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IBM’s Center for the Business of Government:

“One of the biggest challenges facing the new administration, as well as future administrations, is the effective acquisition of complex products…. This report examines contracting for complex products by reviewing the U.S. Coast Guard’s experience with its Deepwater Program…. a major “system of systems” acquisition to upgrade and integrate the Coast Guard’.... Important elements are missing from the Deepwater story, notably the impact of contract management and the behavior of each party within the IDIQ contract design…. Although Deepwater has garnered headlines for some of its stumbles, a more complete review of the early phases suggests a more mixed and balanced record.”

DID has covered numerous aspects of the US Coast Guard’s $25 billion Deepwater program-of-programs; “US Coast Guard’s Deepwater Effort Hits More Rough Sailing” offers a good summary of developments to date, and links to most of the key articles. Readers can download the full IBM CBG report [PDF], which recommends more investment in building up the acquisition workforce (a workforce that is often cut short-sightedly when budgets get smaller), which leads to a better understanding of risk drivers. They CBG also recommends a commitment to learning by trying different kinds of contracts for complex systems, ensuring that the contracts can be modified mid-stream in light of experience, and collecting lessons learned.

This report was also discussed in USCG Rear Admiral Blore’s Dec 31/08 blog post, where he states his general agreement with the report, and contends that most of its recommendations have already been implemented.

Ripple effect
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“Sri Lanka: Fulcrums & Lions to Battle Tigers?” discussed the Tamil Tigers’ (LTTE) attacks on Sri Lankan military bases and oil facilities using an unusual weapon for guerrillas and terrorists: aircraft. The implications of those attacks are becoming regional in scope, which should probably be expected given that the LTTE was responsible for assassinating Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1991.

In spite of an interview in which Air Chief Fali Homi Major called the situation an irritant to India rather than a threat, the Indian military’s reaction suggested that they are not taking the Tigers lightly. Hard on the heels of that response came reports of a follow-on buy from Israel of very advanced surveillance radars mounted on tethered aerostat blimps… and the value of those systems has just been underscored, in the wake of the Mumbai massacre.

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X-ray vs. ZB
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American Science and Engineering’s Z Backscatter Van™ (ZBV) is a low-cost, extremely maneuverable screening system built into a commercially available delivery van. The ZBV employs AS&E’s patented Z Backscatter technology, which reveals contraband that transmission X-rays miss – such as explosives (including car bombs), plastic weapons, and people – providing photo-like imaging for rapid analysis.

The Z-Backscatter Van is also capable of identifying low levels of radioactivity from both gamma rays and neutrons with optional Radioactive Threat Detection (RTD) technology. This article explains how it works, and provides an illustrative slice of coverage regarding contracts and key events from FY 2005 to the end of FY 2008. The latest set of additions wraps up DID’s coverage…

• The Technology
• Contracts & Key Events, FY 2005-2008
• Additional Readings
  
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NECD
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During the 1960s, the Newport Chemical Depot (NECD) in Indiana produced the nerve agent VX until a unilateral decree halted American (but not Soviet) production and transportation of all chemical weapons. In the aftermath of 9/11, the US Department of Defense re-evaluated their chemical weapons disposal program, looking at where they might accelerate destruction of the USA’s stockpile in order to remove potential targets.

The U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency has a number of storage and disposal sites, each of which has its own prime contractor. Prime contractors hold the design, build, operation and closure portions of the contract, while subcontractors to the prime contractors vary by site. This post covers the still-ongoing work at Newport, Indiana. The following is a list of the prime contractors at each CMA disposal site:

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CGC Sanibel
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DID’s FOCUS articles offer in-depth, updated looks at significant military programs of record. On Sept 16/05, the U.S. Coast Guard and the Lockheed Martin/ Northrop Grumman joint venture Integrated Coast Guard Systems (ICGS) completed the preliminary design review for the 58 Fast Response Cutters (FRC). “The FRC is being designed to provide the Coast Guard with a state-of-the-art patrol craft that is capable of conducting simultaneous missions,” said ICGS Deepwater’s FRC program manager Mike Duthu.

That success has been followed by delays and failures, on multiple fronts. More than 2 years after the Coast Guard asked ICGS to accelerate the Fast Response Cutter (FRC) program timeline by more than 10 years, in order to hasten replacement of their rapidly deteriorating Island Class patrol vessels, the Coast Guard is still waiting for replacements of any type to arrive. The USCG’s 30-year old patrol boats soldier on, less the 8 “upgraded” Island Class ships whose hull cracking has now made them unfit for service. Another 41 Island Class vessels still ply US and international waters.

The Island Class’ replacement program fared little better. In February 2006, the Coast Guard’s Deepwater system-of-systems Program ‘temporarily’ suspended design work on the FRC-A program due to technical risk. That suspension remains in place, and it soon became clear that Congress was unwilling to fund further FRC design work. FRC-A has effectively been canceled, in favor of an off-the-shelf buy. On March 14/07, the Coast Guard took the next step. ICGS’ lost responsibility for the Deepwater Fast Response Cutter-B off-the-shelf acquisition as well, and the FRC project was reassigned to the Coast Guard’s new Acquisition Directorate.

What happened? What will happen next? DID reviews, from the programs, to the outcomes and controversies, to the fate of the Island Class and FRC programs. The latest news is an initial contract for the Coast Guard’s off-the-shelf FRC-B cutter, which could become a $1.5 billion buy…

• Behind the Programs: The Modernization Imperative
• Appendix A: Down on the Islands – The Suspended Modernization
• Appenix B: FRC-A’s Not-So Fast Response: The Catch With Composite Cutters
• March 2007: What Next?
• FRC Plan B: The Sentinel Class [NEW]
• Program Updates & Contracts [updated]
• Additional Readings – Background
• Additional Readings – News, Official Reports & Statements
  
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Jordan
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In May 2008, the U.S. Army’s Communications and Electronics Command (CECOM) chose DRS Technologies, Inc. in Gaithersburg, MD (since acquired by Italy’s Finmeccanica) for the initial phase of the Jordan Border Security Program. The overall system will include Distant Sentry™ mobile and fixed surveillance towers that utilize a variety of Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) sensors, communications between the towers and mobile and fixed Command and Control (C2) Centers, and electronic infrastructure, software, and computing systems for the centers themselves. The Iraqi border is reportedly the focus of the JBSP program, but that country’s borders with Syria are also a concern.

A number of other countries are building or have built similar virtual and/or physical systems, from Saudi Arabia along the Iraq border, to India in Kashmir, to Israel along its hostile borders with Lebanon and the Palestinian Authority. Note, however, that these systems are not a panacea. Israel’s high-tech systems did not detect or prevent the cross-border Hezbollah kidnappings that led to the 2006 war in Lebanon, however, and the US GAO has been less than complimentary concerning Team Boeing’s SBInet system along the USA’s southern border...

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US Amy UH-60, 1983
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The UH-60M Black Hawk is the US Army’s newest utility helicopter, with a number of upgrades over earlier models. To date, orders have been placed by the US Army, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates. On Sept 9/08, the USA’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency announced Egypt’s formal request for 4 UH-60M helicopters. They would support a newly established military Search and Rescue Operations Center, and assist with border security missions by performing surveillance and observation missions.

The request includes 4 UH-60M helicopters with 8 T-700-GE-701D engines, and 1 spare T-700-GE-701D engine. Each helicopter would also be equipped with FLIR Systems’ Star SAFIRE II/HD surveillance and targeting turret, an APR-39Av2 Radar Signal Detecting Set, an ALQ-144Av1 Infrared Countermeasure Set, an AAR-57 Common Missile Warning System, an AVR-2A Laser Warning Set, M130 Flare and Chaff Dispensers, and AN/ALE-47 Countermeasures Dispenser Systems (CMDS), an Improved Hover Infrared Suppression System (IHIRSS). The contract would also include spare and repair parts, tools and support equipment, and other forms of support.

The principal contractors will be United Technologies’ subsidiary Sikorsky Aircraft in Stratford, CT, their subsidiary Schweizer Aircraft Company of Horseheads, NY, and General Electric Aircraft Company of Lynn, MA (engines). The estimated cost is $176 million, and the sale will not require the assignment of any additional U. S. Government or contractor personnel since Egypt already operates a handful of S-70/UH-60 helicopters out of the Cairo East base.

AS350 AStar
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EADS subsidiary American Eurocopter LLC recently announced a win in the US Department of Homeland Security’s Light Enforcement Helicopter (LEH) contract. This maximum $150 million indefinite-quantity/ indefinite-delivery contract will provide U.S. Customs and Border Protection with up to 50 more AS350B3 helicopters. It begins with an initial order of 17 AS350B3s, and is structured as a base year and 4 one-year options. The first AS350B3 helicopter is to be delivered in 2009, ramping up to a target delivery schedule of one AS350B3 every 45 days. The helicopters will be built at American Eurocopter’s Mississippi facility, which also assembles the UH-72 Lakota Light Utility Helicopter for the US Army.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection already owns 48 AS350s and 15 EC120s, with 5 more EC120s on order under a contract that could reach 55 helicopters. See also: EADS release | American Eurocopter release.

The AS350 Ecureuil/AStar is a single-engine helicopter, unlike the twin-engine AS355 which is promoted as a safer option over cities. Nevertheless, the A350B3 version packs enough power that it became the first helicopter to land on Mount Everest. It is popular in the USA, in service with the FBI, DEA, Department of Justice, and a wide array of police departments, and other state and federal agencies. The helicopter pictured above, for instance, serves with the California Highway Patrol (note to readers: never call them “CHiPS”).

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The August 2008 issue of the US Naval Institute’s Proceedings Magazine includes “Admiral Allen’s Blue Tsunami,” by Art Pine. The $25 billion Deepwater meta-program has undergone significant changes during Allen’s tenure, and is not out of the woods yet. The Proceedings article deals with the flip side of an acquisition effort that will define the Coast Guard’s future for a generation, placing it within the context of a larger set of structural and operational changes.

The on-line version of this article includes Commandant Allen’s recommended music playlist, but does not include the listing and current status of his 10 Commandant’s Intent Action Orders (CIAOs) issued in May 2006. The PDF version does include the CIAOs and status; Allen’s CIAOs were:

1. Set Up Deployable Operations Group for rapid reaction
2. Develop USCG Maritime Strategy
3. Revamp Logistics System with centralized Coast-Guard-wide structure.
4. Adapt Numbered Staff System For HQ, to bring them into line with the systems used by other services.
5. Revamp Acquisition Systemwith new directorate, retake control of Deepwater
6. Revamp Financial and Accounting Systems, replacing them with a centralized arrangement to improve transparency
7. Revamp Command And Control framework
8. Set Up New Human Resource Strategy
9. Strengthen Reserve Component
10. E-CG Version 2.0 to improve the use of information technology for C4 (command, control, communications, and computers)

Afghanistan
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ECC, Inc. in Burlingame, CA received a $13.2 million firm-fixed price contract for design and construction of facilities for the Afghan National Police Border Police Zone. Work will be performed in Mazar-e-Sharif, Afghanistan, and is expected to be complete by July 1, 2009. Five bids were solicited on April 23/08, and 4 bids were received. The U.S. Army Engineer District, Afghanistan manages the contract (W917PM-07-D-0015).

Mazar-e-Sharif is located in northern Afghanistan, near the border with Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. While there are a good number of Uzbeks among the foreign jihadis in Afghanistan, the Uzbek border is not their major transit point. Most come from fifedoms within al-Qaeda’s enclaves in Pakistan, which were set up by al-Qaeda and the Taliban after friction between foreign jihadis and local tribes flared into serious violence. Nevertheless, securing Afghanistan’s borders is an important job for the civil government, and allowing any obvious weak points is an invitation to have them exploited.