The US Navy’s Nuclear Propulsion Contracts

This DII Spotlight article covers American nuclear propulsion industrial base contracts since the beginning of FY 2006. The USA has had an all-nuclear submarine fleet for over 50 years, a policy that dates back to the visionary Admiral Hyman Rickover. On the surface, America’s aircraft carriers became an all-nuclear fleet with the retirement of the USS Kitty Hawk [CV 63], and FY 2008-09 spending legislation pushed the US Navy to use nuclear power in its future CG (X) cruisers and new amphibious ship classes. At present, however, carriers are the only nuclear-powered American surface ships on the drawing board.

The civilian nuclear sector has seen major advances over the last 2 decades, and so has the military sector. The commitment to a nuclear fleet includes funding for those technical advances, as well as work to maintain both the reactors on board American ships, and the industrial base that supports them.

Rapid Fire July 27, 2012: DoD’s Civilian Workforce

• Acting US Assistant Secretary of Defense for Readiness and Force Management Frederick Vollrath testified in front of the House Armed Services Committee on the timeline of announcements leading to the reduction of the Pentagon’s civilian workforce to comply with sequestration. A first deadline is around September 21st, less than 2 months from now. Yet the Pentagon maintains its focus on rolling back sequestration, a matter that is out of its hands and is for Congress to address. This is starting to look like a reckless bet, if DoD is actually not planning for the sequester that is. Video abstract of the hearing at the bottom of this entry.

• This comes just as the GAO states that it “remains concerned that DOD lacks critical information it needs to effectively plan for its workforce requirements.”

Up to $430M in SUPSALV Pacific Contracts

SUPSALV Diver

The US Navy’s SUPSALV isn’t glamorous, but they’re involved in a range of activities that include removing dangers to navigation, removing hazardous items (like oil & fuel) from sunken ships, and other underwater engineering. They’re also involved in emergency pollution and disaster response, including 2 of the decade’s most publicized American disasters. They’ve just released their Deepwater Horizon report [PDF] concerning the 2011 oil well disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. Meanwhile, lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina in 2005 have just led SUPSALV to field a containerized command post that’s 100% powered by renewable energy, so they can operate without being dependent on local fuel infrastructures

At the beginning of February 2012, US Naval Sea Systems Command in Washington, DC issued a pair of contracts worth up to $430 million.

Frontline Commanders Requesting Renewable Power Options

WANTED: stuff like this…

On July 25/06 Al-Anbar commander and U.S. Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Richard Zilmer submitted an MNF-W priority 1 request. It pointed to the hazards inherent in American supply lines, and noted that many of the supply convoys on Iraq’s roads (up to 70%, by some reports) were carrying fuel. Much of that fuel wasn’t even for vehicles, but for diesel generators used to generate power at US bases. That is still true, and Afghanistan has even more daunting logistics. By some estimates, shipping each gallon of fuel to Afghanistan requires 7 gallons of fuel for transport.

A number of Pentagon projects use alternative energy at various installations, but Zilmer’s request is believed to have been the first formal request from a front-line commander. Not to mention the first formal request that acknowledges the security dimension of alternative energy sources, in response to the growth of “systempunkt” terrorism and the non-linear battlefield. It has not been the last.

• The Need on the Ground
  
• Options and Considerations
  
• Contracts and Key Developments [updated]
  
• Additional Readings
  

$100M for Sunpower Electricity at NAWS China Lake, CA

At the end of September 2011, Sunpower Corp. in Richmond, CA, won a $100.3 million firm-fixed-price task order under a previous multiple-vendor award contract, for up to 30 years of electricity from a renewable energy generating system at Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, CA.

Many consumers know Sunpower as one of the no money down firms that will install solar panels on your house. NAVFAC seems to be pursuing similar initiatives at Navy facilities. It’s government land, but Sunpower will build, own, and maintain the solar system under 10 U.S.C. 2922(a) authority…

Rapid Fire 2011-09-13: France Buys More Panhard Armored Patrol Vehicles

• James Hasik looks at future options for the American super-carrier fleet, and delivers a preliminary cost analysis for various scenarios – including a scenario that involves halting the new CVN-21s after the 2nd-of-class CVN 79, mothballing 2 existing Nimitz Class boats, and dropping to 8 operational carriers.

• France orders 200 more of Panhard’s compact PVP armored patrol vehicles, to keep production going in 2012. Their 933 vehicle order from 2004 will end production in December 2011.

• Lockheed Martin submits its final CANES shipboard networking proposal to the US Navy. They’re competing with a Northrop Grumman team.

• A US military facility in Germany found cost savings by replacing its existing oil-fired water heaters with biomass/wood-chip equipment.

• The 1st Galileo GPS satellite lands in French Guiana, in preparation for its Oct 30/11 launch on board a Russian Soyuz rocket.

• NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen called for more open US and European defense markets.

• Senators John Cornyn (R-TX) and Robert Menendez (D-NJ) introduce legislation to make the Obama administration sell F-16C/Ds to Taiwan.

• Today’s video (embedded below): the Panel on Defense Financial Management and Auditability Reform’s hearing last week with the House Armed Services Committee. Among the issues is whether the branches (let alone DoD at large) are able to reconcile their books with the Department of Treasury. Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Financial Management and Comptroller Jamie M. Morin [PDF bio] says the USAF is now achieving 99.99% accuracy on its 1 million+ records/month ledger.

Aloha Kakahiaka: Up to $500M for Solar on Hawaiian Bases

Coronado Naval Base
Parking lot

In August 2011, US Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Pacific in Pearl Harbor, HI issued an indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity, multiple-award contract for “reliable locally generated solar alternating current power” at military installations in its area of responsibility.

The contract announcement comes hard on the heels of an official unveiling for a new US Army Energy Initiatives Office Task Force, which aims to “leverage industry for the execution of large-scale renewable and alternative energy projects on Army installations”…

Buzz Creates a US Navy Solid-State Lighting Initiative

In August 2011, Energy Focus, Inc. in Solon, OH received a $23.1 million firm-fixed-price contract to design and manufacture “energy efficient, solid state lighting for general illumination on Navy ships to upgrade all the legacy lighting systems with new energy efficient, solid state lighting as part of the Navy’s green initiative.” Work on this first delivery order will be performed in Solon, OH, and is expected to be completed by Dec 1/11, while $1.2 million will expire at the end of the current fiscal year, on Sept 30/11. This contract was competitively awarded on a best-value basis, with 3 offers received by the US Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division, Ship System Engineering Station in Philadelphia, PA (N65540-11-D-0009).

The SSL program actually began when a submarine sonar technician, irritated by the constant buzz of his LED bunk lamp, asked if the Navy could find an LED replacement…

LOGCAP 4: Billions of Dollars Awarded for Army Logistics Support

Fluor builds LOGCAP housing
in southern Afghanistan

The US Army’s sole provider LOGCAP 3 contract, which provided food, housing and fuel for U.S. troops worldwide, generated lots of controversy because government audits of the sole supplier’s (Halliburton-KBR) work were unable to fully account for millions of dollars or justify all charges to the Pentagon’s satisfaction.

To address perceived problems of LOGCAP 3, the Army awarded the follow-on contract, LOGCAP 4, to 3 companies – KBR, DynCorp and Fluor – who compete for task orders.

The LOGCAP 4 contracts are indefinite-quantity/ indefinite-delivery contracts with 1 base year and 9 option years. Each contract has a maximum value of $5 billion per year. This allows the Army to award a total annual maximum value of $15 billion and a lifetime maximum value of $150 billion.

USAF Uses SABER to Modernize Facilities

Off we go…

The USAF uses its simplified acquisition of base engineering requirements (SABER) contract to fulfill engineering requirements on a variety of projects, ranging from small renovations to large scale infrastructure needs involving pipelines, electrical substations, and life safety issues.

The SABER contract’s main purpose is to expedite contract award of civil engineer requirements through the issuance of individual delivery orders. The contract contains a collection of detailed task specifications that include most types of real property maintenance, repair, and construction work. A number of SABER contracts have been awarded.