The US Missile Defense Agency (MDA) awarded indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity contracts to 3 small business qualifiers to provide advisory and assistance services to MDA’s Quality, Safety and Mission Assurance Directorate. Each contract has an ordering ceiling of $209.6 million.
The contractors will assist the directorate in assessing the engineering, technology, production and programmatic practices/ processes used to develop and operate the Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) system. MDA is developing a layered BDM system that is designed to destroy enemy missiles by engaging them in all phases of flight (see graphic).
The MDA has come under criticism for the slow pace of BMD development, cost overruns, questionable auditing practices, and repeated test failures. The 3 contracts are part of an effort by MDA to streamline is contracting processes. The winners of the contracts are:
URS Corp. in San Francisco, CA received 4 contracts from the US Department of Defense (DoD) to provide engineering services and maintenance support to the US Army and US Navy. The 4 contracts have a combined maximum value of $316 million over 5 years if all options are exercised.
In addition, URS is active in the DoD environmental contracts area, having won in 2009 lucrative contracts awarded by the US Air Force and US Army to provide environmental construction and remediation services.
The 4 engineering and maintenance support contracts are:
Bradley vehicles carry a crew of 3 (commander, gunner and driver), plus additional soldiers in some variants. Overall, the Bradleys fulfills 5 critical mission roles for the US Army’s Heavy Brigade Combat Teams: infantry fighting vehicle, carries 6-7 troops as well (M2); cavalry fighting vehicle, carries 2 scouts as well (M3); fire support vehicle (A3 BFIST or M7 BFIST based on A2-ODS); battle command vehicle; and engineer squad vehicle (EBFV, or M2A2-ODS-E).
General Dynamics’ reactive armor system [pdf] uses tiles that fasten to the exterior of the Bradley, allowing it to withstand direct hits from anti-armor munitions, such as all shoulder-fired weapons and most tube-launched, shaped-charge systems.
