AIR FORCE
AECOM Government Services (AGS) of Fort Worth, Texas; Computer Support Services (CS); Defense Support Services (DS2) of Greenville, S.C.; DynCorp International, LLC of Fort Worth, Texas; L3 Communications, Integrated Systems, Vertex Aerospace of Madison, Miss.; Lear Siegler Services, Inc. of Austin, Texas; Northrop Grumman Technical Services (NGTS) of Linthicum, Md.; and Kent Construction Company, Incorporated of Smyrna, Del., are being awarded an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract for a maximum of $10.12 billion. The Contract Field Teams (CFT) Program accomplishes depot and organizational level inspection, maintenance, modification and repair at operational Government locations worldwide. The program supports AIR FORCE requirements at each of the Air Logistics Centers (ALCs), Air Combat Command (ACC), Air Mobility Command (AMC), AIR FORCE Reserves (AFRES) and Air National Guard (ANG). CFT contracts are also used to support requirements generated by the Army, Navy, Coast Guard, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and other Federal agencies. The CFT program provides a rapid deployment capability to field necessary skilled technicians on site anywhere in the free world to support the Government's war readiness and posture planning needs. Quantity of the services required is determined at the time the requirement is generated and will be cited on each order. At this time $280,000 has been obligated. (AGS – FA8108-08-D-0002; CSS – FA8108-08-D0001; DSS – FA8108-08-D0003; DynCorp International, LLC -- FA8108-08-D0004; L3 Communications -- FA8108-08-D0005; LSI -- FA8108-08-D0006; NGTS -- FA8108-08-D0007)
Kay and Associates (KAI) of Buffalo Grove, Ill.; MA Support Services of Denton, Texas; MacAulay Brown, Inc., of Dayton, Ohio; and CSE Corporation of Alexandria Va., are being awarded an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract for a maximum of $10.12 billion. The Contract Field Teams (CFT) Program accomplishes depot and organizational level inspection, maintenance, modification and repair at operational Government locations worldwide. The program supports AIR FORCE requirements at each of the Air Logistics Centers (ALCs), Air Combat Command (ACC), Air Mobility Command (AMC), AIR FORCE Reserves (AFRES) and Air National Guard (ANG). CFT contracts are also used to support requirements generated by the Army, Navy, Coast Guard, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and other Federal Agencies. The CFT program provides a rapid deployment capability to field necessary skilled technicians on site anywhere in the free world to support the Government's war readiness and posture planning needs. Quantity of the services required is determined at the time the requirement is generated and will be cited on each order. 327 ASW/FT; Tinker AFB; Midwest City, Okla., is the contracting activity (Kay and Associates – FA8108-08-D-0008; M1 Support Services -- FA8108-08-D-0009; MacAulay Brown, Inc. -- FA8108-08-D-0010; VSE Corporation -- FA8108-08-D-0011).
Army
David Boland, Inc., Titusville, Fla., was awarded on July 9, 2008, a $28,357,000.00 firm fixed price contract for construction of an aviation support facility at Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo. Work is expected to be completed by Jan. 23, 2010. Bids were solicited via the Web with six bids received. National Guard Bureau Missouri, Jefferson City, Mo., is the contracting activity (W912NS-08-C-0001).
Rentenbach Constructors Inc., Knoxville, Tenn., was awarded on July 11, 2008, a $13,208,000.00 firm fixed price contract for design and construction of a new 32,400 square foot troop medical/dental clinic (17,000 sf Medical and 15,400 sf Dental), at Harmony Church, Fort Benning, Ga. This project will provide medical and dental support of the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) 2005 troop movement efforts of the Armor School from Fort Knox, Ky. Three bids were solicited and three bids were received. Work will be performed at Fort Benning, Ga., with an expected completion date of Jan. 22, 2010. U.S. Army Engineer District, Savannah, Ga., is the contracting activity (W912HN-08-C-0036).
Monday, July 14, 2008
Partnership to Help Army Reserve, D.C. Police Share Same Talent Pool
By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service
July 14, 2008 - The adage, "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em," got a new twist today as the Army Reserve and the Metropolitan Police of the District of Columbia signed a partnership deal so they can recruit, hire and train people for both organizations. MPDC became the first law enforcement agency to partner with the Army Reserve in a unique arrangement that Army Lt. Gen. Jack Stultz, chief of the Army Reserve, called a win-win for the military as well as the police. Instead of competing for the same talent pool, they can now join forces to fill their ranks and train their members.
The agreement, signed at the Metropolitan Police Academy here, enables Army Reserve recruiters to refer recruits signing on as military police or active-duty military police joining the Army Reserve for civilian jobs with the MPDC. Similarly, the police department can refer its members for Army Reserve jobs.
The arrangement will enable the two organizations to help each other fill critical shortages while also taking advantage of the training and experience base both provide their members, Stultz said.
Thomas F. Hall, assistant secretary of defense for reserve affairs, noted today that the Army Reserve and MPDC are looking for recruits with many of the same attributes. Both want honest, drug-free members who know how to lead as well as follow and love their country and communities, he said.
Army 1st Sgt. Ryan Ervin of the 200th Military Police Command at Fort Meade, Md., also an MPDC officer, said the Metropolitan Police Department and Army Reserve both stand to benefit from sharing the professional, career-minded and goal-oriented recruits each attracts. Army experience gives police recruits an ability to think on their feet, work within a command structure and show flexibility when it's needed, he said.
Meanwhile, Stultz said, civilian police experience brings strong negotiating, interrogation and crime scene investigation skills to the Army Reserve.
The MPDC partnership is the Army Reserve's fifth so far, but about 50 others are in the works and nearly 150 additional employers have expressed interest in forming one.
What makes the concept so popular, even in the face of reserve deployments, is that it helps employers realize the upside of hiring Army Reservists, Stultz said. "Don't look at the Reserve as a drain on your force. Look at it as a value added," he said he tells employers.
As the long list of employers considering new partnerships grows, it's evident that employers already recognize the attributes Army Reservists bring to their work force, said Army Col. Dianna Cleven, an Office of the Army Reserve director. The advantage of partnerships, she said, is that it provides a formal structure so employers can find and tap into the Army Reserve's talent base while also providing an avenue for Army Reservists to link up with potential employers.
"It's a mechanism to link reservists looking for jobs in specific skills," Cleven said. "We're providing that mechanism through these partnerships that helps them connect the dots."
The MPDC, which needs to recruit about 350 police officers a year, sees the Army Reserve as a prime recruiting ground, Assistant Chief Joshua Ederheimer said during today's partnership signing ceremony at the Metropolitan Police Academy. He noted that the two organizations share a cultural ethos of service and sacrifice, with their members understanding and accepting personal risk to protect their fellow citizens.
Meanwhile, because the Army Reserve provides 93 percent of the Army's total military police force, its members who report for duty with the MPDC arrive with extensive military police training already under their belts.
Some arrive after active-duty assignments in military police units. Others are new recruits who attend basic training, then advanced individual training in military police skills before reporting to their Army Reserve units and starting their civilian careers.
"By that time, he is not just a high school graduate. Now he is a soldier," Stultz said. "He's got discipline. He's got leadership. He's got a work ethic and he's had training. Then (MPDC) can take him and develop him further."
MPDC Chief Cathy Lanier called the new partnership "a very significant and important step for us" that will help her department recruit and retain the high-skilled work force it it needs. "It will help make our force stronger and our city safer," she said.
Lanier can look within her own force for a glimpse into what the new partnership will offer. One of her officers, Greg Naguerka, arrived at the Metropolitan Police Academy in 2005 with seven years of military police experience that he said gave him a big leg up over his fellow police cadets.
Now an Army Reserve staff sergeant with the 200th Military Police Command at Fort Meade, Md., Nagurerka said his Army experience made him mentally prepared and physically fit for his police training and provided a strong foundation for his police career.
Army Sgt. Scott Dignan served with the MPDC for six years before joining the Army Reserve 12 years ago, and said the military has trained and tested him in ways that have boosted his civilian career.
"It has opened my eyes to a whole different way of leading and has been a true asset to me," said Dignan, now a lieutenant with the Metropolitan Police Department. "Between the leadership training and the deployments, it has taught me a lot about myself and given me experience that's been invaluable."
Stultz called today's signing ceremony a big day not just for the Army Reserve, but for the Army as a whole, which counts on its citizen-soldiers to sustain the all-volunteer force. To do that, he said, the Army Reserve needs to work cooperatively with civilian employers.
"A number of employers out there are saying that this is a great idea," and a way to attract everything from truck drivers to medical technologists to engineers to law enforcement officers to their work forces. "You name it, we've got it," Stultz said. "Partnerships help provide the conduit."
American Forces Press Service
July 14, 2008 - The adage, "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em," got a new twist today as the Army Reserve and the Metropolitan Police of the District of Columbia signed a partnership deal so they can recruit, hire and train people for both organizations. MPDC became the first law enforcement agency to partner with the Army Reserve in a unique arrangement that Army Lt. Gen. Jack Stultz, chief of the Army Reserve, called a win-win for the military as well as the police. Instead of competing for the same talent pool, they can now join forces to fill their ranks and train their members.
The agreement, signed at the Metropolitan Police Academy here, enables Army Reserve recruiters to refer recruits signing on as military police or active-duty military police joining the Army Reserve for civilian jobs with the MPDC. Similarly, the police department can refer its members for Army Reserve jobs.
The arrangement will enable the two organizations to help each other fill critical shortages while also taking advantage of the training and experience base both provide their members, Stultz said.
Thomas F. Hall, assistant secretary of defense for reserve affairs, noted today that the Army Reserve and MPDC are looking for recruits with many of the same attributes. Both want honest, drug-free members who know how to lead as well as follow and love their country and communities, he said.
Army 1st Sgt. Ryan Ervin of the 200th Military Police Command at Fort Meade, Md., also an MPDC officer, said the Metropolitan Police Department and Army Reserve both stand to benefit from sharing the professional, career-minded and goal-oriented recruits each attracts. Army experience gives police recruits an ability to think on their feet, work within a command structure and show flexibility when it's needed, he said.
Meanwhile, Stultz said, civilian police experience brings strong negotiating, interrogation and crime scene investigation skills to the Army Reserve.
The MPDC partnership is the Army Reserve's fifth so far, but about 50 others are in the works and nearly 150 additional employers have expressed interest in forming one.
What makes the concept so popular, even in the face of reserve deployments, is that it helps employers realize the upside of hiring Army Reservists, Stultz said. "Don't look at the Reserve as a drain on your force. Look at it as a value added," he said he tells employers.
As the long list of employers considering new partnerships grows, it's evident that employers already recognize the attributes Army Reservists bring to their work force, said Army Col. Dianna Cleven, an Office of the Army Reserve director. The advantage of partnerships, she said, is that it provides a formal structure so employers can find and tap into the Army Reserve's talent base while also providing an avenue for Army Reservists to link up with potential employers.
"It's a mechanism to link reservists looking for jobs in specific skills," Cleven said. "We're providing that mechanism through these partnerships that helps them connect the dots."
The MPDC, which needs to recruit about 350 police officers a year, sees the Army Reserve as a prime recruiting ground, Assistant Chief Joshua Ederheimer said during today's partnership signing ceremony at the Metropolitan Police Academy. He noted that the two organizations share a cultural ethos of service and sacrifice, with their members understanding and accepting personal risk to protect their fellow citizens.
Meanwhile, because the Army Reserve provides 93 percent of the Army's total military police force, its members who report for duty with the MPDC arrive with extensive military police training already under their belts.
Some arrive after active-duty assignments in military police units. Others are new recruits who attend basic training, then advanced individual training in military police skills before reporting to their Army Reserve units and starting their civilian careers.
"By that time, he is not just a high school graduate. Now he is a soldier," Stultz said. "He's got discipline. He's got leadership. He's got a work ethic and he's had training. Then (MPDC) can take him and develop him further."
MPDC Chief Cathy Lanier called the new partnership "a very significant and important step for us" that will help her department recruit and retain the high-skilled work force it it needs. "It will help make our force stronger and our city safer," she said.
Lanier can look within her own force for a glimpse into what the new partnership will offer. One of her officers, Greg Naguerka, arrived at the Metropolitan Police Academy in 2005 with seven years of military police experience that he said gave him a big leg up over his fellow police cadets.
Now an Army Reserve staff sergeant with the 200th Military Police Command at Fort Meade, Md., Nagurerka said his Army experience made him mentally prepared and physically fit for his police training and provided a strong foundation for his police career.
Army Sgt. Scott Dignan served with the MPDC for six years before joining the Army Reserve 12 years ago, and said the military has trained and tested him in ways that have boosted his civilian career.
"It has opened my eyes to a whole different way of leading and has been a true asset to me," said Dignan, now a lieutenant with the Metropolitan Police Department. "Between the leadership training and the deployments, it has taught me a lot about myself and given me experience that's been invaluable."
Stultz called today's signing ceremony a big day not just for the Army Reserve, but for the Army as a whole, which counts on its citizen-soldiers to sustain the all-volunteer force. To do that, he said, the Army Reserve needs to work cooperatively with civilian employers.
"A number of employers out there are saying that this is a great idea," and a way to attract everything from truck drivers to medical technologists to engineers to law enforcement officers to their work forces. "You name it, we've got it," Stultz said. "Partnerships help provide the conduit."
Pentagon Funds National Security Research
By Navy Lt. Jennifer Cragg
Special to American Forces Press Service
July 14, 2008 - The Defense Department is continuing its efforts to finance university research on national security-related issues, a senior Pentagon official said. The Minerva Initiative is an effort to build the Defense Department's capacity to reach out to the academic community for research in social science topics of interest to national security both present and future, Thomas Mahnken, deputy assistant secretary of defense for policy planning, said in a teleconference with online journalists and bloggers July 10.
Mahnken said the project has multiple strands, such as an agreement with the National Science Foundation and "broad agency announcements that seek research proposals in specific areas of study.
A memorandum of understanding recently signed between DoD and that the National Science Foundation allows researchers to apply for grants to study subjects that may be of interest to U.S. national security. Officials anticipate the agreement will fund work leading to new knowledge about topics such as religious fundamentalism, terrorism and cultural change.
"It covers DoD funding of existing proposals that have come into NSF," Mahnken explained. "It envisions the possibility of workshops; it envisions the possibility of solicitation for proposals; it includes ... a number of venues for DoD and NSF to work together in this area."
Mahnken noted that they are committed to getting grants for research under broad agency announcements by the end of the calendar year. "That's our commitment; we have timelines in place to make that happen," Mahnken said.
The basic research will be long-term, and some of the awards will be for five years with the possibility of renewal.
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates' vision behind the Minerva Initiative was to build capacity between academia and the U.S. government, Mahnken said. "Minerva's focus is on basic research and developing the skills in academia and the insight in academia that we need to understand other cultures for a variety of purposes," he explained.
He added that some relationships between parts of academia and parts of the government could be strengthened and the Minerva Initiative is a part of that effort.
"Mahnken said the Pentagon's policy office looks to academia to fill key positions. "We recruit a lot of political scientists, and folks in international relations," he said. "We recruit a sprinkling of historians, a smattering of economists, and we have a lot of folks who have foreign language skills, but we have only a handful of folks who have foreign language skills in particularly difficult languages such as Mandarin Chinese and Arabic.
Mahnken said the Defense Department's work force benefits from a strong relationship with academia. "One way to think about the desirable outcome is that 10 years from now we [will] have a much more diverse work force in terms of disciplinary backgrounds; we [will] have a work force that is used to thinking about a whole range of issues," he said.
He added that the future government work force will benefit from this initiative by being better informed and being connected to a vibrant discussion, research and debate on important issues.
(Navy Lt. Jennifer Cragg works for the New Media branch of the Defense Media Activity.)
Special to American Forces Press Service
July 14, 2008 - The Defense Department is continuing its efforts to finance university research on national security-related issues, a senior Pentagon official said. The Minerva Initiative is an effort to build the Defense Department's capacity to reach out to the academic community for research in social science topics of interest to national security both present and future, Thomas Mahnken, deputy assistant secretary of defense for policy planning, said in a teleconference with online journalists and bloggers July 10.
Mahnken said the project has multiple strands, such as an agreement with the National Science Foundation and "broad agency announcements that seek research proposals in specific areas of study.
A memorandum of understanding recently signed between DoD and that the National Science Foundation allows researchers to apply for grants to study subjects that may be of interest to U.S. national security. Officials anticipate the agreement will fund work leading to new knowledge about topics such as religious fundamentalism, terrorism and cultural change.
"It covers DoD funding of existing proposals that have come into NSF," Mahnken explained. "It envisions the possibility of workshops; it envisions the possibility of solicitation for proposals; it includes ... a number of venues for DoD and NSF to work together in this area."
Mahnken noted that they are committed to getting grants for research under broad agency announcements by the end of the calendar year. "That's our commitment; we have timelines in place to make that happen," Mahnken said.
The basic research will be long-term, and some of the awards will be for five years with the possibility of renewal.
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates' vision behind the Minerva Initiative was to build capacity between academia and the U.S. government, Mahnken said. "Minerva's focus is on basic research and developing the skills in academia and the insight in academia that we need to understand other cultures for a variety of purposes," he explained.
He added that some relationships between parts of academia and parts of the government could be strengthened and the Minerva Initiative is a part of that effort.
"Mahnken said the Pentagon's policy office looks to academia to fill key positions. "We recruit a lot of political scientists, and folks in international relations," he said. "We recruit a sprinkling of historians, a smattering of economists, and we have a lot of folks who have foreign language skills, but we have only a handful of folks who have foreign language skills in particularly difficult languages such as Mandarin Chinese and Arabic.
Mahnken said the Defense Department's work force benefits from a strong relationship with academia. "One way to think about the desirable outcome is that 10 years from now we [will] have a much more diverse work force in terms of disciplinary backgrounds; we [will] have a work force that is used to thinking about a whole range of issues," he said.
He added that the future government work force will benefit from this initiative by being better informed and being connected to a vibrant discussion, research and debate on important issues.
(Navy Lt. Jennifer Cragg works for the New Media branch of the Defense Media Activity.)
Reserve Airmen Combat Wild Fires
By Navy Seaman William Selby
Special to American Forces Press Service
July 14, 2008 - It's not always easy for members of the 302nd Airlift Wing at Peterson Air Force Base, Colo., to remember they're an Air Force Reserve unit. "We really feel like an active-duty unit, because we're constantly busy," Air Force Senior Master Sgt. Jeff Flight, the unit's chief loadmaster, told online journalists and bloggers in a July 10 teleconference. "But this is our choice and we really enjoy what we do."
The 302nd, which combats land fires using aerial delivery, has helped to fight the wild fires in Southern California.
"One of our specialized missions is the modular airborne fire fighting system, or MAFFS, which more or less supplements the commercial air tankers in combating the wild land fires with safe aerial delivery of the fire retardant," Air Force Lt. Col. Ronald Wilt, 302nd Operations Group commander, said. The 302nd Airlift Winghas one of only eight C-130s that can perform this specialized mission, Flight said.
MAFFS is a self–contained, reusable 3,000 gallon system that stores and disperses fire retardant. "[The retardant] comes out and lays down, at first, in a bright red, basically to identify where it has been," Wilt explained. The color fades away after about five days, he added, and then the retardant acts as a fertilizer and promotes growth in the area.
At 28,000-pound load of retardant can be released in about eight seconds, Wilt said.
"When the retardant leaves the aircraft itself, the engineering design is such that it tries to maintain a center of gravity," he said. Each of five tanks holds 500 gallons of retardant, with the other 500 gallons in the tubes, he added.
The timing between touchdown and takeoff with a new load of retardant is very important when combating the fire, Wilt said.
"I've had as little as 11 minutes between touchdown and takeoff," he said, "but it's [usually] probably 20 to 25 minutes to get back in the battle with the fire."
Though the mission means working long days in temperatures of 100 degrees or more, Flight said, the airmen are happy to do it. "We really enjoy being together and working this mission, because it's our most rewarding mission," he said.
(Navy Seaman William Selby works for New Media directorate of the Defense Media Activity.)
Special to American Forces Press Service
July 14, 2008 - It's not always easy for members of the 302nd Airlift Wing at Peterson Air Force Base, Colo., to remember they're an Air Force Reserve unit. "We really feel like an active-duty unit, because we're constantly busy," Air Force Senior Master Sgt. Jeff Flight, the unit's chief loadmaster, told online journalists and bloggers in a July 10 teleconference. "But this is our choice and we really enjoy what we do."
The 302nd, which combats land fires using aerial delivery, has helped to fight the wild fires in Southern California.
"One of our specialized missions is the modular airborne fire fighting system, or MAFFS, which more or less supplements the commercial air tankers in combating the wild land fires with safe aerial delivery of the fire retardant," Air Force Lt. Col. Ronald Wilt, 302nd Operations Group commander, said. The 302nd Airlift Winghas one of only eight C-130s that can perform this specialized mission, Flight said.
MAFFS is a self–contained, reusable 3,000 gallon system that stores and disperses fire retardant. "[The retardant] comes out and lays down, at first, in a bright red, basically to identify where it has been," Wilt explained. The color fades away after about five days, he added, and then the retardant acts as a fertilizer and promotes growth in the area.
At 28,000-pound load of retardant can be released in about eight seconds, Wilt said.
"When the retardant leaves the aircraft itself, the engineering design is such that it tries to maintain a center of gravity," he said. Each of five tanks holds 500 gallons of retardant, with the other 500 gallons in the tubes, he added.
The timing between touchdown and takeoff with a new load of retardant is very important when combating the fire, Wilt said.
"I've had as little as 11 minutes between touchdown and takeoff," he said, "but it's [usually] probably 20 to 25 minutes to get back in the battle with the fire."
Though the mission means working long days in temperatures of 100 degrees or more, Flight said, the airmen are happy to do it. "We really enjoy being together and working this mission, because it's our most rewarding mission," he said.
(Navy Seaman William Selby works for New Media directorate of the Defense Media Activity.)
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