$13.1M for Border Police HQ in Afghanistan

DynCorp International LLC in Falls Church, VA received a $13.1 million firm-fixed price contract to design and build a border police headquarters in Bermel, Afghanistan. Work is expected to be complete by May 14/09. Five bids were solicited on April 18/08, and 1 bid was received by the U.S. Army Engineer District in Afghanistan (W917PM-07-D-0014).

Bermel sits just inside Afghan territory in Pakitika Province on the Pakistani border, directly south of Kabul. Because it is so close to Al-Qaeda’s territories in Pakistan, and offers a short route to Kabul, it has been a frequent locus of fighting for American and Afghan National Army troops.

US Issues Up to $4B in SATOC Infrastructure Contracts

The AETC CONS/LGCK at Randolph Air Force Base, TX has awarded a set of indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contracts for the $4 billion Sustainment, Restoration, and Modernization (SR&M) Task Order Contract (SATOC) program. SATOC will provide maintenance, restoration, and modernization type construction activity worldwide for the US government and military.

This is a multiple-award contract, where the winning vendors will then compete on task orders under the umbrella contract; $4 billion is the maximum total of all task orders over the 10 year life of the program. At this time $2,500 per awardee has been obligated. Winners were announced in January 2008, and again in May 2008 with a revised list. They include:

• AMEC Earth and Environmental, Inc. of Plymouth Meeting, PA
  
• Barlovento, LLC of Dothan, AL
  
• CDM Constructors Inc. of Cambridge MA
  
• CH2M-Hill Facilities and Infrastructure, Inc. of Englewood, CA
  
• Charter Environmental of Wilmington, MA
  
• DWG and Associates of Bluffdale, UT
  
• Earthtech Inc. of Long Beach, CA
  
• ECC of Burlington, VA
  
• Innovative Technical Solutions Inc. of Walnut Creek, VA
  
• J2 Engineering of Tampa, FL
  
• Jacobs Government Services CO., of Pasadena, CA
  
• Johnson Controls Federal Systems/Versar, LLC of Springfield, VA [May]
  
• MACTEC Engineering and Consulting, Inc. of Alpharetta, GA [May]
  
• North Wind of Idaho Falls, ID
  
• Parsons Infrastructure and Technology Group, Inc., of Pasadena, CA
  
• Perini Corp of Farmington, MA
  
• SEI Group, Inc. of Huntsville, AL
  
• Toltest of Maumee, OH
  
• Weston Solutions, Inc. of San Antonio, TX [May]

US Replacing Air Traffic Control Radars

ASR-11 facility

May 22/08: Raytheon received an indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity contract for $29.4 million as part of the Digital Airport Surveillance System, a joint Department of Defense and Federal Aviation Administration activity to replace existing radar facilities at military and civilian airfields worldwide. The current analog air traffic radar systems were first fielded nearly 30 years ago and are nearly at the end of their life cycle, “leading to sporadic loss of airport surveillance radar coverage.”

The contract being awarded is for approximately 116 fully operational “turn-key” ASR-11 radar systems. These systems offer Primary Surveillance Radar (PSR) coverage to 60 miles, and Monopulse Secondary Surveillance Radar (MSSR) coverage to 120 miles, an meet all current FAA, DoD, ICAO, and Eurocontrol surveillance requirements. The system is designed for unattended operation using redundant subsystems with built-in test equipment, and can be fully controlled and monitored from multiple locations.

This contract includes site activation activities, including engineering and technical support services, site surveys, site preparation and the dismantling of existing radars, as well as all activities related to the production, transportation and installation and check-out of the new radar systems’ plus spare parts and technical assistance. SRI International has also been involved in this program. At this time, $22 million has been committed by Hanscom AFB, MA (FA8730-08-D-0001).

Memorial Day 2008

Honor & Reflect

Monday, May 26th is Memorial Day in the USA. DID honors those who have given all of their tomorrows in American military service; we will not be publishing. Readers are urged to peruse the US Department of Defense’s Memorial Day feature.

US Awards ENCORE-II: $12.3 Billion I.T. Support Contract

Air strike… priceless
(click for relevance)

Back in August 2005, we noted that “ENCORE I.T. Contracts Raise Ceiling to $2.5B Until ENCORE II Arrives.” Services under ENCORE II will include high level enterprise IT policy, integration management, communications engineering, and asset management. According to the Encore II RFP, DISA intends to use the contract to support users in the military services and agencies as they transition from legacy systems to Net-Centric Enterprise Services (NCES), which embodies the new techno-organizational opportunities described above. Encore II will help them effectively use core NCES product lines, including collaboration and discovery tools, and a planned joint services knowledge portal. That’s the vision, anyway. In January 2006, we followed that up with “Pentagon’s $13 Bn “Encore II” RFP Gets Revised, Extended,” explaining the ENCORE vision, its origins, and its likely obstacles.

That wait ended on Jan 31/07, when 6 companies received indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity multiple-awards contracts. They include provisions for Firm, Fixed-Price, Time-and-Materials or Labor-Hour and Cost-Reimbursement (CPFF, CPAF, etc), and will run from March 12/07 through March 11/17. The maximum not-to-exceed value for the ENCORE II contract over a 5-year period, plus its 5 one-year option periods, is $12.225 billion. This is slightly less than the $13 billion projected. Performance will be at various locations within the Continental United States (CONUS), and also outside the CONUS (OCONUS), and each task order issued will be opened to competition among the ENCORE-II winners.

The solicitation was issued as a full and open competitive action with 16 large firm proposals received – but the Defense Information Technology Contracting Organization DITCO) at Scott AFB, IL picked just 6 large firm winners with small business awards to follow. Whereupon, the protests began. Now, the small business roster has been added, and the large business roster has been expanded…

US Getting Savi at Ammo Depots

Think of RFID as wireless bar codes that don’t need to be swiped individually. The US military has invested heavily in RFID for its supply chain; recent years have begun to feature positive results, as well as the creation of an RFID solutions center near Wright-Patterson AFB, OH. The next-stage challenge is creating logistics networks that interoperate with allies to interoperate with systems like AGATRS to handle shipment, billing, and more.

Now Lockheed Martin subsidiary Savi Technology has been awarded a contract Army Sustainment Command on behalf of the U.S. Army Joint Munitions Command (JMC). The initial $4 million contract would use Savi’s Munitions Total Management Systems-Field Module (MTMS-FM) to support depot-level ammunition logistics functions, and additional options that could drive its value higher over time. Savi Technologies release.

Lockheed Martin acquired Savi in May 2006. The firm has worked with the US military for over a decade to build their RF In-Transit Visibility (ITV) network, which spans more than 45 countries and tracks military supplies through 4,000 sites. The current RFID II contract, which totals almost half a billion dollars, belongs to Savi.

$9.4M to Dredge the Calcasieu Region in LA

Mike Hooks, Inc. in Westlake, LA won a $9.4 million firm-fixed price contract for maintenance dredging of Louisiana’s Calcasieu River and pass between mile 17.0 to mile 23. The contract includes optional dredging of the main channel between miles 23 and 26.5 and between miles 26.5 and 29.3, optional dredging of Devil’s Elbow, optional dredging of Clooney Island loop, and optional dredging of Coon Island channel, Calcasieu and Cameron Parishes, LA. Work is to be performed at Calcasieu and Cameron Parishes, LA with an estimated completion date of Feb 20/09. Bids were solicited via the web with 3 bids received by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans District in New Orleans, LA (W912P8-08-C-0059)

The Calcasieu River is actually on the other side of the state from New Orleans, and matters most to the western port city of Lake Charles. Lake Charles is the 16th-largest seaport in the United States, the 4th-largest liner service seaport in the U.S. Gulf, and a major West Gulf container load center. The Calcasieu Ship Channel provides direct access to the Gulf of Mexico, and intersects the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway just north of Calcasieu Lake.

GCC C3 Market Projected at $9b from 2008-2015

Market & firms
(click to view larger)

Analyst firm Documental Solutions specializes in developing comprehensive bottom-up databases for the defense and aerospace industry, coupled with interactive on-line analysis software. In May 2007, “Documental Estimates European Defense Electronics Market from 2007-2013” discussed one of their forecasts. In December 2007, DID’s “UAE Looking to Become a Regional C2 Leader” discussed that country’s ongoing command and control efforts as part of the Gulf Cooperation Council, a group that includes Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, et. al.

Now Documental has reviewed its analysis of the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) Region’s Command, Control and Communications (C3) market for the period 2008-2015. This market has a total forecast sales value of approximately $9 billion within the forecast period. Even more significant, an estimated $5 billion of those contracts are currently un-awarded opportunities. See “GCC C3 Markets Set To Expand On Internal Security Concerns” for more.

Booz Allen Hamilton’s 1998 IATAC Contract

In May of 1998, technical and consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton Inc. of McLean, VA received a $199.6 million cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to establish and operate the US military’s Information Assurance Technology Analysis Center. This contract had a 3-year base period, plus a 3-year option period and a 4-year option period, for a total performance period of 10 years with completion by April 30, 2008. The Defense Supply Center Columbus solicited 9 bids, and received 2 (SPO700-98-D-4002). A number of awards have been made under this contract, but a set of awards announced on May 16/08 appear to be the final set of contracts under this arrangement…

NZ Looks to Upgrade ANZAC Frigates

HMNZS Te Kaha

Beginning in 1989, New Zealand and Australia introduced the ANZAC Class frigates, based on Blohm + Voss’ Meko 200 modular design. A total of 10 were built, 8 for Australia and another 2 for New Zealand; HMNZS Te Kaha [F77] was commissioned in 1997, and HMNZS Te Mana [F111] in 1999. The ships were originally fitted with RIM-7 Sea Sparrow missiles, torpedoes, and 5 inch guns, which will not suffice against modern threats. An Australian program called “ANZAC Class Anti-Ship Missile Defences” aims to extend their useful operational lives by upgrading their ships’ combat systems and radar, switching to the more advanced RIM-162 Evolved Sea Sparrow missile, adding Harpoon anti-ship missiles, and other upgrades. New Zealand appears to be headed toward a similar program, in the wake of conclusions that the ships’ existing systems will not remain effective much past 2010.

As an initial step, New Zealand’s TV3 reports that their navy is spending NZ$ 25 million to upgrade their Mk15 Phalanx 20mm gatling guns to deal with fast boats and helicopters, as well as incoming missiles. These Phalanx block 1B upgrades can be performed quickly, and do not require major modifications or down time.

A NZ$60 million platform systems upgrade is likely to begin in 2009 and be complete by 2010. Areas addressed are likely to include items like gearboxes and engines, generators, air conditioning units, generating equipment, main machinery control equipment and computers outside of the combat system. That change would wait until 2012-2013, whereupon a NZ$ 500 million self-defense upgrade would address upgrades to the combat system and the weaponry it controls. That effort is part of the New Zealand Defence Force’s 2006 long-term development plan, but this does not guarantee future funding.