GAO: Careful with Your FedBizOpps Searches

• The Government Accountability Office, fielding a protest by a would-be contractor who couldn’t find a solicitation due to a certain field not having been filled out in the FedBizOpps database, sided with the Veterans Administration in holding that it is the vendors responsibility to use all search mechanisms at their disposal. The case turned on whether or not the VA should have filled out which states would be the “place of performance.” The upshot: FedBizOpps and other databases are unlikely to be allowed to be used as additional surface area from which protests can be launched.

Asia

• Even as U.S. procurement Tsar Frank Kendall’s press is still wet regarding his trip to India to shore up defense procurement relationships with the subcontinent, Russia is parading – literally – their relationship with India, featuring the BrahMos self-propelled missile launcher. With India’s administration turnover, the two powers are again wooing the not-terribly-aligned nation as though the world were divided into two spheres of power. Unlike the more symbolic efforts of the U.S., the Russians’ have been substantive.

Some People & Some Robots
(click to see clearly)

• In addition to updating and replenishing major defense systems, Russia is taking pains to express to the world that it is putting resources into new defense tech.

• Iran is again signaling its intent to maintain force projection capabilities with its navy. Somalian pirate patrols have been a handy mission for justifying and exercising its warships.

• Iraq has been successful in securing a commitment for nine Mirage 2000 fighters from the United Arab Emirates. The UAE is also reported to be procuring a couple dozen Super Tucanos for Iraq in a deal that is not quite settled. The Iraqi administration has been passing that hat of late, with Canada and others trying to contribute to the stability of the ISIS-fighting country.

U.S.

• As the FAA realizes it is sitting below a bursting dam of civilian drone demand – fueled by the twin inexorable trends of severe price reductions in hobbyist camera drones and vast improvements in the simplicity of operations – it is attempting to turn to local law enforcement to help it patrol the unpatrollable. Meanwhile, defense contract drone manufacturers salivate.

Today’s Video

• With the Super Tucano line in the news, here is a U.S.-assisted downing of an alleged drug trafficker’s plane in Columbia with video of an A-27 Super Tucano firing on a light plane:

US Navy’s Got CASS: Electronic Consolidated Automated Support System Completes CDR

Looking a little dated

In March 2010 the Navy awarded an $83 million contract for e-CASS development, production and testing. The AN/USM-636(V) Consolidated Automated Support System (CASS) is the US Navy’s standard automatic test equipment family. It provides intermediate, depot and factory level support, both ashore and afloat, for testing all Navy electronics, from aircraft to ships and submarines.

CASS has been around since 1990, and it’s time for an upgrade. The Navy is planning to replace the existing 5 CASS mainframe systems with the next-generation electronic CASS (e-CASS) system. US Naval aviation currently uses 713 CASS stations for testing of aircraft electronics. CASS is also used at the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) and in 9 foreign countries. As of early 2012 events appear to proceed according to plan.

In January 2015, Lockheed delivered the first automated testing station to be installed on the U.S. Navy’s carriers.