Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Somali Pirates Fire on U.S. Merchant Vessel

By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service

April 15, 2009 - Somali pirates fired on a U.S.-flagged merchant vessel south of the Gulf of Aden today, military officials reported. Pirates attacked the motor vessel Liberty Sun with small arms and rocket-propelled grenades. The crew put out a distress call received by the U.S. Coast Guard.

"The pirates were not successful in their attempt to board the vessel," said Navy Lt. Nate Christensen, a spokesman for the Navy's 5th Fleet in Bahrain. "The USS Bainbridge, [which] was in the general vicinity, responded to ensure Liberty Sun wasn't in peril." The pirates had fled by the time the Bainbridge arrived.

The USS Bainbridge was involved in the rescue of Merchant Marine Capt. Richard Phillips, the master of the Maersk-Alabama, hijacked by pirates April 8. Pirates had been holding Phillips captive aboard a lifeboat.

When the Bainbridge arrived, the crew ascertained the Liberty Sun was safe and transferred a security detail aboard the merchant vessel, a Defense Department public affairs spokesman said. About 20 U.S. citizens make up the Liberty Sun's crew. The ship is carrying food aid from World Food, CARE, World Vision and the Agricultural Cooperative Development International.

The Liberty Sun will continue to its original destination of Mombasa, Kenya, the spokesman said. The Bainbridge mission to the Liberty Sun will delay Phillips' return to the United States. He was to join his crew in Mombasa for their flight to Andrews Air Force Base, Md., the spokesman explained, but now will travel separately.

Defense Department Reduces Dependence on Fossil Fuels

By Nick Simeone
Special to American Forces Press Service

April 15, 2009 - As the world prepares to mark Earth Day 2009 on April 22, the Pentagon has become the "greenest" of federal agencies, with military operations worldwide deriving a full 10 percent of their power from sources other than fossil fuels. As the nation's single largest energy consumer, the U.S. military is increasing its reliance on alternative and renewable energy sources to provide power to everything from soldiers in the field to bases and installations around the world.

Pentagon officials say reducing dependence on fossil fuels -- and foreign oil in particular -- is becoming increasingly critical to national security at a time when the amount of energy consumed by U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan has surpassed that of all other wars in U.S. history.

Pentagon officials put the Defense Department's total energy costs for fiscal 2006 and 2007 above $13 billion. Last summer's spike in oil prices helped to push the department's 2008 energy bill alone to $20 billion, a senior Pentagon installations and environment official said.

Apart from the cost, reducing the reliance on oil in war zones is critical to saving lives. Trucks delivering fuel to U.S. forces in Iraq have been among the most frequent targets of insurgent attacks, with about half of all military casualties involving supply convoys. A recent Defense Department report to Congress on energy security described what it called the "high burden" of protecting overland routes and the strategic importance of finding other means of delivery.

All four military services have established energy task forces. In testimony to Congress earlier this year, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said he plans to appoint a Defense Department "energy czar" to oversee conservation efforts.

But defense officials say the department already is ahead of other federal agencies on conservation issues.

"For its size, [the Defense Department] is No. 1 in terms of conservation among federal agencies," the senior installations and environment official said. "The Pentagon is definitely a green building." For example, he noted, ongoing building renovations include installation of water- and power-saving technologies.

The military's growing reliance on alternative energy also can be seen at bases and operations worldwide. For example:

-- The Navy Air Weapons Station China Lake in California's Mojave Desert is powered completely by geothermal energy;

-- A solar farm at Fort Irwin, Calif., is expected to produce enough electricity to supply power to the surrounding community;

-- One-third of the power used by the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, is derived from wind; and

-- An Air Force B-52 Stratofortress bomber has flown on power produced completely from synthetic fuel.

Also, a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency program is developing jet fuel from algae, bacteria and rapeseed. A form of wearable power is being developed for soldiers deployed in areas where electricity is scarce or unavailable. Vehicles are being made from much lighter, but stronger, titanium rather than steel, not only to improve fuel efficiency, but also to provide better protection.

The Army is "building green, buying green and going green," said Addison Davis, the service's deputy assistant secretary for environment, safety and occupational health.

"Over the next five years," he said, "we're putting about $63 billion in new construction into the United States Army, and the vast majority of that is going to be green buildings."

The Army even has a project under way in Iraq in which garbage is converted into biofuel to power generators. "We're doing a tremendous amount in terms of wind, solar, geothermal and waste energy through our biomass programs," Davis said.

Conservation efforts have been given a boost by the Obama administration's economic stimulus package, which earmarked some $300 million for Pentagon alternative energy projects.

(Nick Simeone works in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs.)

Guard Members Provide Clean Water for Storm-stricken Arkansas Town

By Air Force Maj. Keith Moore
Special to American Forces Press Service

April 15, 2009 - A team of five Arkansas Air National Guard airmen from the 188th Civil Engineering Squadron restored clean water yesterday to this small southwestern Arkansas community following an April 9 tornado that destroyed the town's water treatment plant. Two reverse-osmosis water purification units were used to filter water from any surface source for use as drinking water. The systems can move about 1,200 gallons per hour to support the daily needs of the community's 1,230 residents.

"On a normal day [before the storm], our system would provide 350 gallons per minute," said Jeremy Stone, the Dierks city engineer. "The Guard's system doesn't move water at that rate, but we have been using only bottled water since the storm, so this will at least restore normal flow and pressure to our town."

Dierks Mayor Terry Mounts praised the professionalism and efficiency of the Guardsmen. "They got here and set right to work," he said. "They said it would be several hours to get set up and start filtering water, but they got water moving and tested in just under one hour. The city of Dierks is just glad the Arkansas Air Guard has this capability to support our residents."

Stone said the tornado destroyed the second-floor control center of the town's water treatment facility, removing its chlorination system and leaving it without electricity to power the pumps, which bring water to nearby Lake Dierks.

Air Force Master Sgt. Kevin Rice, a utilities systems management specialist with the 188th CES, said the team practices using the reverse-osmosis system to support its regional training site at its Fort Smith, Ark., base, but this is the first time the units had been deployed to support a civilian community.

"We've utilized these units overseas, and we use them in practice to support our 'bare base' training at home station, but this really makes us feel good when we can utilize the equipment to support a local community," Rice said.

Mounts said the city is requesting aid from state and federal agencies to help get the main plant back on line as quickly as possible, but had no idea how long the Guard may be needed to support the town with clean water.

(Air Force Maj. Keith Moore serves with the Arkansas National Guard.)

Gates Seeks to Shift Thinking on Budget, War

By Fred W. Baker III
American Forces Press Service

April 15, 2009 - Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates today made his second stop this week at a service war college, spelling out his thinking behind shifting $13 billion in warfighter programs away from traditional supplemental funding and into his base fiscal 2010 budget proposal. This is the first time Gates has traveled to speak to each of the services after releasing a budget proposal, and the trip speaks to the significance of his shift in focus to transform the Defense Department bureaucracy and balance the need to plan for future conflicts while providing for today's troops and families.

"How do we establish within the ... Department of Defense bureaucracy the ability to walk and chew gum at the same time?" Gates asked while speaking to Air Force leaders attending the Air War College here. "[How do we gain] the ability to plan for future war and at the same time have people come to work every single day saying, 'What can I do to help the warfighter today?"

The secretary said his budget recommendations are a reflection of his past two years in office, during which he has struggled against an unwieldy bureaucracy to get equipment quickly to troops in combat and proper care for them when they return home.

"I kept running into the fact that the Department of Defense as an institution ... was itself not on war footing, even as young Americans were fighting and dying every day," he said.

Gates said using supplemental funding for family support, mine-resistant vehicles, wounded warrior care, and increased intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities puts those programs at risk of cuts should the Defense Department face funding shortfalls.

The secretary offered a frank assessment of the department's struggle to balance its ability to plan for the future and fund the current war requirements, saying that so far it has not yet met that challenge. He put the onus for finding that balance squarely on the shoulders of top leaders within the Pentagon and the individual services.

"It is the willingness of service heads ... to say ... 'You're going to find room in your base budget to take care of these problems,' and then seeing to it that it happens. I don't know any other way to make it happen," Gates said.

Gates said his budget recommendations were more about ideas than dollars. He would have made the same recommendations regardless of the bottom line on the budget, he said.

His trips to the war colleges signal that Gates would like to see this shift propelled past his tenure in office, as he reaches out to the up-and-coming leaders in each of the services and taps into their vast network of military colleagues.

"It's these broad set of ideas that I want to talk to these men and women about as opposed to ... budget numbers, and get them thinking about these issues," Gates said.

Today Gates emphasized that the Defense Department must prioritize taking care of troops and families, rethink its notions of future conflicts, and fix its problems with acquisitions.

Shifting family programs from supplemental appropriations to the base budget ensures those programs will be sheltered, he said.

"I was worried that, as budgets are constrained in years to come, the more we added supplementals that had to do with people, the more vulnerable that money would become to be taken for something else," Gates said earlier.

The secretary's recommendations distribute funds in alignment with what he characterized as the type of "complex hybrid" warfare he expects will become increasingly more common. Gone are the days of the black-and-white distinction between irregular and conventional warfare, he said, calling the model "outdated."

"We must understand that we face a more complex future than that -- a future where all conflict will range along a broad spectrum of operations and lethality," Gates said.

This is largely why the services need to look harder at joint acquisitions with joint capabilities and steer away from service-specific purchases, Gates said.

The military needs to shift away from service-centric combat platforms that are costly, complex and require lengthy and limited production, he said. The pace of technological and geopolitical change and the range of possible contingencies force the department to look harder at multi-service solutions that can be produced on time, on budget and in significant numbers, Gates said.

This is illustrated in Gates' recommendation to halt production of the F-22 Raptor at 187. He called the fighter jet a "niche, silver-bullet solution," and opted instead to accelerate the production of the fifth-generation F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

"Focusing exclusively, or obsessively, on a single weapons system designed to do a specific job or confront a single adversary ignores what a truly joint force can and must do in the 21st century," Gates said.

Partnerships Hold Key to Success in Europe, Beyond, General Says

By Jason Tudor
Special to American Forces Press Service

April 15, 2009 - Rare will be the occasion when the U.S. military will operate by itself. Instead, it will rely on partnerships with other nations going forward, the U.S. Army in Europe's top officer said here today. Gen. Carter F. Ham, commander of U.S. Army Europe and 7th Army, told about 150 students at the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies that the United States taking action unilaterally would be a "highly unusual" circumstance.

"Building partner capacities" is one of the tenets of how the Army operates in Europe and beyond going forward, the general said, talking about operations and conditions across the theater.

U.S. forces operate with 41 countries in Afghanistan, 32 countries in Kosovo and 25 in Bosnia.

"We will go forward with our allies and partners, developing common tactics, procedures and policies," Ham said. "We do it because we cannot conduct operations as a single nation any longer."

The U.S. Army presence in Europe is growing smaller, slashed from a Cold War high of 200,000 to a current size of about 70,000 soldiers. Ham indicated the goal for troops in Europe is about 32,000, which he said presents numerous challenges. Those include NATO Article 5, which says an armed attack on one member nation is an armed attack on all; operations in Iraq and Afghanistan; activity in the Balkans; theater security cooperation; and training exercises in Europe.

"The challenge is this: How I can accomplish the mission with less people and capability while operating with the same capacity?" Ham said. "We're concerned about sustaining the level of commitment to joint exercises throughout the theater. And we think we can sustain it by building partner capacity."

In building partnerships, the 33-year Army veteran said, the relationship between the United States and other countries is not senior to junior. "That's just not the case," he said. "We will learn as much from our partners as they will learn from us."

When asked about the "why" of building partnerships, Ham offered three reasons.

First, he said, "the more nations involved, the more legitimacy it has, along with involvement from organizations like the United Nations."

The second is geographic proximity. "Some nations are very difficult to access," Ham said. "For example, we rely on Afghanistan's surrounding neighbors for support."

Third, as other nations are willing and able to contribute, he said, "that means less U.S. personnel that have to be part of that fight."

In speaking with the students gathered from 45 countries such as Afghanistan, France, Ukraine and others, Ham talked about keys to success during disputes and discussed the role a military plays in the plan.

"In most cases, the military is an essential, but nondecisive, aspect to success," he said. "It is the rare circumstance where the military is the decisive instrument."

In building partnerships, there will be pitfalls, Ham acknowledged. For instance, he said, U.S. and partner militaries work "great" on an operational level, but face challenges on the tactical level. Exercises and education are keys to success, he said, but he added that time, money and resources are precious because of war and struggling economies.

"We have to be persistent about developing tactical relationships," he said. "There are great challenges, but the U.S. is not alone."

(Jason Tudor works in the George C. Marshall Center public affairs office.)

North Dakota Guardsmen Continue Statewide Flood Fight

By Army Spc. Chris Erickson
Special to American Forces Press Service

April 15, 2009 - The number of National Guardsmen fighting rising water levels in North Dakota has more than doubled from last week. More than 1,000 additional members of the North Dakota National Guard were activated April 13, adding to a force of about 900 who already were on active duty. This is about 500 fewer servicemembers than were on duty during the Red River's first crest in Fargo earlier this month.

The soldiers and airmen are helping to fight flooding throughout the state by placing sandbags, operating pumps, patrolling dikes and forming quick-reaction forces to respond to any levee that doesn't hold.

Residents have been grateful for the help. Army Sgt. 1st Class Freddie Griffin leads a team of about a dozen soldiers of the 134th Quartermaster Detachment in Pembina, where they have been patrolling the dike system for about a week.

"The people here have been great to us," Griffin said. "They are showing us their appreciation daily."

In Burlington, soldiers are operating a sandbag site and responding to area flood missions. A quick-response force already responded to homes affected by Des Lacs River flooding, and the team used 18,000 sandbags to build a dike around three separate homes. A team also is in place to serve the Minot area.

Guardsmen are patrolling dikes in many other parts of the state as well, including Drayton, Jamestown, Grand Forks, Lisbon and Wahpeton. They also are operating pumps at numerous locations, and have additional pumps on standby in areas that may be at risk again, such as Oxbow.

The Guard members have been improving roads in Grant County, and staging in Fargo and West Fargo to support the surrounding area. In the past week, Guardsmen from these locations have responded to overland flooding west of West Fargo at Willow Creek, and to provide support at the Absaraka dam. They have branched out to support Casselton, Grand Rapids, Hickson, Kindred and other locations in southeastern North Dakota.

Additional efforts are being focused in Lisbon and Valley City, where Guardsmen are monitoring dikes for leaks, operating pumps and generators, and providing traffic control points. The Guard brought additional heavy equipment to both cities, where it will be used if an evacuation becomes necessary.

In Valley City, the Guard continues to step up efforts, with about 500 Guardsmen currently on site.

Quick-response forces have responded to leaks and breaches, and a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter was on the scene over the weekend to place about 20 1-ton sandbags to reinforce the dike near the 8th Avenue Bridge. The Guard established a secondary operations center in Valley City yesterday to help to coordinate flood fighting efforts there.

Army Spc. Dustin Kirschenmann of the 817th Engineer Company has been activated for flood duty since March 23. The 817th worked first in Fargo and then moved to Valley City over the weekend to patrol dikes. They are anticipating duty in Jamestown, as well. Kirschenmann helps to man the phones in the unit's tactical operations center, receiving dike condition reports.

On April 13, his 45th call was about a major leak at a pump site. Kirschenmann received the report and called the dike contractor to send dirt trucks out and rebuild the leaky spot.

"We're running so ragged we don't even think about it," Kirschenmann said. "We're just doing what we need to do." He added that the job "can be exciting, that's for sure."

"I would rather be bored," he said. "If we were bored, that would mean everything was going well."

(Army Spc. Chris Erickson serves with the North Dakota National Guard.)

Defense Department, Naval Institute to Webcast Doolittle Interview

By Navy Lt. Jennifer Cragg
Special to American Forces Press Service

April 15, 2009 - The Defense Media Activity's emerging media directorate and the U.S. Naval Institute are remembering the 67th reunion of the Doolittle Raiders in a unique way this year, hearing from Gen. James H. Doolittle himself. As part of a special tribute to the Doolittle Raid of 1942, institute officials have released for the first time Doolittle's words from the 1983 interview, conducted in Monterey, Calif.

The Doolittle segment will launch tomorrow at 10 a.m. EDT on "Remembering Midway," available on Pentagon Web Radio http://www.blogtalkradio.com/stations/PentagonRadioNetwork/Remembering-Midway. It also will be featured at http://www.pentagonchannel.mil/podcast.shtml, the podcast section of the Pentagon Channel's Web site.

Besides the Doolittle Raid audio webcast, the emerging media directorate has produced three additional audio webcasts featuring key naval leaders who participated in the Battle of Coral Sea and the Battle of Midway.

Doolittle's recollections were recorded in February 1983 as part of The U.S. Naval Institute's Oral History Program. Based in Annapolis, Md., the institute has an expansive collection of archived tapes from key figures involved in the most crucial strategic planning and missions in naval history, dating back to 1969.

"The Doolittle Raid stunned the Japanese public with an attack on Tokyo, which their leadership had promised was impossible," said Mary Ripley of the U.S. Naval Institute. "In those dark days following the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, General Doolittle provided the nation with a badly needed victory that changed Japan's perception of the war in the Pacific when he took off from the flight deck of the Hornet in June 1942.

"It is an honor to share this rare interview with General James Doolittle," she continued. "It's an example of how the institute's oral history collection is a wonderful resource for this and other similar projects."

Part of the interview will be presented at the Doolittle Raiders' 67th Reunion in Columbia, S.C., tomorrow through April 18.

"We are honored to share this personally with the surviving Doolittle Raiders," Ripley said.

Five of the nine surviving Doolittle Raiders are attending the reunion, with Navy Rear Adm. John Goodwin and Air Force Gen. Arthur J. Lichte among scheduled keynote speakers.

"We consider Columbia the home of the Doolittle Raiders," said Ken Breivik, public affairs director for the Celebrate Freedom Foundation, who coordinated both the Doolittle Raiders' 67th "Where Victory Began" reunion, as well as the group's 60th reunion, also held in Columbia.

"Part of our initial interest in hosting the Doolittle Raiders was [that] after the movie "Pearl Harbor" was launched in 2001, it was the first time that the [majority] of the American public had heard their name, and we knew about their historical links to the area," Breivik said. "There were a lot of ties before then." For example, he said, a minor league baseball team that was based in Columbia -- the Capitol City Bombers – was named in honor of the Doolittle Raiders.

Jack Holt, "Remembering Midway" moderator and senior strategist for Defense Media Activity's emerging media directorate, said people today can learn a lot from those who came before them.

"I am a fan of history and believe the author George Santayana said it best: 'Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it,'" Holt said.

Featured in the Battle of Coral Sea series of "Remembering Midway," Vice Adm. Paul Stroop, a flag secretary responsible for updating the war diary during the battle, will discuss the events that led to the sinking of USS Lexington.

"There are valuable lessons learned from the experiences of the naval leaders before us," said retired Marine Corps Maj. Thomas L. Wilkerson, the U.S. Naval Institute's CEO.

The third and fourth installments of "Remembering Midway" will tell the story of the Battle of Midway through the voices of Navy Rear Adm. Roy Benson, who provides his experience aboard USS Nautilus and its participation in the battle; Navy Rear Adm. Ernest Eller, who met with Navy Ens. George Gay, sole survivor of the Hornet torpedo squadron, after the Battle of Midway in June 1942, and many others.

(Navy Lt. Jennifer Cragg serves in the Defense Media Activity's emerging media directorate.)

MILITARY CONTRACTS April 15, 2009

NAVY
EJS Contracting, Inc.*, Albany, Ga., is being awarded a $43,112,085 indefinite delivery/, indefinite quantity contract for paving projects at the Marine Corp Logistics Base Albany. Work will be performed in Albany, Ga., and work is expected to be completed April 2014. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via the Navy Electronic Commerce Online website with five proposals received. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Southeast, Jacksonville, Fla., is the contracting activity (N69450-09-D-1761).

General Atomics, San Diego, Calif., is being awarded $22,075,929 for cost plus fixed fee task order #0005 under previously awarded contract (N00014-06-D-0056) for the EM Rail Gun to perform technology development and design. Work will be performed in San Diego, Calif., and work is expected to be completed Feb. 2012. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The contract was competitively procured under ONR Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) 05-003. The Office of Naval Research, Arlington, Va., is the contracting activity.

Design Partners, Inc., Honolulu, Hawaii, is being awarded a maximum $7,500,000 firm fixed price, indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity architect-engineering contract for preparation of plans and specification for bachelor quarters and other architectural projects in the NAVFAC Hawaii area of responsibility (AOR). The work to be performed provides for preparation of plans, specifications, cost estimates, design analysis and/or preparation of design-build request for proposal contract documents, field investigation, engineering study, geotechnical investigation, topographic survey, interior design, Post Construction Award Services (PCAS), and other related services. Work will be performed at various Navy and Marine Corps facilities and other government facilities within the NAVFAC Hawaii AOR, and is expected to be completed by April 2014. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via the Navy Electronic Commerce Online website with 17 proposals received. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Hawaii, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii is the contracting activity (N62478-09-D-5005).

ARMY
Clamshell Structures, Inc Ventura, Calif., was awarded on Apr. 10, 2009, a $23,204,935 firm fixed price contract for 120 each of large area maintenance shelter, installation kits, shipping kits, and shipping charges. Work is to be performed in Ventura, Calif., with an estimated completion date of Dec. 31, 2009. Bids were solicited on the World Wide Web and One bid received. U.S. Army RDECOM Contracting Center, Natick Contracting Division, Natick, Mass., is the contracting activity (W911QY-09-D-0007).

Wilco Pipeline Contractors, LLC.., Rayne, La., was awarded on Apr. 13, 2009 a $9,522,000 firm fixed price contract for the coastal wetlands planning, protection and restoration act. Work is to be performed in Cameron Parish, La., with an estimated completion date of Apr. 9, 2010. Bids were solicited on the World Wide Web and three bids received. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans La., is the contracting activity (W912P8-09-C-0042).

DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY
American Apparel, Inc., Selma, Ala., is being awarded a maximum $20,383,313 firm fixed price, indefinite quantity contract for Marine Corps combat utility uniform. Other locations of performance are in Alabama. Using service is Marine Corps. The original proposal was Web solicited with 10 responses. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract is exercising the third option year. The date of performance completion is April 18, 2010. The contracting activity is the Defense Supply Center Philadelphia (DSCP), Philadelphia, Pa., (SP0100-06-D-0331).

Propper International, Inc., Mayaguez, Puerto Rico is being awarded a maximum $13,603,538 firm fixed price, indefinite quantity contract for Marine Corps combat utility uniform. Other locations of performance are in Puerto Rico. Using service is Marine Corps. The original proposal was Web solicited with 10 responses. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The contract is exercising the third option year. The date of performance completion is April 18, 2010. The contracting activity is the Defense Supply Center Philadelphia (DSCP), Philadelphia, Pa., (SP0100-06-D-0332).

AmeriQual Group, LLC D/B/A AmeriQual Packaging, Evansville, Ind., is being awarded a maximum $7,372,620 fixed price with economic price adjust, indefinite quantity contract for meals, ready-to-eat. There are no other locations of performance. Using services are Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and federal civilian agencies. There were originally 3 proposals solicited with 3 responses. Contract funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The date of performance completion is December 31, 2009. The contracting activity is the Defense Supply Center Philadelphia (DSCP), Philadelphia, Pa., (SPM3S1-06-D-Z103).

Sopakco, Inc., Mullins, S.C., is being awarded a maximum $6,560,190 fixed price with economic price adjustment, indefinite quantity contract for meal, ready-to-eat. There are no other locations of performance. Using services are Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and federal civilian agencies. There were originally three proposals solicited with three responses. Contract funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The date of performance completion is December 31, 2009. The contracting activity is the Defense Supply Center Philadelphia (DSCP), Philadelphia, Pa., (SPM3S1-06-D-Z104).

AIR FORCE
The Air Force is modifying a cost plus award fee contract with Northrop Grumman Mission Systems of Clearfield, Utah for $33,263,356. This action will provide sustainment support for the Minuteman weapon systems. At this time, the entire amount has been obligated. 526 ICBMSG/PKE, Hill Air Force Base, Utah is the contracting activity. (F42610-98-C-0001, modification number has not been assigned).

Appreciation Finds No Language Barriers During Continuing Promise

By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service

April 15, 2009 - Eighty-five-year-old Simone Alexis arrived at a medical clinic set up by the crew of USNS Comfort wearing her Sunday best in anticipation of getting new eyeglasses. Taking her seat alongside other senior citizens and little girls from a local orphanage, Alexis patiently waited for Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Jonathan Martinez to call her into a tent to administer an eye exam.

With nine years as a Navy ophthalmic technician and a current assignment at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., Martinez has conducted more eye exams than he can count. But rarely, he said, is the need as great -- or the service as welcomed -- as by patients like Alexis receiving medical and dental care during Continuing Promise 2009.

Martinez gave Alexis two sets of glasses, one for reading and one for distance, then held up a chart up for her to read. SAlexis erupted into a broad smile and thanked Martinez through an interpreter for his help.

Volunteer interpreters abound here during Continuing Promise, clearly identified by the bright yellow T-shirts they wear both on the USNS Comfort hospital ship and at medical clinics and other operations providing services ashore. But as the Comfort crew and Haitian patients alike are coming to realize, appreciation has a universal language all its own.

It comes in many forms: a shy little smile from a pig-tailed orphan who's had her first dental checkup; the wide-eyed curiosity of a toddler as the pediatric surgeon who operated on him the previous day conducts a post-operative exam; the appreciation expressed by a mother whose child will no longer have to grow up with a deforming cleft palate.

"I hear the words 'God bless you' every day," said Air Force Airman 1st Class Shaquonique Jones, an ophthalmic technician based at MacDill Air Force Base, Fla.

"Being here can be emotionally hard, knowing that we can only do so much for so many," she said. "But we know that we're actually helping people, and it's evident how grateful they are."

Army Spc. John Lewis, a reservist from Camp Robinson, Ark., has seen that gratitude at the Cite Soleil clinic, where he serves as a dental assistant. "Everybody leaves here with a smile, even if they've had [a tooth] extraction," he said. "You just can't not feel good about what you do here."

Air Force Staff Sgt. Shelly Winings, an X-ray technician at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo., said she's amazed at the outpouring of appreciation she sees among the patients she works with aboard ship and at onshore medical centers.

'They're so grateful, and they tell you 'Merci,'" Winings said. "I thought language barriers would be a problem here, but it's that smile that does it all for you. It says it all, and makes you so grateful to be here."

Martinez agreed that that gratitude is the big reward of the job.

"The best part of it is when all of a sudden, you put glasses on someone and they start looking all over the place with a big smile," he said. "It's really wonderful, and it makes you feel great."

The smiles USNS Comfort is delivering to Haiti are the first during its four-month humanitarian assistance mission.

After leaving here April 19, Comfort and its crew will visit Antigua, Barbuda, Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Panama, before returning to the United States.

Face of Defense: Military Couple Finds Ways to Be Together

By Army Sgt. Daniel Nichols
Special to American Forces Press Service

April 14, 2009 - June 6, 1998, the 54th anniversary of D-Day, probably was a day like any other that summer. There's a good chance it was sunny in a small town in New York state outside of Fort Drum, where two young Army captains met for their own rendezvous with destiny. A month later, they went on a date to see "Saving Private Ryan." Eleven years later, Lt. Col. Hailey Clancy, of Mesa, Ariz., and Maj. Michael Clancy of Bronx, N.Y., are happily married and serving together as part of the 1st Armored Division's 2nd "Iron" Brigade Combat Team. They have been deployed to Iraq for a year.

Like most military couples, Hailey Clancy, who serves as the brigade's logistics officer, and Michael Clancy, the 40th Engineer Battalion plans and operations officer in charge and the brigade engineer, have not always been able to stay together, but try to as much as possible.

"We dated for about five years before we got married," they both said together -- not in unison, but with the familiarity of a story told more than once, a story that consisted of being stationed in different places throughout the next five years and spending lots of time on the highway each weekend to see each other.

Two years after they met, Hailey Clancy left Fort Drum to attend graduate school at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. Michael Clancy stayed behind for a year and moved even farther away for a job as an active Army advisor to a reserve component unit in Schukyll County, Pa.

"For about three years, we were two-and-a-half hours apart by driving," Michael Clancy said. "We kind of leapfrogged each other: she went to grad school, I went to Pennsylvania, she went to West Point, then I went to West Point," he added.

In the summer of 2002, Hailey Clancy moved to West Point, N.Y., to take a position as an instructor in the chemistry and life science department at the U.S. Military Academy.

"We had Interstate 81 pretty much memorized," Michael Clancy said with a laugh, talking about a highway that runs north and south from New York to Pennsylvania and beyond.

In early 2003, Michael, who graduated from the U.S. Military Academy 10 years prior, was assigned to an engineer duty of constructing the new gymnasium at the academy, and at last the couple was together again. After three years of long-distance correspondence and weekend drives, they were engaged for six months, then were married July 12, 2003 on the USMA campus.

Although distance hadn't kept them too far apart for most of their time before marriage, it wasn't much more than a year after they were married that Operation Iraqi Freedom began and required one of them to deploy to Iraq.

"We met right after I had just gotten back from Bosnia in 1998," Hailey Clancy said. "So the whole time that we were dating, we weren't deployed. But as soon as we got married, between the two of us, we've been deployed to Iraq five times."

Being flexible with assignments and volunteering to deploy together has enabled the couple to be together for most of the last five years. The first deployment, however, was solo, and Michael Clancy left for Iraq in 2004 while his wife stayed behind at West Point.

"I lived that life of being the person back home when your husband's deployed and you're doing those 15-minute phone calls at night," she said. "Sometimes it's just frustrating, because you're like, 'What is it like there?' and he doesn't want to talk about Iraq because he's tired, but I want to understand better what it's like where he is."

After Michael returned from his first tour in Iraq, the couple moved to the 3rd Corps Support Command in Wiesbaden, Germany. Michael Clancy was able to enjoy a short five months of dwell time before they both packed up with 3rd COSCOM and headed back downrange. To them, it was just all part of what they needed to do to stay together as much as possible -- something that Michael Clancy said he believes is important for any military couple.

"I would advise other military couples to do whatever you can to stay together, because you'll never know when in the future you might be forced apart," he said. "So if you're given an option that allows you to stay together, then take advantage of that opportunity and stay together."

After their deployment with 3rd COSCOM, the Clancys moved southwest to Baumholder and joined the ranks of the Iron Brigade in June 2007. In April 2008, they found themselves in Iraq together again, this time working closer than ever before.

"This time we've worked together a lot," Hailey Clancy said. "I'm the S-4; he's the engineer, so all of the basing issues we've worked on together. Professionally, we spend a lot of time together. People probably think we're talking about personal stuff, but 90 percent of the time, we're talking about base closures or base transfers."

"It's a little weird sometimes when we get mad at each other professionally," Michael Clancy said with a smile.

"You have to be able to separate the personal and professional, but it's impossible to separate them entirely," he added. "I mean, my best friend is on the brigade staff, so I get to know what's going on in the brigade building."

"And I get a good idea of how things are perceived down at the units," Hailey Clancy said. "I get an honest opinion from somebody."

The perks of being deployed with your spouse are great, to be sure, but not entirely without their drawbacks, the Clancys said.

"It's nice because we have no roommate issues," Hailey Clancy said with a smile. "Emotionally, it's easier, but technically it's harder. There's no one back in the rear to ship you stuff or manage your stuff. Our car is in storage. All of our bills are forwarded to Iraq, so all of our paperwork we have to handle down here, because there's no one back there taking care of business for us," she said.

They both plan on staying in the military, and have worked out new assignments near each other in New York. Beyond the next assignment, they said, they continue to plan to stay together as much as possible while furthering their Army careers.

"I think with dual-military couples, you have to choose either to stay together or go for those assignments you'd really like to have," Michael Clancy said. "If we had both wanted our ideal assignments, we wouldn't be together. You have to take whatever you can to be together."

(Army Sgt. Daniel Nichols serves in Multinational Division Baghdad with the 1st Armored Division's 2nd Brigade Combat Team public affairs office.)

Mullen Promises Broad Review of Anti-piracy Operations

By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service

April 14, 2009 - The U.S. military has initiated a review to look "broadly and widely and deeply" at the overall strategy on piracy off the coast of Somalia, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said today. Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, speaking on ABC's "Good Morning America," complimented those who carried out the mission that freed Merchant Marine Capt. Kevin Phillips. Somali pirates had held Phillips hostage since his ship, the Maersk-Alabama, was attacked April 8.

The Maersk-Alabama's crew managed to regain control of the cargo vessel, but pirates took Phillips hostage and sought shelter in an 18-foot lifeboat. Navy SEAL snipers aboard the USS Bainbridge killed three of the pirates aboard the lifeboat when it appeared that Phillips' life was in imminent danger.

Piracy has been a problem for America since the founding of the republic, Mullen said. "We've actually been focused on this issue for some period of time, and set up a task force out in that part of the world last fall," he said. "We've had a focus on it."

Some 16 nations have warships in the region, which covers 1.1 million square miles, a vast area that is difficult to cover; in fact, pirates captured the Greek merchant vessel Irene overnight. "It's a going business for the pirates," Mullen said.

Part of the problem with piracy off Somalia – a failed state – is what to do with pirates who are captured. Mullen said the United States and Kenya have a bilateral agreement for the African nation to prosecute any pirates captured on the high seas in the region. "There's a lot of work to do. It's a big challenge, but there are many, many people working on it right now," Mullen said.

Pirates have vowed reprisals on the United States for the successful operation to free Phillips.

"I certainly take their comments afterwards seriously," Mullen said. "That said, we are very well prepared to deal with anything like that. And that will be part of our military review."

Support Group Helps Veterans Navigate Federal Job Application Process

By Samantha L. Quigley
American Forces Press Service

April 14, 2009 - Navigating the federal job application process can be mindboggling, but veterans can have a personal guide thanks to a new Military Order of the Purple Heart Web site. MOPH offers veterans its new Vetsjobs.net site as the answer to the puzzle, given that the Labor Department estimates 100,000 new federal jobs will open in the federal sector, the group's national veteran employment officer said.

"There are lots of places that you can go to get information. However, this is one place that you can gather enough information to intelligently apply for a federal job," Don Nichols said. "We knew that the younger generation of veterans probably could use a little bit of help knowing where to go, how to go through the process of applying for a federal job and understanding how the system works."

The site contains information about how to register with www.usajobs.gov, the official Web site for seeking federal employment. This is in addition to links to each state's employment service, the Labor Department, and the Office of Personnel Management.
Veterans also can find information about how veterans preference affects their job search, and watch a video featuring a former active-duty Marine Corps gunnery sergeant, now a reservist. The gunny helps to put the federal job search in a language veterans understand, and he's qualified on both fronts: he served in both Iraq and Afghanistan and is currently a federal employee working for the Veterans Affairs medical facility in Muskogee, Okla.

"We wanted to develop a video to talk somebody, or walk somebody, through the process [of applying for a federal job]," Nichol said. "We wanted to have somebody do that that was young, about the same age as the persons getting out of the military, [and who] had some experience with applying for a federal job."

The video, validated by two Veterans Affairs offices, contains a downloadable presentation that goes through each of the talking points of how to register to apply for a federal job, Nichols said. Veterans can learn how to register with USAJobs, how to do a resume step by step, how to tie that resume to the knowledge, skills and aptitude criteria for a particular job, and how to complete the assessment process.

Veterans who take advantage of the site also will be kept in the loop if a new job in their chosen career field and geographical area becomes available.

"All [this] information resided somewhere out there on the Internet, but it's just knowing how to get to it," Nichols said. "So, we've tried to pull it all together in one spot. We think these are the most valuable resources.

"We think it's going to be very helpful for veterans who are applying for a federal job," he added.

The Web site has been active for a couple of weeks, John Bircher, MOPH's national public relations director, said. It was announced only yesterday because MOPH officials just participated in a "very successful" job fair and wanted to add video from the event, Nichols said.

Guard Families Participate in White House Easter Egg Roll

American Forces Press Service

April 14, 2009 - National Guard members from five states and their families participated in yesterday's 2009 Easter Egg Roll held on the South Lawn of the White House. This year's theme, "Let's go play," encouraged America's youth to lead healthy and active lives.

According to the White House Web site, more than 30,000 people from 45 states and the District of Columbia attended this year's celebration. About 2,500 tickets were distributed to military families, including 500 National Guard families.

"This was our first time attending the White House Easter Egg Roll, and the kids were very excited to go," said Army Sgt. 1st Class Jeffrey Vogel, who works at the National Guard Bureau. "The experience was a little overwhelming for the kids, because of the large amount of people that were given tickets."

As part of the theme, all of the activities at this year's event taught children about the fun ways to exercise their bodies and minds.

Activities included live musical performances by Fergie, Ziggy Marley and others, cooking with celebrity chefs in the Kid's Kitchen, readings at the Storytime Stage, dance, yoga and jump rope workshops, an Easter egg hunt and traditional Easter egg roll.
"The kids did enjoy actually being at the White House and getting to see Sasha and Malia's new playground equipment, the basketball court and listening to Ziggy Marley," Vogel said.

Children also received a souvenir Easter egg. This year's egg is the greenest egg in history, according to the White House Web site. It is made from hardwood certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, which means that the wood comes from environmentally and socially sustainably managed forests.

First lady Dolly Madison began the tradition of Easter egg rolling in Washington, when local children joined her for an egg roll at the Capitol in 1814. In the following years, the children apparently made quite a mess, which prompted Congress to pass the Turf Protection Law in 1876, banning the use of the Capitol lawn as a playground.

Bad weather kept everyone indoors in 1877, so there was no need to enforce the law, but in 1878 children stood outside the gates of the White House until President Rutherford B. Hayes invited them onto the grounds to continue the egg roll tradition on the South Lawn.

(From a National Guard Bureau news release.)

Education Activity Offers Free Summer Enrichment Program

By Samantha L. Quigley
American Forces Press Service

April 14, 2009 - For military students who can't squeeze enough learning into the school year, the Department of Defense Education Activity has the perfect solution. For the fifth year, the agency is offering eligible students in kindergarten through 8th grade a free, four-week summer enrichment program with a curriculum emphasizing math and language arts.

DoDEA officials expect enrollment of about 10 percent of all the 6,500 students in kindergarten through 8th grade in the activity's school system, Joel K. Hansen, DoDEA's special projects coordinator, said.

"It's not a remedial program. It's not a program to help students catch up," he said. "It is ... designed to support and reinforce student learning in high-interest activities."

The curriculum for kindergarten through 5th grade, called "Mysteries," is provided by Texas-based Voyager Expanded Learning Co., Hansen said. It's the same company that provides the "Media Magic" program for older students.

As much as the students enjoy the program, Hansen said, the teachers are just as excited.

"I think the teachers that have been involved in the program have really enjoyed teaching it," he said. "Some of them have been teaching it for several years straight. They don't have to -- they sign up for it."

While students usually are kept with other students their age, in some cases the program will conduct multi-age groups, Hansen added.

"From what I've seen and heard about some of the activities, kids just have a great time," he said. "They're fun. They're engaging. They're active. You have a lot of opportunities for student engagement. Sometimes it's fun to see the little ones work with the older ones."

The pilot for the program began in 2004 with four sites in Germany. DoDEA now offers the program in its Europe, Pacific and stateside schools.

Department of Defense Dependent Schools Pacific will begin the month-long program June 22. DoDDS Europe will begin either June 22 or June 29. Start times for the stateside schools vary, Hansen said. Parents should check with their child's school to determine both eligibility and the start date, he advised.

Neither transportation nor lunch is provided. Students generally don't need to brown-bag it either, as the classes run for three hours in the morning and are over by noon, Hansen said.

Stability Operations Require More U.S. Focus, Gates Says

By John J. Kruzel
American Forces Press Service

April 14, 2009 - The United States should focus more resources on recognizing developing problems abroad and assisting foreign governments through nonmilitary means, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said here yesterday. In an interview during a visit in which he spoke to a group of 30 students and faculty at the Marine Corps War College, Gates said identifying these early warning signs is the foundation of what he referred to as "Phase Zero" operations, or government intervention that aims to help stabilize deteriorating situations in other countries.

"How do you identify a problem early and put in the resources -- whether it's train and equip or other partnership initiatives -- so that American men and women in uniform don't have to go fight, that we build indigenous capabilities that provide for stability operations, rather than having to go in and do it ourselves in ungoverned spaces in countries that are under stress?"

Traditionally, the Defense Department and the U.S. military has not focused extensively on building such partnership capacity. But the concept is now one of the department's "big themes," reflected in the significant amount of defense funding related to Phase Zero operations, Gates said.

"We've got quite a bit of money in the budget related to that," he said. "I think it's going to be one of the more interesting challenges."

The Defense Department has a robust level of resources and personnel available for Phase Zero, Gates said, but the rest of government should bolster its capabilities as well to achieve a more unified approach.

"When you think of the number of people in the Department of Defense both in and out of uniform who spend their lives planning, doing operational concepts, thinking about the future, and doing that full-time," he said, "it is a huge number of people in the [Office of the Secretary of Defense] and in the services and in the combatant commands.

"No other department of government devotes anywhere near the number of people to that that we do," he said. "And so this is one of these areas where, in the longer term, the interagency needs to get better and stronger, frankly, to match our capabilities, so that our capabilities have the proper context in terms of the whole-government objectives."

Gates cited the State Department as one agency that has not had sufficient resources required for an adequate "level of planning and looking ahead." Key to any U.S. strategy rooted in stability operations is that it be carried out by government agencies working together, he said.

"I think it needs to be in the context of the interagency. There needs to be a broader national strategy with regard to these challenges, of which what we do is a part," Gates said of the Defense Department.

Gates 'On Target' With Defense Procurement Reform, Obama Says

By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service

April 14, 2009 - President Barack Obama today gave a verbal "high-five" to Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates' proposal to reform the Pentagon's procurement system to eliminate wasteful programs and curb spiraling weapons and equipment costs. "Secretary Gates recently announced a courageous set of reforms that go right at the hundreds of billions of dollars in waste and cost overruns that have bloated our defense budget without making America safer," Obama said during a speech to faculty and students at Georgetown University here.

Obama provided Americans an update on the state of the nation's battered economy. While doing so, the president pointed to Gates' intent to eliminate wasteful spending in the Pentagon's procurement realm.

Last month, during a nationally televised news conference, Obama said that he'd been working with Gates to reform the Pentagon's weapons and procurement system "so that it keeps America safe, and we're not wasting taxpayer dollars." There's broad acknowledgement, Obama said during the news conference, that the Pentagon's procurement system "doesn't work."

Defense procurement experts have identified "a whole range" of multi-billion dollar systems that have incurred cost overruns of 30, 40, and 50 percent, the president said.

Today at Georgetown, Obama said more needs to be done to reduce wasteful or unnecessary spending across the federal government. Gates' proposal to eliminate unnecessary defense programs and to reform unwieldy and inefficient procurement procedures "is right on target," Obama said.

MILITARY CONTRACTS April 14, 2009

ARMY
Honeywell International, Inc. Phoenix, Az., was awarded on Apr. 10, 2009 a $73,994,878 firm fixed price, cost plus fixed fee contract for urgent funding action to provided parts support for the overhaul of 1,000 AGT 1500 engines (Abrams Tanks/Army Stock Spares) for program year four (PY4) of the Total Integrated Engines Revitalization (TIGER) program. These parts are required to avoid a break in production at the Anniston Army Depot (ANAD) Turbine Value Stream (TVS) AGT 1500 engine overhaul line. Work is to be performed in Anniston, Al., (13 percent), Phoenix, Az., (66 percent), Greer, S.C., (19 percent), and Rocky Mountain, N.C., (2 percent) with an estimated completion date of Dec. 31, 2010. One bid solicited and one bid received. U.S.A. TACOM, Warren, Mi., is the contracting activity (W56HZV-06-C-0173).

Butt Construction Co., Inc., Dayton, Ohio was awarded on Apr. 10, 2009 a $36,212,000 firm fixed price contract for the design and construction of alteration of an addition to sensors directorate laboratory. Work is to be performed in Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio with an estimated completion date of Apr. 9, 2011. Forty- six bids solicited and six bids received. Corps of Engineers, Louisville, Ky., is the contracting activity (W912QR-09-C-0024).

David Boland, Inc., Titusville, Fl., was awarded on Apr. 10, 2009 a $10,542,000 firm fixed price contract for repairs of ramp area on west end of Seawall, rehabilitation of groins and down ramps, miscellaneous concrete repairs, and stair handrails. Work is to be performed in Galveston County, Texas with an estimated completion date of Jul. 30, 2009. Eleven bids were solicited and four bids received. U.S.A. Engineer District, Galveston Texas is the contracting activity (W912HY-09-C-0015).

Total Engineering Inc, Lanham, Md., was awarded on Apr. 10, 2009 a $7,349,340 firm fixed price contract. The early site work package will consist of , but not limited to, sedimentation and erosion control measures, construction fencing, housing demolition including abatement of hazardous material, site demolition including utilities and paving, earthwork and grading underground and aboveground steam line, underground natural gas line, underground water line, overhead electrical distribution, and sewer system. In support of excavation below two feet geophysical survey and clearance of unexploded ordnance will be a work requirement. The estimated completion date to the project is Apr. 8, 2010. Bids were solicited using the World Wide Web and ten bids received. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore, Md., is the contracting activity (W912DR-09-C-0030).

ECC International Constructions, LLC Virginia Beach, Va., was awarded on Apr. 9, 2009 a $39,785,103 firm fixed construction contract for brigade housing and south park infrastructure. Work is to be performed in Afghanistan with an estimated completion date of Apr. 30, 2010. Bids were solicited in the World Wide Web and five bids received. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Transatlantic Program Center, Winchester, Va., is the contracting activity (W912ER-09-C-0011).

Merrick Construction, Cottonport, La., was awarded on Apr. 9, 2009 a $23,742,210 firm fixed price contract for Hubzone Multiple Award task order (task order 0002). Work is to be performed in Jefferson Parish, La with an estimated completion date of Oct. 15, 2010. Eight bids were solicited and five bids received. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans, La. is the contracting activity (W912P8-08-D-0038).

DynCorp International LLC, Fort Worth, Texas was awarded on Apr. 9, 2009 a $17,199,374 firm fixed price, cost reimbursement contract for maintenance support services to support the royal Saudi aviation land forces. Work is primary, but not limited to Riyadh, King Khalid Military City, Khamis Mushsyt, and Al-Quism, Saudi Arabia with an estimated completion date of Apr. 9, 2014. Bids were solicited using the World Wide Web and Two bids received. U.S. Army Contracting Command Aviation and Missile Contracting Center, Redstone Arsenal, Al., is the contracting activity (W58RGZ-09-C-0143).

NAVY

BAE Systems San Diego Ship Repair, San Diego, Calif., is being awarded a $24,656,595 modification to previously awarded contract (N00024-07-C-2200) for LPD 20 post shakedown availability tasks and acceleration of fleet required ship alterations. Work to be performed is for completion of government responsible deficiencies; correction of LPD 19 shock trial related deficiencies, class pipe hangers deficiencies, and FCT trials cards; and the acceleration of fleet required ship alterations such as upgrades to the SWAN GiGE Upgrades, MK46 Gun System Upgrade, HF-SAR, SSEE Inc E, Joint Biological Point Detection System (JBPDS) and SLQ-32 ICAD. Work will be performed in San Diego, Calif., and is expected to be completed by Jan. 2010. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity.

The Boeing Co., Wichita, Kan., is being awarded a $20,746,752 firm fixed price contract for the procurement of one each Crash Survivable Flight Incident Recorder and Flight Data Recorder (CSFIR/FDR) for E-6B Mercury Aircraft. In addition, this contract provides for the procurement of two modification kits for the Operational Flight Trainer (OFT); and one each modification kit for the OFT Replay Debrief Station Trainer, the Integrated Avionics Trainer; the Part Task Trainer, and the Forward Lower Lobe Device Trainer; and interim spare parts and technical data. Work will be performed at Tinker Air Force Base, Okla., and is expected to be completed in April 2011. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured under an electronic request for proposals, with two offers received. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity (N00019-09-C-0051).

SRCTec Inc., Syracuse, N.Y., is being awarded a $9,934,428 cost plus fixed fee, indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract for development, demonstration, and delivery of prototype enhancements to Lightweight Counter-Mortar Radars (LCMR) and Lightweight Surveillance and Track Acquisition Radars (LSTAR) designed principally to support the Mobile Optical Search Systems (MOSS) for defense and surveillance purposes. Work will be performed in Syracuse, N.Y., (99 percent); Washington, D.C., (.4 percent); Twentynine Palms, Calif., (.3 percent); and Fort A.P. Hill, Va., (.3 percent), and is expected to be completed by May 2014. 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, Va., is the contracting activity (N00178-09-D-3002).

Kollmorgen Corp., Electro-Optical Division, Northampton, Mass., is being awarded a $5,622,672 modification to previously awarded contract (N66604-05-C-0572) to exercise an option for 12 Type 8K Mod 4 Periscope Assemblies. Work will be performed in Northampton, Mass., and is expected to be completed by May 2011. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division, Newport, R.I., is the contracting activity.

AIR FORCE
he Air Force is modifying a cost plus fixed fee contract with the Schafer Corporation of Chelmsford, Massachusetts for $7,465,366. This action will exercise Option Period 1 for the Headquarters Air Force Space Command Space Control Contract. At this time, $2,515,789 has been obligated. 21CONS, Colorado Springs, Colorado (FA2517-08-C-8000, P 00019).

Correction: Raytheon Co., Integrated Defense Systems, Tewksbury, Mass., is being awarded $6,928,056 for task order #0001 Phase 1A under a previously awardedcost-plus-fixed-fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity order contract (N00014-09-D-0353) for the preliminary design of a 100-kw Class FreeElectron Laser (FEL) device which can be used to demonstrate scalability of the necessary FEL physics and engineering for an eventual MW class Free Electron Laser device. Work will be performed in Tewksbury, Mass., (80 percent) and Medford, N.Y., (20 percent), and work is expected to be completed April 2010. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The contract was competitively procured under ONR Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) 08-013 dated Mar 14, 2008. The Office of Naval Research, Arlington, Va., is the contracting activity.

Boeing Co., Directed Energy Systems, West Hills, Calif., is being awarded $6,922,312 for task order #0001 Phase 1A under a previously awarded cost plus fixed fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity order contract (N00014-09-D-0354) for the preliminary design of a 100-kw Class Free Electron Laser device which can be used to demonstrate scalability of the necessary FEL physics and engineering for an eventual MW class Free Electron Laser device. Work will be performed in West Hills, Calif., (43 percent); Seattle Wash., (43 percent); McLean, Va., (10 percent); Medford, N.Y. (4 percent), and work is expected to be completed April 2010. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The contract was competitively procured under ONR Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) 08-013 dated Mar 14, 2008. The Office of Naval Research, Arlington, Va., is the contracting activity.