• USA sends aircraft carrier USS George Washington [CVN-73] to participate in South Korean naval exercises in the Yellow Sea.

• Scaling the SUMMIT: Lockheed Martin gets ONR contract to develop software system – known as the Supervision of Unmanned vehicles Mission Management by Interactive Teams (SUMMIT) – to manage groups of unmanned naval vehicles used in mine detection.

• Show me the money: Accenture gets up to a $181.9 million contract to help put the US Navy’s books in order.

• Incumbent contractor George Patterson Y&R beats out 7 other firms to win A$40 million advertising account for the Australian Defence Force.

• It keeps going…: Ultralife gets $29 million in DoD battery orders.

• And going…: Paradigm Solutions to provide uninterruptible power supply systems and electrical upgrades for DISA’s Defense Enterprise Computing Center in St. Louis, MO.

The US Special Operations Command (US SOCOM) awarded 4 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contracts for the Global Battlestaff and Program Support Services (GBPS) program. The 4 contracts have a maximum value of $1.5 billion.

Under the GBPS contracts, the contractors will provide personnel, equipment, tools, materials, supervision, and other items necessary to support a broad range of US SOCOM mission areas.

The GBPS contracts are follow-on to the more narrowly focused acquisition, logistics, management, and business operations support (ALMBOS) contracts, which were earlier awarded to Jacobs and Gemini Industries and expired on April 30/10. In response to the GBPS RFP [pdf], Gemini filed a protest with the GAO, but the agency denied the protest (solicitation number: H92222-09-R-0034) on April 29/10.

The winners of the GBPS contracts are:

In 2004 the GAO changed its name from the Government Accounting Office to the Government Accountability Office. Along with the name change came an aggressive approach to combat fraud, waste and abuse in the US government contracting process.

Probably the most prominent role the GAO plays in the contracting process is ruling on disputes over contract awards. Although the GAO is a part of Congress, it has the authority to rule on contracting awards by the Executive Branch. While the GAO can’t compel the Executive Branch, i.e. the Pentagon and individual services for defense contracts, to comply, it has the power of Congress backing it up.

This free-to-view DID Spotlight article takes a look at the GAO’s authority and process for reviewing defense contract protests, the effects its decisions have, charges of process abuse, alternative protest venues, some major defense contract decisions, and the future of the GAO bid protest review process:

• The GAO’s Bid Review Powers
• Formal Briefs Not Required: The Protest Process
• Decisions, Decisions: GAO Rules
• Stay, Just a Little Bit Longer: Contract Delays
• Prometheus Unbound: What Happens Next?
• Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics: Recent Trends
• Appealing Prospect: From the GAO to the Courts
• Case Study: CSAR-X Canceled for Convenience
• Case Study: KC-X’s Transatlantic Troubles
• The Messy Future
• Additional Readings and Sources
  Continue Reading… »

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:

CACI International received a $31 million task order to support implementation of Oracle’s E-Business Suite for the US Department of Defense Business Transformation Agency’s Defense Agency Initiative (DAI) program.

The task order was awarded under the Defense Information System Agency’s $12.3 billion ENCORE II contract vehicle. It is also 1 of 3 DAI-related awards CACI has won with the Business Transformation Agency in the past 12 months, which total approximately $53 million.

• “Taking Back the Infantry Half-Kilometer” – US infantry poorly equipped for rifle engagements in Afghanistan?

• EADS expects final deal on A400M military transport plane; Euro 3.5 billion funding deal in works.

• US Navy, House Armed Services Committee members, clash over FY 2011 shipbuilding budget.

• ThyssenKrupp’s Swedish subsidiary Kockums to build Sweden’s next-generation submarine.

• Israel’s Plasan secures $170 million subcontract from Oshkosh to supply 1,460 M-ATV protection kits; see Oshkosh’s recent win for 1,460 M-ATVs.

• US Army’s NETFIRES non line-of-sight launch system (NLOS-LS) fails recent tests at White Sands.

• US Marines go green.

• DARPA working on foliage-penetrating radar signal processing workstation to detect infantry moving in dense foliage.

• Littoral Combat Ship: program updates.

• A British green paper calls for enhanced military cooperation between the UK and France. Industry says: what about R&D?

• India orders BEL’s Akash medium range surface-to-air missile systems.

• India issues turboprop trainer RFP, after instructors reportedly refused to fly HPT-32s.

• Up to 8 UAVs reported operating in Waziristan, Pakistan strike.

• Indian P-8i sea control aircraft may add air-air surveillance.

• Frost & Sullivan: Traditional defense contractors will lose market share to “disruptive companies” that offer “good enough” products at cheaper prices.

• China is threatening to sanction US companies that are involved in the US $6.45 billion weapons sale to Taiwan. Real, or a bluff?

• US Defense Secretary Gates warns Congress that if it makes substantial cuts to the administration’s budget request, the US military will have to “sacrifice” force structure and capabilities.

• USA’s coming rotorcraft crunch?

• US DISA awards Unisys a $187 million contract to provide mainframe computer capacity for USAF logistics.

• Who’s right on the US carrier fighter gap? Defense Secretary Gates or the Navy?

• Raytheon receives a $170 million foreign military sales order to produce AGM-65D and AGM-65G2 infrared-guided Maverick air-to-surface missiles for the UAE.

• Maritime laser clears 2 US design reviews.

• Thales wins 5-year training support sub-contract for Australia’s E-737 Wedgetail AWACS {DII}, 5-year avionics support sub-contract for France’s Rafale fighters.

• The US Navy stands up its new Fleet Cyber Command to oversee the service’s cyberspace operations. Google attacks termed a “wake up call” by DNI.

• Draper Lab gets $131.1 million contract to upgrade the guidance systems on the Trident II D5 missile.

Unisys Clearpath Server

While it might be more thrilling to imagine US Special Operations Forces getting critical intelligence about enemy movements through a laptop computer in the field, the bread and butter of US Department of Defense IT are mainframe computers. They have the computing power necessary to process the huge amount of information generated by the sprawling DoD bureaucracy.

One of the major suppliers of mainframe computers to the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) is Unisys. Since 1983, Unisys has been providing mainframe computer capacity for US Air Force logistics through DISA, the DoD agency that provides command, control and computing capabilities to the US services, other DoD agencies, and coalition partners.

On Feb 3/10, Unisys announced that it received a renewal of its contract to provide mainframe computer processing capacity and support services to DISA in support of USAF logistics and Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) financial activities. The contract is worth an estimated $187 million over 5 years.

Back in February 2006, “The Pentagon’s Broken Book-keeping” discussed the depth of the problems inherent in trying to audit that organization. It’s not that the US Department of Defense fails audits. The problem is more fundamental: it is not currently possible to audit it, and any comprehensive audit would be a first-ever event in modern times.

This topic can seem trivial, but the Pentagon’s accounting problems are not limited to issues of day to day functioning. They also go right to the heart of the American political system’s ability to properly evaluate and learn from procurement decisions over the long term.

On June 18/09, U.S. Senators John McCain (R-AZ), Dr. Tom Coburn (R-OK), and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) introduced bill S.1287, the Department of Defense Financial Accountability Act of 2009, which sets a progressive deadlines for the Department of Defense to undergo a complete audit of its financial statements. DID offers more information about the bill, and excerpts from a special supplement to the Pentagon’s FY 2010 budget documents…

In 2006, DID covered the US Department of Defense’s serious accounting and finance-related issues. Booz Allen Hamilton, Inc. is one of many consulting companies trying to help them change that, and in May 2006 they received a new blanket purchase agreement (BPA) under contract HQ-0423-06-A-0011 in support of the Defense Finance and Service (DFAS) agency transformation initiative. The contract covers program management, accounting, training, human resource services and Information Technology services in support of the Transformation Directorate at DFAS Indianapolis, IN. Booz consultants role will assist DFAS in planning and executing agency efforts and lead a team of vendors under the BPA through 21 contractor teaming arrangements. These services will be temporary support to closing DFAS locations, and are not anticipated to be required after agency transformation is complete.

The estimated total value of this contract was $25 million, with primary work performed at DFAS Indianapolis, IN, and temporary services provided to closing locations at the closing locations. Work will be performed between May 1, 2006 – April 30, 2011. Funding will be provided through defense working capital funds and BRAC funding, via the DFAS Contract Services Directorate in Columbus, OH (HQ-0423-06-A-0011).

A March 4/08 Booz Allen Hamilton podcast provides something we don’t often get: a retrospective look at the project, which was tied into BRAC 2005, consolidation of IT and accounting systems, and wider efforts within the DoD. The podcast doesn’t reach the high benchmarks set by Manager Tools; nevertheless, it is a useful way to begin to connect the award with the actual project, and understand the challenges involved.