modernization, maintenance and testing of Navy living barges and their auxiliary systems (hull, mechanical and electrical), including the potential of periodic docking. Living barges have crew living quarters and galleys.

Four firms will service barges in the Norfolk, VA area, and 2 will service barges in Jacksonville, FL…

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Kfir C2 w. ALQ-167
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Over the last 12 years, ATAC has performed a wide range of flight training operations for the US Navy, US Air Force and Air National Guard, including participation in US Navy fleet training, acting as adversary fighters for the “TOPGUN” program, Red Flag exercises and F-22 Raptor training; participating in JTAC/ FAC-A/ CAS ground controller training; and even serving American research & development programs. Under their agreement with US Navy, their services have also been used to train militaries in the UK, Canada, Japan, the Philippines, and others.

Unlike most other contractors, who operate Learjets and similar business aircraft, ATAC operates fighters and attack jets…

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ManTech International received a $76 million contract to provide IT operations and mission support for the National Media Exploitation Center (NMEC).

ManTech will provide NMEC with data center operations, network operations, software engineering, systems engineering, information assurance, requirements management, configuration management, and project/program management support.

NMEC was set up in the aftermath of 9/11…

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USS Toledo (SSN-769)
Sonar System
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Small business qualifier Innovative Defense Technologies (IDT) in Arlington, VA received a $49.1 million indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity, cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for software development and engineering services in support of the automatic test and re-test (ATRT) product, which will test software on naval weapons systems.

ATRT [pdf] is a Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) effort whose objective is to leverage commercial automated testing best practices to reduce overall system development testing costs, maintain or improve software product quality, and shorten the software certification timeline.

The contract will fund development of the ATRT product – which IDT estimates will cut software testing costs by 25% – for automated testing of submarine combat systems for all classes of submarines currently in the fleet and under development…

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The Southwest Regional Maintenance Center in San Diego, CA awarded 6 firm-fixed-price multiple award 5-year term contracts to provide sheet metal repair and fabrication services – such as repairs to partitions, ductwork, and piping – onboard US Navy ships and other government vessels within a 50-mile radius of San Diego. The maximum ceiling value for all 6 contracts is $202 million.

The 6 small business qualifiers will compete for delivery orders under the terms and conditions of the contracts. Each contractor will provide all personnel, management, administrative and production services, material, tools, equipment, and required support to perform the work.

And the winners are…

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Water tower etc.,
Times Beach
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Most people never see services like wastewater management and water distribution, maintenance of the electric grid, et. al. The cost is built into their taxes and utility bills, or into initial subdivision fees. Military bases have to deal with these sorts of issues, just as homeowners and developer do – but on a much larger scale. The preference in the US military seems to be shifting toward very long term (about 50 year) term fixed-price or regulated tariff contracts, which are often coupled with partial privatization or conveyance of assets to make the contractor 100% responsible for the utility.

This Spotlight article covers recent contracts that fall under this format, totaling over $5 billion. In the latest offering, Entergy Arkansas won a contract worth a maximum of $25.3 million to own, operate and maintain the electric distribution system at Little Rock Air Force Base…

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Taking Stock
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The Defense Supply Center Philadelphia, PA, awarded 3 contracts worth up to $60 million for a Department of Defense pharmaceutical reverse distribution program.

The program enables the return of and credit for overstocked, expired, and in-dated pharmaceutical products.

The 3 firms receiving the pharmaceutical reverse distribution program contracts are:

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EMALS Components
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As the US Navy continues to build its new CVN-21 Gerald R. Ford Class carriers, few technologies are as important to their success as the next-generation EMALS (Electro-MAgnetic Launch System) catapult. The question is whether that technology will be ready in time, in order to avoid either costly delays to the program – or an even more costly redesign of the first ship of class.

Current steam catapult technology is very entertaining when it launches cars more than 100 feet off of a ship, or gives naval fighters the extra boost they need to achieve flight speed within a launch footprint of a few hundred feet. It’s also stressful for the aircraft involved, very maintenance intensive, and not really compatible with modern gas turbine propulsion systems. At present, however, steam is the only option for launching supersonic jet fighters from carrier decks. EMALS aims to leap beyond steam’s limitations, delivering significant efficiency savings, a more survivable system, and improved effectiveness. This free-to-view spotlight article covers the technology, the program, and its progress to date.

The latest developments include additional costs and continued testing, which is not yet finished…

• From Steam to Magnets: EMALS vs. Current Approaches
• Program Teams [NEW]
• Contracts and Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings
  
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