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M1133 Stryker
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Sept 14/07: The GM/ GDLS Defense Group L.L.C. Joint Venture in Sterling Heights, Mich. Received a $37.9 million delivery order for 33 Stryker M1133 Medical Evacuation (MEDEVAC) Vehicles, as part of a $5.68 billion firm-fixed-price contract for the Stryker family of vehicles. The 8×8 wheeled M1133 provides mobile protection for up to 6 patients and a medical team.

The DoD release says that work will be performed in Sterling Heights, Mich. (60%), and London, Ontario, Canada (40%), but General Dynamics’ release adds Anniston, Ala. And Lima, Ohio as work sites. Work is expected to be complete by Jan. 31, 2010. Bids were solicited via the World Wide Web on April 6, 2006, and 17 bids were received by the U.S. Army Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command in Warren, Mich. (DAAE07-00-D-M051).

The Wisconsin Physicians Service Insurance Corp. of Madison, WI received the follow-on TRICARE Dual Eligible Fiscal Intermediary Contract. It covers claims processing, customer service and administrative services for individuals who are eligible for both TRICARE (the US military health benefits program) and Medicare (the US public health benefits program). Future medical costs are a serious long term issue for both programs, but this move simply covers administrative necessities.

The contract includes a 12-month base period and 6 more 12-month option periods, for a total of 7 years if all options are exercised. The base period for transition is August 1, 2007 – June 30, 2008, and delivery for the TDEFIC for claims processing, customer service and administrative services will begin on July 1, 2008 if option 1 is exercised. The estimated delivery order value through the Option 1 period is $92.7 million.

This contract was competitively procured via the TRICARE Management Activity e-solicitation Web site, with 2 offers received by the Department of Defense TRICARE Management Activity (H94002-07-0001).

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Caddell Construction Company Inc. in Montgomery, AL won a $73.8 million firm-fixed-price contract for Construction of a Clinic and Demolition of a Hospital at MacDill Air Force Base, FL. Work is expected to be complete by Aug. 9, 2009. Bids were solicited via the World Wide Web on Aug. 10, 2007, and 3 bids were received by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Mobile, AL (W91278-07-C-0037).

Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC) in San Diego, CA received a $9.1 million one-year follow-on contract under previously awarded indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, cost-reimbursement contract (N66001-04-D-2504) to exercise an option to provide support for the Naval Health Research Center (NHRC), San Diego, to include studies of symptoms, morbidity, hospitalizations, reproductive outcomes, mortality, and other health-related issues among service members and Department of Defense beneficiary populations.

The The Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine has also received awards under this contract for this purpose; the original 2-year contract included three 1-year options, and this award represents exercising of the 2nd option year. The cumulative potential value of the contract, if the third option is exercised, is $45 million. Work will be performed in San Diego, CA (90%) and at NHRC Detachment at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio (10%), and is expected to be complete July 2008. The Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center in San Diego, CA issued the contract.

On July 20/07, SAIC went public with the news that the personal information of certain uniformed service members, family members, and others was found at risk of potential compromise while being processed by SAIC under several health care contracts for the Department of Defense (DoD). The information was held on a single, SAIC-owned File Transfer Protocol (FTP) server at a small SAIC location in Shalimar, FL, and was used for work being done in connection with the TRICARE health benefits program for the uniformed services, retirees and their families. The server was not behind a firewall, did not contain adequate password protections, and sometimes transmitted unencrypted files over the Internet. SAIC stopped using this server when security concerns were raised, and has conducted a forensic audit. The audit does not indicate that the information was ever compromised – but this is one of those “absence of proof is not proof of absence” situations.

SAIC is notifying approximately 580,000 households, some with more than one affected person. There are a total of some 867,000 unique individuals in these households, including minors and infants. The firm is also taking an intelligent approach to crisis response & correction, with a full mini-site covering the situation, a company-wide team to coordinate both the internal response and assistance for those involved, and the services of Kroll, Inc.’s IDTheftSmart identity restoration service on retainer for all families affected. See also Tricare MA release.

Henry Schein in Melville, NY received a maximum $24.5 million for the 3rd option year of a fixed-price with economic price adjustment, customer value contract for various general dental supplies on behalf of the US Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and federal civilian agencies. There were 50 proposals originally solicited, with 8 responses. Date of performance completion is July 12, 2008. Contracting activity is Defense Supply Center Philadelphia (DSCP), Philadelphia, PA (SPM200-05-D-7423).

Achaogen in San Francisco, CA is working on “preclinical development of novel therapeutics that reduce the virulence of, and inhibit resistance in, Class A Bacterial Pathogens.” Achaogen closed a $26 million round of venture financing in October 2006; their approach focuses on small molecules that inhibit the emergence of bacterial resistance to antibiotics. An October 2006 contract has now been followed by a June 2007 contract, and the terms appear to indicate progress.

So, just what are “Class A bacterial pathogens?” You certainly know some of them by name…

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Henry Schein subsidiary General Injectables & Vaccines, Inc. in Bastian, VA received a maximum $8.5 million firm-fixed-price, indefinite quantity/ indefinite delivery contract for influenza virus vaccine on behalf of the US Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps. There were 18 proposals solicited with 4 responses. Date of performance completion is December 31, 2007. Contracting activity is Defense Supply Center Philadelphia (DSCP) in Philadelphia, PA (SPM2DP-07-D-0001).

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Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC) announced a federal investment of more than C$ 48.8 million (about $45 million) for 29 new projects under the Chemical, Biological, Radiological-Nuclear and Explosives (CBRNE) Research and Technology Initiative (CRTI). These projects will address diverse requirements such as the development of more rapid, accurate and portable tools to detect chemical, biological and radiological agents, the fast-track development of an antiviral drug against Avian influenza, and the enhancement of decision-making support tools that assist the first responder and national security communities in coordinating a more efficient response to CBRNE incidents.

Canadian government departments and agencies working on this round of projects include DRDC, Department of National Defence, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), Environment Canada, Health Canada, National Microbiology Laboratory, National Research Council of Canada, Natural Resources Canada, Public Health Agency of Canada, and Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

Projects funded under this round include…

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Surgery, USNS Mercy
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Up to $700 million or more in medical supplies has been ordered by the US military’s Defense Supply Center Philadelphia (DSCP) in Philadelphia, PA, as they lay out their contracts and secure their stocks.

These firm-fixed-price, indefinite-quantity/ indefinite-delivery Prime Vendor contracts for medical/surgical needs cover the US Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Federal Civilian Agencies, Coast Guard, and other Non-DoD Agencies. The contracts all run until Feb 19/09; what differs from contract to contract is the winner and the specific regions covered. The big winners seem to be Owens & Minor and Cardinal Health, but a couple of other firms got contracts as well. All of these contracts were announced on June 14/07….

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