MILITARY CONTRACTS

ARMY

Combat Support Associates, Orange, Calif., was awarded on Feb. 7, 2008, a $31,369,682 cost-plus-award-fee contract for the execution of a contract modification to definitize, incorporate the terms, conditions and price negotiated and agreed to between personnel assigned to the Army Directorate of Contracting in Kuwait. Work will be performed at Capt Arifjan, Kuwait, and is expected to be completed by Sep. 30, 2009. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Four bids were solicited on Oct. 30, 1998, and four bids were received. The U.S. Army Sustainment Command, Rock Island Arsenal, Rock Island, Ill., is the contracting activity DASA02-99-C-1234.

SUMMA Technology, Inc., Huntsville, Ala., was awarded on Feb. 6, 2008, a $27,760,040 five-year-firm-fixed price contract for the container roll in/out platform. Work will be performed in Cullman, Ala., and is expected to be completed by Jun. 30, 2011. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Bids were solicited via the World Wide Web on Dec. 21, 2005, and six bids were received. The U.S. Army TACOM Life Cycle Management Command, Warren, Mich., is the contracting activity W56HZV-06-D-0269.

Combat Support Associates, Orange, Calif., was awarded on Feb. 7, 2008, a $6,104,098 cost-plus-award-fee contract for the execution of a contract modification to definitize, incorporate the terms, conditions and price negotiated and agreed to between personnel assigned to the Army Directorate of Contracting in Kuwait. Work will be performed at Capt Arifjan, Kuwait, and is expected to be completed by Sep. 30, 2009. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Four bids were solicited on Oct. 30, 1998, and four bids were received. The U.S. Army Sustainment Command, Rock Island Arsenal, Rock Island, Ill., is the contracting activity DASA02-99-C-1234.

AIR FORCE

CSC Applied Technologies LLC of Forth Worth, Texas, is being awarded a contract for $29,583,353. This action provides for flight operations support and base operation support at Vance AFB, Okla., to include, but not limited to aircraft maintenance, airfield management, custodial, engineering, community services, and communication information technology services. At this time no funds have been obligated. AETC CONS/LGCK, Randolph Air Force Base, Texas, is the contracting activity (FA3002-08-C-0007).

Lockheed Martin Corp., Lockheed Martin Aeronautical Systems of Marietta, Georgia, is being awarded a contract modification for $18,038,169. This action will exercise period three options to purchase the following: technical and engineering data one lot; logistics support data one lot; reliability and maintainability program one lot; FSR monthly recurring-two personnel two each; GMSA monthly recurring one personnel. At this time $4,446,724 has been obligated. USAF/AFMC Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (FA8625-06-C-6456).

DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY

Wellstone Apparel, LLC, Greenville, S.C., is being awarded a maximum $28,276,560 firm fixed price, partial set aside contract for Army combat uniform coats. Other locations of performance are Alabama and Mississippi. Using service is Army. This proposal was originally Web solicited with 36 responses. This contract represents a third option year. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Date of performance completion is Feb. 8, 2009. The contracting activity is Defense Supply Center Philadelphia (DSCP), Philadelphia, Pa. (SPM100-05-D-0420).

Tullahoma Industries, LLC, Tullahoma, Tenn., is being awarded a maximum $23,441,820 firm fixed price, partial set aside contract for Army combat uniform coats. Other locations of performance are Alabama and Tennessee. Using service is Army. This proposal was originally Web solicited with 36 responses. This contract represents a third option year. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Date of performance completion is Feb. 8, 2009. The contracting activity is Defense Supply Center Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pa. (SPM100-05-D-0427).

Fox Apparel, Asheboro, N.C.., is being awarded a maximum $22,804,560 firm fixed price, partial set aside contract for Army combat uniform coats. Other locations of performance are in N. C. Using service is Army. This proposal was originally Web solicited with 36 responses. This contract represents a third option year. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Date of performance completion is Feb. 8, 2009. The contracting activity is Defense Supply Center Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pa. (SPM100-05-D-0421).

AmeriQual Group, LLC, Evansville, Ind., is being awarded a maximum $20,543,600 fixed price with economic price adjustment, 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 three proposals solicited with three responses. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Date of performance completion is Dec. 31, 2008. The contracting activity is Defense Supply Center Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pa.
(SPM3S1-06-D-Z103).

Sopakco Inc., Mullins S.C., is being awarded a maximum $20,474,600 fixed price with economic price adjustment, indefinite quantity contract for Meals Ready-to-Eat. There are no other locations of performance. Using services are Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps. There were originally three proposals solicited with three responses. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Date of performance completion is Dec. 31, 2008. The contracting activity is Defense Supply Center Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pa. (SPM3S1-06-D-Z104).

Bethel Industries, Inc., Jersey City, N.J., is being awarded a maximum $16,074,000 firm fixed price, partial set aside contract for Army combat uniform coats. There are no other locations of performance. Using service is Army. This proposal was originally Web solicited with 36 responses. This contract represents a third option year. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Date of performance completion is Feb. 8, 2009. The contracting activity is Defense Supply Center Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pa. (SPM100-05-D-0418).

Bremen-Bowdon Investment Co., Inc., Bowdon, Ga.,* is being awarded a maximum $15,960,000 firm fixed price, partial set aside contract for Army combat uniform coats. There are no other locations of performance. Using service is Army. This proposal was originally Web solicited with 36 responses. This contract represents a third option year. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Date of performance completion is Feb. 8, 2009. The contracting activity is Defense Supply Center Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pa. (SPM100-05-D-0419).

The Warnick Company, Cincinnati, Ohio, is being awarded a maximum $10,195,900 fixed price with economic price adjustment, 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 three proposals solicited with three responses. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Date of performance completion is Dec. 31, 2008. The contracting activity is Defense Supply Center Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pa. (SPM3S1-06-D-Z105).

Sidran, Inc., Farmers Branch, Texas, is being awarded a maximum $7,854,600 firm fixed price, partial set aside contract for Army combat uniform coats. Other locations of performance are in Texas. Using service is Army. This proposal was originally Web solicited with 36 responses. This contract represents a third option year. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Date of performance completion is Feb. 8, 2009. The contracting activity is Defense Supply Center Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pa. (SPM200-05-D-0422).

Allegheny Petroleum Products Co., Wilmerding, Pa., is being awarded a maximum $6,071,372.64 indefinite quantity contract for oil products. There are no other locations of performance. Using services are Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps. This proposal was originally solicited with 6 responses. This contract represents a base with two one-year option periods. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Date of

performance completion is Feb. 7, 2009. The contracting activity is Defense Supply Center Richmond, Richmond, Va. (SPM4A6-08-D-0115).

Chevron Product Co., Cumming, Ga., is being awarded a maximum $5,760,950 fixed price with economic price adjustment, indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract for oil products. Other locations of performance are Oregon, and South Carolina. Using service is Defense Energy Support Center. There were originally 161 proposals solicited with four responses. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Date of performance completion is Apr.30, 2009. The contracting activity is Defense Energy Support Center, Fort Belvoir, Va. (Sp0600-08-D-0753).

NAVY

General Dynamics, Electric Boat Corp., Groton, Conn., is being awarded a $25,375,000 firm-fixed-price delivery order under the previously awarded multiple award indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity contract (MAC) (N00024-04-D-4408) for the preparation and accomplishment of the FY08 docking selected restricted availability of USS San Juan (SSN 751) at the Naval Submarine Base, New London, Conn. This contract includes options which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this contract to $28,692,750. Work will be performed in New London, Conn., and work is expected to be completed by May 2008. Contract funds in the amount of $25,375,000 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington Navy Yard, D.C. is the contracting activity.

Fluke Electronics Corp., Everett, Wash., is being awarded a $10,975,940 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for the procurement of up to 475 Fluke 5700EP calibrators. Work will be performed in Everett, Wash., and work is expected to be completed in Feb. 2013. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured. The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Lakehurst, N.J., is the contracting activity (N68335-08-D-0011).

'Battlemind' Prepares Soldiers for Combat, Returning Home

By Susan Huseman
Special to American Forces Press Service

Jan. 3, 2008 - Every soldier headed to Iraq and Afghanistan receives "Battlemind" training designed to help them deal with combat experiences, but few know the science behind the program. Consequently, Dr. Amy Adler, a senior research psychologist with the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research's U.S. Army Medical Research Unit Europe, in Heidelberg, Germany, visited Patch Barracks here, breaking down the program, which is a system of support and intervention.

The Battlemind system includes separate pre-deployment training modules for soldiers, unit leaders, health care providers and spouses. Psychological debriefings are given in theater and upon redeployment. There are also a post-deployment module for spouses and several post-deployment modules for soldiers.

Not every soldier who deploys is at risk for mental health problems; the main risk factor is the level of combat experienced, Adler explained to her audience of medical, mental health and family support professionals.

Army studies show the greater the combat exposure a soldier encounters, the greater the risk for mental health problems, including post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, anger and relationship problems. When soldiers first return home, they may not notice any problems; sometimes it takes a few months for problems to develop.

For those in the medical community, "our challenge was how to develop interventions that can get at all these things," the doctor recalled. "How do you develop a mental health training of some sort that's going to prevent that eventual increase over time?

"We realized we needed to develop some kind of alternative," Adler continued. "There was no existing mental health training that made sense for these sets of questions. It's not like there was something off the shelf in civilian literature that would begin to address this."

Post-deployment health briefings didn't specifically target soldiers going into combat and coming back with adjustment challenges, so researchers at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research began to define their objectives for a mental health training program. Adler said the team needed to develop something that was "going to make sense for different phases of the deployment cycle."

"For example," she said, "the existing mental health brief (at the time) was the same for pre- and post-deployment. That doesn't make sense. The challenges are different."

"Secondly," she continued, "we wanted to make sure it was integrated. If we tell somebody something at (pre-(deployment), we want to make sure whatever theme we're going for or concept we're trying to communicate, it's going to connect with the same information that we're going to talk about at (post-deployment)."

The result? Battlemind, a term used to describe combat readiness that the researchers felt was appropriate for the training they were designing. Adler called it a soldier's inner strength to face fear and adversity in combat with courage, labeling it "resiliency."

The Battlemind system is built on findings from surveys and interviews given to soldiers and Marines returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. In fact, many of the researchers themselves have deployed.

The research team gathered soldiers' accounts of specific events and incidents, turning them into teaching tools that warriors can relate to. "Some of these stories tell more than any briefing ever could," Adler said.

The first Battlemind product was a mental health post-deployment briefing. It quickly became a training system supporting soldiers and families across the seven phases of the deployment cycle.

As part of her presentation here, Adler discussed various challenges in developing a relevant pre-deployment mental health briefing for soldiers.

"You have 45 minutes, maybe an hour, to tell soldiers, before they deploy to Iraq, something about mental health," she said. "What are you going to tell them? You don't want to sugarcoat it, but you don't want to teach them a whole lot of new information right at a time when they are focused on the task ahead of them."

The researchers first chose to identify the reality of combat and deployment. It may sound rudimentary, but earlier research found that soldiers were not telling other soldiers what to expect. Soldiers didn't want to sound as if they were bragging, Adler said.

Pre-deployment Battlemind tells soldiers what they are likely to see, to hear, to think and to feel while deployed by describing the worst-case scenario.

For the post-deployment phase, Battlemind addresses safety concerns and relationship issues, normalizes combat-related mental health reactions and symptoms, and teaches soldiers when they should seek mental health support for themselves or for their buddies.

The researchers realized that this post-deployment briefing, the original Battlemind, was not enough. The soldiers they talked to were raw, edgy and angry. Another training program, Battlemind II, was developed to be given three to six months into redeployment.

The system reemphasizes normal reactions and symptoms related to combat and "Battlemind checks," which are signs that indicate mental health support is needed.

"If you're still carrying a weapon around with you during the three- to six-month post-deployment phase, ... if you're still looking around for snipers, if your sleep is still really messed up, these might be signs that your transition is not going smoothly," she explained. "These are signs that you need to get help."

(Susan Huseman serves in the U.S. Army Garrison Stuttgart Public Affairs Office.)

Face of Defense: Fourth Deployment Brings Reflection to Marine

By Gunnery Sgt. Brenda L. Varnadore, USMC
Special to American Forces Press Service

Nov. 7, 2007 - Marine Sgt. David Smith III said he believes joining the Marine Corps for action was the right decision. He has been a part of many conflicts in his four years in the Marine Corps and would have it no other way. Smith, a squad leader with Company C, 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, joined the Marine Corps with the desire to see what was outside Port Huron, Mich., where he grew up, while helping others experience the freedom he enjoyed in his younger years.

"I definitely got what I was looking for," the Port Huron High School graduate said.

Smith has played a role in the Marine Corps' recent history, beginning with his first deployment with 3rd Battalion, 8th Marines, which deployed to Haiti during 2004 after severe flooding and mudslides hit the country, throwing it into civil unrest. The United States sent a task force to provide much-needed assistance.

"We played a multifaceted role in Haiti," Smith said. "On one hand, we provided humanitarian assistance; on the other hand, we were trying to quell the civil unrest. It was everything I thought the Marines would be."

After returning from Haiti, Smith turned around and left for what would be his most challenging duty: Fallujah, Iraq.

"We got there in time for Operation Al Fajr," he said. "The Battle of Fallujah was a long-awaited one, and it was more intense than I ever would have thought. But, I can say that I have experienced true war and really learned the importance of relying on the man to your right and left."

Upon returning to the United States, Smith was not destined for a break. He was transferred to 1st Battalion, 8th Marines, and deployed with the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit. While with the MEU, Smith again had the chance to learn what a force in readiness really means. "We were enjoying our cruise around the Mediterranean when we found out what we had in store for us," Smith said. "I started thinking, 'Am I bad luck, or am I really just getting what I wished?'"

Smith became a part of the team that evacuated nearly 15,000 U.S. citizens from Lebanon after fighting broke out between Israel and Hezbollah during August 2006. He said that after all he had seen already, it was nice to be on a mission that hit a little closer to home.

"You can know you are defending your country," he said. "But, when you are saving Americans from harm's way elsewhere, well, there is a feeling of importance there."

The MEU deployment also gave Smith something else he was looking for and didn't know, a future fiancee. During his deployment, he started communicating with Michelle Marion through the Internet. He had met her through a friend and figured it would give him someone to talk to. After he returned, they both were going to be in Raleigh at the same time and decided to meet up.

"I took one look at her and that was it, history had been written," Smith said. "We are going to get married after I get back."

When Smith said "get back," he meant from his current deployment to Ramadi, Iraq. "It is different here than last time," he said. "It is so peaceful here, especially compared to the last time. But, it is good to have a chance to see the people happy and how far the country has come. I would consider my last time combat, this time, security."

Although he just returned to Iraq, Smith said he is undoubtedly pleased with the opportunity to mingle with the Iraqi population and work with the Iraqi police and army. Now, he said, his biggest job is calming his two sets of parents residing in Port Huron, including his mother and stepfather, Theresa and Troy Warsheski, and his father and stepmother, Sandy and David Smith II.

"Last time I was here, I kept telling them, 'It's not that bad,'" Smith said. "Now I keep telling my parents, 'No, really, this time it is calm.' But, you don't want anyone to worry about you, and now there really is no need."

Smith is unclear about what the Marine Corps holds for him next, but said he is excited because, just when he thought he had done it all, he realizes he hasn't.

(Marine Gunnery Sgt. Brenda L. Varnadore is assigned to 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force.)