The Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Pacific in Pearl Harbor, HI awarded firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity multiple award contracts to 4 small business qualifiers in support of the Environmental Remedial Action Program at various sites in NAVFAC Pacific’s area of responsibility (AOR).

The maximum dollar value, including the base period and 4 option years, for all contracts is $30 million.

The 4 small business qualifiers are…

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• In the Quadrennial Defense Review 2010 the Pentagon seeks to rebalance the US military and to institutionalize DoD reforms.

• President Obama FY 2011 budget contains a record $708 billion in defense spending, including a 3.4% increase in the Pentagon’s base budget and $159 billion to fund US military missions in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, Reuters reports. At the same time, the Pentagon may be targeting at least 7 programs for cancellation.

• US defense firms felt the economic pressure this quarter, as Rockwell Collins’ profits fell 20% and Lockheed Martin’s earnings were flat, notes the Wall Street Journal. Bucking the trend, Raytheon’s profit rose 20% for the quarter.

• Morgan Keegan analyst Brian Ruttenbur predicts a wave of cyber security firm acquisitions by big defense companies in the next 12 – 24 months, because more federal money is going into that area.

• Research and Markets: The market for military tactical radio systems is predicted to grow substantially in the coming years. Also, technical issues with JTRS are driving the need for more legacy radios.

• Boeing unveils plans to provide up to $2 billion in subcontracting work to Canadian companies for in-service support for 15 CH-47F Chinook helicopters purchased by the Canadian government.

• General Dynamics Electric Boat says it will lay off 434 workers at its Groton, CT, shipyard due to lost submarine maintenance, overhaul and repair work.

• USAF is undertaking a massive restructuring of the C-17 Globemaster Sustainment Partnership after 2012, which the service predicts will save $9-12 billion over 30 years.

• The Obama administration is working with Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf allies to speed up arms sales and upgrade defenses for oil terminals and other key infrastructure, in a bid to thwart future military attacks by Iran.

• DARPA’s Cyber Genome Program is developing “digital fingerprint” technology to track down cyber terrorists.

• The Pentagon is looking to cut its greenhouse gas emissions for non-combat activities, such as buildings and fleet vehicles, by 34% by 2020.

NPOESS (click to view full)

Latest update covers events from 2007 to January 2010.

The National Polar-orbiting Observing Satellite System (NPOESS) is a joint program of the Department of Defense, Department of Commerce and the NASA that will help develop 3-7 day weather forecasts for civilian and military purposes, replacing less sophisticated satellites that are expected to fail over the next several years. Those forecasts include weather like hurricanes, tornadoes, etc. Unfortunately, it now appears that NPOESS could be as much as $3 billion over budget, and that it is not expected to be launched until 2012 – 3 years later than the previous program plan, and at least 6 years later than earlier projections. Some gaps in coverage are possible during that time, if enough older satellites fail.

In November 2005 testimony given at a House of Congress Science Committee hearing, the Administrator of NOAA and the Undersecretary of the Air Force promised new cost and schedule estimates and policy options, as well as fuller and more rapid information. Nor are these the only changes underway in NPOESS, which was openly described as “a program in crisis.” Now, there are even rumors that the Pentagon may pull out of the program.

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URS Corp. in San Francisco, CA received 4 contracts from the US Department of Defense (DoD) to provide engineering services and maintenance support to the US Army and US Navy. The 4 contracts have a combined maximum value of $316 million over 5 years if all options are exercised.

In addition, URS is active in the DoD environmental contracts area, having won in 2009 lucrative contracts awarded by the US Air Force and US Army to provide environmental construction and remediation services.

The 4 engineering and maintenance support contracts are:

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Michael Baker Jr., Inc., a Virginia Beach, VA-based engineering unit of Michael Baker Corp., won a $75 million maximum value, indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity contract for multimedia environmental compliance engineering support for the US Navy and other US Department of Defense installations in the Northeast, Southeast and Mid-Atlantic continental United States and some overseas locations. These locations are within the Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Atlantic’s areas of responsibility.

The maximum dollar value includes a base period and 4 option years.

Michael Baker Jr. will prepare studies, plans, specifications, design, reports, cost estimates and associated engineering services in support of the following environmental compliance programs:

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Hyperbaric Medicine Chamber
at Brooks City-Base, TX
(click to view full)

The US Air Force Research Laboratory awarded 6 contracts worth a combined $558 million for administrative and functional support, medical and biomedical research assistance, clinical and clinical hyperbaric medicine services, environmental bio-terrorism support, technology evaluation and research studies support services at Brooks City-Base, TX and Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, OH.

Brooks City-Base is home to the USAF School of Aerospace Medicine (USAFSAM), [pdf] which is a center for aerospace medical learning, consultation, aerospace medical investigations and aircrew health assessments. The school operates a hyperbaric medicine chamber, which exposes patients to large amounts of oxygen to enrich blood and increase the body’s ability to heal.

The winners of the medical research support contracts are:

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Houston-Galveston
Navigation Channel Map
(click to enlarge)

Weston Solutions in Houston, TX received a $23.2 million firm-fixed-price task order under a multiple award task order contract (W912BV-08-D-2012) to repair levees along the Houston-Galveston navigation channel.

The firm will perform levee repairs, shore protection, and channelization within placement areas and beneficial use sites along the channel…

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Lake Ponchartrain
& New Orleans (shaded area)
(click to view larger)

The US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is in the process of awarding large contracts to repair and strengthen flood control infrastructure in New Orleans and the vicinity.

The lastest contract, for $195 million, was awared to Kiewit Louisiana Co. in Fort Worth, TX to upgrade 4 pump stations on the east bank of Lake Pontchartrain in Jefferson Parish, LA. This contract follows a $278.8 million contract awarded to Odebrecht-Baker in Coral Gables, FL for levee improvements to the Chalmette Loop in St. Bernard Parish, and a $33.3 million contract awarded to Tetra Tech EC in Norcross, GA for construction of a hurricane risk reduction floodwall and 5 floodgates in the Lake Ponchartrain area of New Orleans.

These are a few of the many USACE contracts under the Hurricane & Storm Damage Risk Reduction System (formerly the Hurricane Protection System). USACE has developed an interactive map with the status of all of the projects under this program in the New Orleans area…

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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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MWH Americas in Broomfield, CO and ARGO/LRS JV in Glen Burnie, MD have joined 42 other companies in being eligible to compete for $3 billion in US Air Force environmental work.

The two companies received contracts from the US Air Force Center for Engineering and the Environment at Brooks City-Base, TX to compete for task orders to provide environmental requirements that include completion of conceptual design, construction, implementation, demolition, repair and operation and maintenance of installed systems prior to delivery to the government.

The work includes environmental remediation construction at US military facilities…

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