The Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center in Charleston, SC has issued a pair of indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, cost-plus-incentive-fee with an option for fixed-price orders, performance-based contracts. They order “sea enterprise C4ISR support services for installation, material acquisition, system/equipment modification, test and checkout, systems training and documentation preparation.” Both are five-year contracts, including the four 1-year options. The contract was a competitively procured under full and open competition, and the RFP was posted on the SPAWAR Systems Center E-Commerce website; two offers were received, and both received contracts.
DID tried to get more details re: what exactly these contracts covered, but received no responses. The specific contract winners include:
The Pentagon has shown interest in blimps for “near space” use in a variety of roles, from radar surveillance to communications relays. In our in-depth look at the US military’s future $14-18 billion Transformational Satellite (TSAT) system, DID also had this to say:
“In terms of long term trends, it’s also worthy of note that a combination of narrowband satellites and MARTS-type communications aerostats for theater communications, wideband AEHF satellites for mission-critical high-bandwidth transfers like UAV video, encrypted communications via commercial satellite carriers, and laid fiber-optic cables for strategic communications are already appearing on the scene… Throw in the possibility of finding new ways to leverage existing systems, and this constellation definitely represents a potential “incremental competition” threat to TSAT.”
Add one more piece to this array of incremental options, courtesy of a system currently under examination at the 2006 Joint Expeditionary Force Experiment (JEFX 06)…
Raytheon Co. in Portsmouth, RI received a $21.5 million letter contract to procure Mk 57 Mod 12/13 NATO Sea Sparrow Surface Missile System (NSSMS) ordnance alteration (ORDALT) kits, MK 73 solid state transmitter ORDALT kits, MK 29 guided missile launcher system Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile (ESSM) ORDALT kits, and related spares for Navy aircraft carrier and amphibious assault ship installations. Work will be performed in Portsmouth, RI (60%); Long Island, NY (20%); and Waterloo, Canada (20%), and is expected to be completed by June 2008. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured by the Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, DC issued the contract (N00024-06-C-5422).
RIM-162 ESSM Launch
The NSSMS consists of a Guided Missile Fire Control System (GMFCS) Mk 91 and a Guided Missile Launching System (GMLS) Mk 29. The GMFCS Mk 91 is a computer-operated fire control system that provides automatic acquisition and tracking of a designated target, generates launcher and missile orders, and in the automatic mode initiates the firing command when the target becomes engageable, with operator intervention and override at any time. The GMLS Mk 29 is a rapid-reaction, lightweight launching system that provides on-mount stowage and launch capability of up to eight missiles. On many ships, it still contains the old RIM-7 Sparrow series rather than the much newer RIM-162 Evolved Sea Sparrow, a very different missile system that is much more capable of dealing with modern threats. These upgrades appear to improve capabilities on these ships, allowing Mk 57 NSSMS and ship self defense system Mk 2 to be fully integrated with ESSM and capable of mounting and launching the missiles.
Raytheon Co., Tucson, Ariz., is being awarded a $6,027,183 ceiling-priced modification to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract (N00019-04-C-0006) to exercise an option for the lot 6 production of 2 AIM-9X Sidewinder tactical missiles for the government of Denmark; 23 captive air training missiles for the US Air Force; and 3 special air training missiles for the US Air Force. Air training missiles generally include the missile bodies and seeker heads, but cannot be launched. In addition, this option provides for 13 containers for the USAF and 1 for the government of Denmark; spares for the Air Force (1) and the government of Denmark (2); and 1 warhead for the government of Denmark.
Work will be performed in Tucson, AZ (92%); Rocket Center, WVA. (5%); and Andover, MA (3%), and is expected to be complete in April 2008. This contract combines purchases for the USAF ($4.95M; 82.1%) and the government of Denmark ($1.08M; 17.9%) under the Foreign Military Sales Act. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, MD issued the contract.
Lakota Technical Solutions, Inc. in Laurel, MD received $10 million cost-plus-fixed-fee, term and completion, indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity, phase III small business innovative research contract, for development of open architecture compliant combat system functionality software. This contract will allow the contractor to further the development of the sneak circuit identification process, a methodology that can be applied during system development, to ensure product will be free of sneak circuits.
Work will be performed in Laurel, MD and is expected to be complete by April 2011. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured. The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren Division in Dahlgren, VA issued the contract (N00178-06-D-3004)
