The Insider

The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, who is investigating the spending of a disbanded Pentagon task force in Afghanistan, says some of its actions may constitute criminal wrongdoing.

In a Nov. 24 statement, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) said he has been informed by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction there are “several ongoing criminal investigations” pertaining to the Task Force for Business and Stability Operations.

A SIGAR spokesman confirmed the existence of ongoing criminal investigations, but declined to comment further.

Grassley's inquiry, which began with the TFBSO's $43 million expenditure for a compressed natural gas station in Sheberghan, Afghanistan, has broadened to include all task force activity, as well as alleged retaliation against a potential whistleblower.

“Everybody responsible for the tremendous waste of U.S. tax dollars on the gas station and any other projects ought to be held accountable,” he said in his statement. “That includes any warranted criminal cases.  I expect the Pentagon to cooperate fully with the inspector general and with my office in all inquiries involving the task force. With the poor track record reported on the auditing side, there’s reason to be skeptical on the level of cooperation with the inspector general on the criminal side.”

BAE Systems and Science Applications International Corp. have both won multimillion-dollar contracts for the Marine Corps' lucrative next-generation amphibious vehicle competition to build 13 prototypes apiece, according to a Defense Department contract announcement.

While the service intends for the contractors to each build 16 prototypes, under the congressional continuing resolution the government is now operating under, the Marine Corps does not have an adequate amount of funding for the other six vehicles, John Garner, the service's advanced amphibious assault program manager, told reporters during a Nov. 24 briefing.

BAE's contract is for $103.8 million, while SAIC's contract is for $121.5 million, according to the announcement.

The contracts include options that, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of BAE's contract to $1.109 billion and SAIC's to $1.185 billion.

Five companies competed for the Amphibious Combat Vehicle Increment 1.1 engineering and manufacturing development phase. The Marine Corps downselected "after a very rigorous and thorough evaluation of competitor proposals . . . to companies who clearly offer the best value selections," William Taylor, program executive officer for land systems, told reporters during the same teleconference, which took place prior to the announcement of the contract award.

The key to the ACV Increment 1.1 program is that the service views it as an integration effort and not a development program, he added.
"Having attained a successful milestone B decision just last week the ACV program team has demonstrated that they have met the rigorous requirements needed to take the program into the engineering and manufacturing development phase or EMD," Taylor said.

The first prototypes will be delivered to the Marines in January 2017 with the remainder of the prototypes arriving in late March or early April. The operational assessment will kick off in the beginning of FY-18, Garner said.

Testing will help the Marines refine the next iteration of the ACV program -- ACV Increment 1.2, Brig. Gen. (sel.) Roger Turner, capabilities development director, said during the same media availability.

Garner told reporters the program office hosted three industry days, released multiple requests for information and issued three requests for proposals for the effort.

"The end result is we made a selection of very capable vehicles at what we consider to be an affordable price for the Marine Corps," he added.

The source-selection decision included technical experts in each area, requirements personnel, operators and finance officials, Garner said.

Taylor said having various stakeholder's take ownership in the source-selection process was "extremely beneficial."

"We had total consensus across all the stakeholders," he added.

BAE Systems participated in the now-canceled Marine Personnel Carrier program, which was a robust swimmer wheeled vehicle competition.

"There were no major improvements made to the vehicle because even then, the vehicle met the requirements set for ACV 1.1," John Swift, BAE Systems program director, told reporters Sept. 22 during Modern Day Marine military exposition at Marine Corps Base Quantico, VA.

The company's offering has completed 4,000 land miles of testing and 700 hours of testing in swim mode, he added. BAE teamed up with Italian defense vehicle manufacturer Iveco for the design and built the vehicle at a facility in Santa Clara, CA.

Swift said the vehicle has a V-shaped hull for added protection and it was designed to be enhanced to meet the needs of the Marine Corps' ACV Increment 1.2 requirements.

Science Applications International Corp. also competed in the Marine Corps' MPC program with what it called the Terrex. SAIC is teamed up with Singapore Technology Kinetics for its offering. For the ACV Increment 1.1 competition the bid is for the next-generation Terrex or Terrex 2, Tom Watson, senior vice president and general manager of SAIC's Navy and Marine Corps customer group, told Inside the Navy during a Sept. 25 interview.

During the MPC competition, Watson said, the Terrex did not have a good survivability level, but the Terrex 2 is a much more survivable solution with a V-hull.

Terrex 2 also will have a higher speed in the water than the previous version as well as additional reserve buoyancy and stability in the water.

Advanced Defense Vehicle Systems told ITN May 19 that it submitted a proposal for the Amphibious Combat Vehicle Increment 1.1 program. ADVS is a Lake Orion, MI-based tactical wheeled vehicle manufacturer. ADVS is partnered with Textron Systems and IR Technologies as subcontractors in a supporting role. ADVS showcased its ACV Increment 1.1 offering to senior Marine Corps leadership during demonstrations held earlier this year at a private test facility, a service official told ITN in April.

The company bid for the Army's Ground Combat Vehicle program but subsequently withdrew, blaming the service's expensive and drawn-out acquisition plan,

 Defense reported in January 2011.

The Modern Day Marine military exposition was the first time General Dynamics Land Systems displayed its offering for ACV Increment 1.1 to the public. GDLS has independently tested the launch and recovery capability of its vehicle, Phil Skuta, U.S. Marine Corps and Navy director for the company, told ITN during a Sept. 23 interview.

The vehicle includes double V hull technology, filtered air system, Caterpillar engine, Allison transmission and a mechanical swim drive, he said.

Skuta said the company has built over 10,000 8 X 8 combat vehicles, which will lower the risk and cost for the service, he added.

Lockheed Martin revealed Sept. 22 it has partnered with Caterpillar, Horstman and Merrill Industry for its ACV Increment 1.1 offering.

Lockheed is "keenly aware of the requirements and mission, Scott Greene, vice president of ground vehicles for Lockheed, told ITN. The vehicle has been through internal testing but Greene declined to get into specifics because the competition is ongoing.

The Marine Corps was not present at any of the testing, Greene added, and Lockheed plans to perform additional risk reduction testing between now and the contract award.

ITN reported this summer that Lockheed Martin had dissolved its partnership with Finnish vehicle manufacturer Patria.

Greene said the split was mutual and the partnership was terminated early this summer. He said that by the end of the partnership, the two companies' strategic objectives had changed. However, he said "Patria is a great company," and if given the chance he would do business with them again in the future.

The British government recently released its 2015 national security strategy.

The new report notes that the Royal Navy will, beginning in 2018, have two new Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers:

These will enter service from 2018, transforming the Royal Navy's ability to project our influence overseas. They will form the core of our maritime task group, with one available at all times. We will increase the number of F35 Lightning aircraft we are buying in the early 2020s to ensure that we make best use of this world-leading capability, and we will buy three new logistic ships to support the fleet, in addition to the four tankers that will enter service from 2016.

As for the Royal Air Force, the U.K. will have:

Typhoon and F35 Lightning aircraft, which will ensure that the Royal Air Force can continue to deal with evolving threats. We will establish an additional F35 Lightning squadron and two additional Typhoon squadrons. We will invest further in Typhoon’s capabilities, including ground attack and a new Active Electronically Scanned Array radar to ensure that we can continue to operate it until at least 2040. We will maintain our plan to buy 138 F35 Lightning aircraft over the life of the programme.

And as for cooperation with the United States, the strategy reads:

5.29 The US is the leading global economic and defence power, and the world continues to look to it to shape global stability and to lead international responses to crises. The Prime Minister and the President of the United States have recently reaffirmed the essential nature of our special relationship. The US is our pre-eminent partner for security, defence, foreign policy and prosperity. Our contribution to the special relationship includes our European and global reach and influence; intelligence; the strategic location of our Overseas Territories; as well as military interoperability, and the UK's ability to undertake war-fighting independently or as a lead nation in a coalition.

5.30 The US remains the UK's key economic partner. The US is our largest single export partner, with goods and services exports worth £88 billion in 2014, and we are inextricably linked through investment and banking sector channels. As the world’s largest economy, the US is vital for global growth and is a key G20 and G7 member, with the Federal Reserve being the central bank for the world’s largest reserve currency. It is a key UK ally in developing an effective rules-based global economy. Agreeing and implementing a comprehensive EU-US free trade agreement could boost the UK economy by up to £10 billion annually.

5.31 The unparalleled extent of UK-US cooperation on nuclear, intelligence, diplomacy, technology and military capabilities plays a major role in guaranteeing our national security. Our ability to operate together in future is at the heart of our planning. The UK and the US are at the centre of NATO's collective defence and security, including through the declaration of our nuclear capabilities to the defence of the Alliance.

5.32 We will strengthen the interoperability with the US of our Armed Forces so that they are better able to work together when required through regularly planning and training together. Collaboration on our aircraft carrier programmes and the F35 Lightning, including the US decision to base aircraft in the UK, will enable us to fly aircraft from each other’s ships, and work together on operating them from the land and at sea. Our investment in P8 Maritime Patrol Aircraft will enable us to provide protection to each other’s aircraft carriers and further improve our interoperability in anti-submarine warfare, while also providing efficiencies in basing and support. We will also work very closely to optimise the use of strategically important capabilities such as Special Forces, cyber, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance, and satellite communications.

5.33 We work together to support peace and stability in Europe’s neighbourhood, the Middle East, Africa and Central Asia. We will work with the US to deliver more for global stability and our shared interests:

* We will extend our cooperation on global issues, especially countering violent extremism and terrorism, corruption, climate change, and promoting the rule of law and free trade, including through conclusion of the transformational Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership.

* We will enhance our cooperation on development in fragile states and regions, building on the new joint DFID-USAID programmes to support education in countries affected by conflict.

(This regular feature highlights protests decided by the Government Accountability Office.)

Agency: Air Force

Protester: S&K Aerospace

What GAO found: S&K Aerospace protested the terms of an Air Force solicitation for the Parts and Repair Ordering System, dubbed PROS, arguing the service "improperly disclosed its proprietary pricing data under the incument PROS contract," according to the GAO report.

After the solicitation was released, a potential offeror notified the Air Force it had "unlocked a password-protected pricing matrix that was included as part of the RFP, which revealed 'information that might include Government cost or price data.'"  After it investigated, the Air Force found that the information in the matrix was S&K's cancellation fees for the base period of the incumbent contract, GAO writes.

To solve the problem, the Air Force amended the solicitation's cancellation fee and required offerors to sign a statement saying they had not accessed other S&K proprietary data.

However, S&K argued the disclosure caused it competitive harm and that the remedial actions were insufficient. GAO disagreed and denied the protest.

The decision: http://www.gao.gov/assets/680/673802.pdf

The Pentagon failed to meet its fiscal year 2015 competition goal of 59 percent, according to a new letter from the director of defense procurement and acquisition policy.

In the letter, dated Nov. 20, Grady notes the Pentagon “will continue to emphasize the importance of competition.”

“In FY 2016 we are transitioning to an approach that uses a forecast model to examine projected competitive opportunities based on differing circumstance to account for anomalies at the Service/Component level,” she adds. “Under this approach each Service will present plans to identify opportunities for improving competition and establish more meaningful and achievable goals.”

According to a document attached to the letter, the Pentagon competed $150 billion in FY-15, or 55.1 percent of the nearly $273 billion total contracting dollars.

Some components of DOD did meet their competition goals. The Defense Contract Management Agency competed 72.7 percent of its contract spending, beating its 71 percent goal, while the Defense Threat Reduction Agency competed 87.6 percent to outpace its 87.3 percent goal.

The Missile Defense Agency hit a competition rate of 49 percent, beating its 42.7 percent goal.

The Air Force posted the lowest rate of competition at 39 percent, below its 44.4 percent objective. The Navy had the next lowest at 43.3 percent, shy of its 45.2 percent goal.

A few must-reads from this week's Inside the Navy:

1. Pentagon acquisition chief Frank Kendall has approved Navy plans to release a request for proposals for the next phase of the Joint Precision Approach and Landing System Increment 1A program, clearing the way for the service to award the contract to system developer Raytheon next year.

Full story: Pentagon approves Navy plans to release JPALS solicitation

2. The Marine Corps is on track to declare the RQ-21A Blackjack operational in either December or January.

Full story: Marines on track to declare Blackjack operational as early as December

3. The Navy has directed Lockheed Martin to examine up-armoring its version of the Littoral Combat Ship, according to a company executive, as the service mulls which of the future frigate's capabilities will be added onto yet-to-be constructed LCS platforms.

Full story: Lockheed looking at additional armor for future Littoral Combat Ships