Alion Science and Technology, an employee-owned technology solutions provider, has been awarded a Combat Air Forces (CAF) Distributed Mission Operations (DMO) task order for $8.1 million to support the Air Combat Command (ACC) in its mission of sustaining global implementation of national security strategy.

Alion will analyze modeling and simulation (M&S) technologies and M&S-based training approaches. These analyses will be used by ACC to develop DMO enabling concepts and implementation plans that will allow the command to fulfill its readiness training responsibilities. By identifying M&S technologies that can create an optimum mix of live flying and simulator-based training experiences, ACC can establish the foundation for creating hybrid training ranges in which live (real) systems can be integrated with virtual (simulated) and constructive (computer-modeled) ones. The work also includes research in the use of M&S technologies to create a competency-based training strategy that can be used within Live-Virtual-Constructive (LVC) battle spaces. Another important aspect is supporting ACC in establishing M&S-oriented cross domain security solutions for the DMO program.

“Alion’s M&S research and analyses will provide a path to migrate existing and emerging LVC technologies into the requirements of ACC’s enabling concepts and plans,” said Dick Brooks, Alion Senior Vice President and Manager of the Distributed Simulation Group. “This will include the development of concepts, strategies and recommendations to improve readiness training and effectively document this information so that the M&S requirements are efficiently transmitted to the commands acquisition agents.”

The period of performance runs through September 29, 2011.

Air Combat Command operates fighter, bomber, reconnaissance, battle-management and electronic-combat aircraft. It also provides command, control, communications and intelligence systems and conducts global information operations.

Agility Defense & Government Services (DGS) announced that it has won a contract to supply and deliver repair parts for communications and electronics equipment at the Tobyhanna Army Depot in Pennsylvania.  The agreement, known as an Industrial Product-Support Vendor (IPV) contract, was awarded by the Defense Supply Center Columbus, one of three inventory control points in the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA).

The contract covers four years with two additional two-year options for a potential span of eight years. The contract base is $223 million with a maximum contract value of $932 million over the eight years.

Agility DGS is the prime contractor and will work with subcontractors IBM, W.W. Williams, Herndon Products and Blue Chip Manufacturing. The agreement is one in a series of DLA initiatives designed to capitalize on the strengths of commercial logistics specialists to improve the availability and reliability of parts at Army depots.

“With our cutting-edge transportation and supply chain solutions, we can monitor product flow to identify even the smallest deviations and ensure that the Army’s repair parts are delivered in an effective and timely manner,” said Dan Mongeon, president and CEO of Agility DGS.

ARINC and Impeva Labs announced today that the U.S. Army Logistics Innovation Agency (LIA) has awarded the companies a contract to install and demonstrate their satellite-based Next Generation Wireless Communications (NGWC) tracking, security, and monitoring capability on containerized shipments of Arms, Ammunition, and Explosives (AA&E).

The NGWC capability protects shipments by continuously monitoring their locations and cargo conditions, and reporting as necessary over a satellite network (e.g. Iridium) from any point on Earth.

This advanced capability is designed to provide real-time, end-to-end visibility of shipments moving throughout the distribution pipeline. The initial demonstration of this capability will track an outbound shipment originating from a depot in the western United States during the next 30 days. A follow-on demonstration of this capability will track shipments outbound to their final destinations in theater, and will also track retrograde shipments returning from in-theater ammunition supply points back to depots in the U.S.

“This demonstration marks the first time a Department of Defense (DoD) rail shipment has been continuously monitored in real time, by satellite, from origin to destination,” stated Monty Montero, ARINC Vice President, Defense Systems Engineering. “In addition, the ARINC-Impeva NGWC capability is the first continuous satellite tracking solution that is both Hazards of Electromagnetic Radiation to Ordnance (HERO) certified and operates completely within the DoD environment.”

The Shaw Group announced its Environmental & Infrastructure Group has been awarded a military munitions services contract by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore District. Shaw is one of five companies selected for the indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract to support the Department of Defense (DoD) Military Munitions Response Program (MMRP). If all options are exercised, the total program for all contractors will approximate $180 million. The value of Shaw’s contract, which will be included in the company’s first quarter fiscal 2009 backlog of unfilled orders, was not disclosed.

Under its contract, Shaw will perform removal or remedial actions, munitions response and other environmental- and munitions-related services at formerly used defense sites, DoD base realignment and closure sites, active DoD installations and properties adjoining installations. For more than 20 years, Shaw has provided munitions response solutions to the DoD at locations in the U.S., Afghanistan, Iraq, Puerto Rico, Hawaii and Guam.

“Shaw is bringing its strong portfolio of environmental experience and Munitions and Explosives of Concern (MEC) expertise to continue supporting the DoD MMRP,” said George P. Bevan, president of Shaw’s Environmental & Infrastructure Group. “This contract further validates our growth in the MEC marketplace and ability to successfully provide turnkey environmental and MEC solutions to federal clients, while maintaining industry leading safety and quality performance standards.”

Kopin released that the Office of Naval Research (ONR), the U.S. Marine Corps (USMC), the U.S. Army’s RDECOM CERDEC Night Vision and Electronic Sensors Directorate (NVESD), and the U.S. Army’s Product Manager Soldier Sensors and Lasers (PM-SSL) have jointly awarded a 3-year, $3.1 million program to Kopin for the development of the world’s highest-resolution microdisplays for use in future vision systems, including integrated day-night weapon sights and solid state image intensifiers.

“The U.S. Government is again relying on Kopin to expand the boundaries of microdisplay resolution and performance by developing an active matrix liquid crystal display (AMLCD) with a 2048 x 2048 monochrome pixel resolution in a 0.99-inch-diagonal form factor,” said President and Chief Executive Officer Dr. John C. C. Fan. “This new display will reflect the strategic research and development initiatives we have undertaken over many years, efforts that have resulted in important innovations including low-voltage architecture, integral heaters, small pixel geometry, and specialized and ruggedized LCD processes. The new 8-inch processing line Kopin developed in partnership with the U.S. Government will be critical in the fabrication of such a high-resolution display.”

“Kopin has a solid history in the development of microdisplay for the U.S. Army’s night vision systems and is a major display supplier for thermal weapon sights and advanced night vision goggles,” the U.S. Army said in a prepared statement. “The new high-resolution display will meet the aggressive imaging system requirements of advanced weapon sight and digital image-intensified vision systems which will be tailored for urban and network battlefield environments.”

STG announced this week that it has won the Information Assurance (IA) Services for Army Directorates of Information Management (DOIM) Area Processing Center (APC) Installation, Processing Node Migrations Support Task Order. Under this three-year, performance-based task order, which is valued up to $71M, STG will perform IA services for: DoD IA Certification and Accreditation Process (DIACAP), current operations and installations, new operational requirements as they emerge and IA migration services supporting the Army’s consolidated information technology (IT) services for APCs. The task order falls under the Army’s Total Integration and Engineering Services (TEIS) contract.

“Our knowledge of Army engineering initiatives has prepared us to fully understand the customer requirements and design and develop the winning solution,” said Paul Fernandes, STG Chief Operating Officer. “Our TEIS team in Sierra Vista, Arizona, has proven insight into the customer, and we will be building on a capability already proven at NETCOM, ARL and ATEC.”

This effort will consist of IA migration services for the Fort Huachuca, Arizona installation DOIM and many other installation DOIMs across the United States. Work will be performed at posts, camps and stations around the country. To date, this is STG’s largest win under the TEIS contract.

“This win enables us to expand our role in the IA arena and establishes STG as a leader in the forefront of this highly demanding area,” said Simon Lee, STG President and CEO. “Our proven Army experience and past success cements STG’s position as a high-value, low-risk provider of IA services.”

NCI has been awarded a task order from the Army National Guard (ARNG) and Air National Guard (ANG) worth an estimated $173 million under the ITES-2S contract, if all options are exercised. The award of the competitive task order continues and expands NCI’s role with these clients. The period of performance covered by this new task order is for a 10 month base period and options that will extend to September 2015.

Under this task order, NCI is responsible for managing all IT and telecommunications equipment and systems operating in the ARNG and ANG National Capital Region environment as well as supporting end-users of this equipment. Services to be provided under this contract include:

• Data communication
• Voice communication
• Security management
• Email
• Web services
• Active directory
• Other back office support
• Server and desktop support
• Video and audio conferencing engineering support
• Information technology services.

“We are very pleased and honored to have been chosen by the ARNG and ANG to provide their information technology support services. Our association with these important customers is extremely important to our company and we look forward to a strong partnership in supporting both the ARNG and ANG to meet their vital missions,” stated Charles Narang, NCI Chairman and CEO.

AECOM Technology Corporation, a provider of professional technical and management support services for government and commercial clients, announced this week that it has won its first three task orders for Contract Field Teams (CFT), which are valued at $163 million.

The CFT contract is an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract with the U.S Air Force to support the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Under the first task order, AECOM will support the U.S. Navy F-18 Fighters – both the Legacy Hornet as well as the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet – in Lemoore, Calif. Under the other two task orders, AECOM will support operations at the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station in Cherry Point, N.C., and the Marine Corps Logistics Base in Albany, Ga.

The CFT program, which has a maximum value of $10.12 billion over a seven-year period of performance, provides major and minor inspections, maintenance, modifications and repairs of aircraft and ground vehicles at government locations around the world.

It looks like it’s a great holiday season for BAE Systems who has received Level 5 certification against the Software Engineering Institute Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI). This is the highest level rating that an engineering organization can achieve. The designation was awarded after an independent two-week investigation led by the Systems and Software Productivity Consortium which involved in-depth interviews and document reviews.

“This is a great achievement; CMMI Level 5 is an indicator of how our process improvements compare to our competitors and has been a factor in our ability to win contracts over the last several years,” said Ann Hennon, director of Core Process and Training for Ground Systems. “Achieving and maintaining this rating lets our customers know that they can count on us to provide the products and services they expect.”

More than 100 Ground Systems employees from three different sites – Santa Clara, California; Orlando, Florida; and York, Pennsylvania – in 10 different functional areas from Engineering and Project Management – were surveyed. As part of this process, the Software Engineering Institute at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, now requires validation of the results certified by the appraisal team, thus raising the bar of the appraisal process. In all, more than 2000 artifacts such as drawings, designs, documents and video were reviewed.

CMMI is a process improvement approach that provides organizations with the essential elements of effective processes. It can be used to guide process improvement across a project, a division, or an entire organization. CMMI helps integrate traditionally separate organizational functions, set process improvement goals and priorities, provide guidance for quality processes, and provide a point of reference for appraising current processes.

A rating of CMMI Level 5 requires Ground Systems to have and follow a defined set of processes, evaluate implementation of those processes and seek ways to improve the company’s methods used to develop and build products.

“We are continually seeking ways to improve our ability to develop products for our customers,” Hennon continued. “Our focus over the last couple of years has been expanding industry best practices across all engineering functions and development sites within Ground Systems. Achieving a rating of CMMI Level 5 is a clear indication the organization is implementing those best practices.”

Force Protection has been winning new orders for its range of survivability solutions.  Chairman and CEO Michael Moody, pointed to Force Protection’s selection by the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence as the preferred bidder for the Wolfhound Tactical Support Vehicle (Heavy) program as an example of the way his company is strengthening its capability to respond to urgent operational requirements, “We completed design work and built two prototypes for Wolfhound, which is based on our highly successful Cougar vehicle, in just 90 days. During this time we also carried out blast tests and mobility trials.”

Executive Vice President for Customer Operations Damon Walsh stated, “The selection of Force Protection to produce the Wolfhound confirms our responsiveness to customer needs. We offer our customers, including the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence, the flexibility to set aggressive production schedules to meet their unique requirements. In addition, our vehicles, once delivered, continue to demonstrate an operational readiness rate exceeding 90 percent. Many truck manufacturers worldwide offer the capability to deliver large quantities; what sets Force Protection apart is having both delivery performance capability and the most survivable, sustainable vehicles in the field.”

Force Protection proposes to deliver these vehicles in conjunction with their UK integration partner, NP Aerospace.

Two customised Cougar variants are already featured in major United Kingdom Ministry of Defence programs. The Mastiff 6×6 is in service with British forces in Afghanistan and Iraq. Deliveries of the Ridgback 4×4 began in August of this year. The United Kingdom Ministry of Defence has also recently ordered 24 more Mastiffs together with 14 Force Protection Buffalo route clearance vehicles.

Michael Moody said that the increasing adoption of Force Protection vehicles by the UK, the United States, Italy, France, Canada and Iraq was evidence that the company had, “The right technology at the right time. Cougar and Buffalo continue to prove their worth as the most survivable, sustainable vehicles on the battlefield.”