Rapid Fire 2011-03-14: Cerberus Portable Sensor Tower

• Just how deep is the US Navy’s budget crisis? Very deep, and it will soon spread to the other services. In the Navy’s case, the Congressional Budget Office says it’s underestimating the total cost of its 30-year shipbuilding plan by nearly 20%. That’s actually business as usual, but what if there’s less future money, not more? Information Dissemination asks: Perhaps it’s time for an unbalanced force?

• Russia in talks to buy 500 light armored vehicles for $260 million from French defense firm Panhard General Defense.

• Up to SEK 1.655 billion (about $260 million) to Saab to provide anti-armor projectiles for the 84mm Carl-Gustaf M3 man-portable weapon system. That’s a lot of rockets. For which customer? They won’t say.

• GAO says US Navy failed to consider alternative acquisition approaches to its $50 billion Next-Generation Enterprise Network, which is replacing the Navy Marine Corps Intranet.

• US Navy’s forthcoming MQ-4C BAMS long-range surveillance UAV finishes, but does not close out, its system-level Critical Design Review. The Global Hawk derivative is said to remain on schedule.

• US Army issues a sources-sought notice for RSTA components for Cerberus portable sensor tower, which is used at forward operating bases.

• DARPA kicks off voting for eXperimental Crowd-derived Combat-support Vehicle Design Challenge.

US Missile Defense: Up to $861M for Small Businesses

The US Missile Defense Agency (MDA) recently announced the competitive award of 5 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contracts for advisory and assistance services, under Small Business Set-Aside Request for Proposal HQ0147-09-R-0001. Under this 5-year $861.1 million multiple-award contract, the 5 qualified small businesses will compete for task orders to provide engineering, technical analysis and support, scientific, systems engineering, test planning, and test execution activities in support of America’s Ballistic Missile Defense Systems. In theory, it’s possible for one firm to win every task order, and bill the maximum amount. In practice, that doesn’t happen.

The MDA’s Directorates for Engineering, Test, Advanced Technology, and Information Management and Technology Operations will request these task orders as needed, until the contract expires in March 2016. The MDA’s Engineering and Support Services Program Office will manage the task order process, and commit Research, Development, Test and Evaluation (RDT&E) funds. Work will be performed in Huntsville, AL; Colorado Springs, CO; and Arlington, VA. Winners include:

• COLSA Corp. in Huntsville, AL (HQ0147-11-D-0005)
  
• Engineering Research and Consulting, Inc. in Huntsville, AL (HQ0147-11-D-0006)
  
• Millennium Engineering and Integration Co. in Arlington, VA (HQ0147-11-D-0007)
  
• Torch Technologies, Inc. in Huntsville, AL (HQ0147-11-D-0008)
  
• DCS Corp. in Alexandria, VA (HQ0147-11-D-0009).