Jan 31, 2018

Department of Defense Contracts—Jan 31, 2018

Here are United States Department of Defense Contracts for Jan 31, 2018.

Contracts valued at $7 million or more are announced each business day at 5 p.m., eastern, at the U.S. Department of Defense.

From the U.S. Department of Defense, Contracts

Release No: CR-020-18
Jan 31, 2018

CONTRACTS

MISSILE DEFENSE AGENCY

The Boeing Co., Huntsville, Alabama, was awarded a $6,560,000,000 undefinitized modification (P00438) to a previously awarded contract (HQ0147-12-C-0004) for the extension of the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) development and sustainment contract (DSC).  The scope of work under the current DSC includes development, fielding, test, systems engineering, integration and configuration management, equipment manufacturing and refurbishment, training, and operations and sustainment for the GMD weapon system and associated support facilities. Under this undefinitized modification, the Missile Defense Agency executes missile defeat and defense enhancements to complete the accelerated delivery of a new missile field with 20 additional silos and two additional silos in a previously constructed missile field at Fort Greely, Alaska, and procurement and deployment of 20 additional Ground Based Interceptors (GBIs).  The scope of work includes technical capabilities to expand and improve a state-of-the-art, missile defense system to ensure defensive capabilities remain both relevant and current, to include but not limited to: boost vehicle (BV) development; integration of redesigned kill vehicle (RKV) with BV; providing GBI assets for labs and test events; development, integration, testing and deployment of ground systems software builds to address emerging threats; acquisition and emplacement of launch support equipment; expanded systems testing through all ground and flight testing; cyber security support; and, performance based logistics. Work will be performed at multiple locations, including Huntsville, Alabama; Fort Greely, Alaska; Vandenberg Air Force Base, California; Schriever Air Force Base, Colorado; Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado; Cheyenne Mountain Air Station, Colorado; Colorado Springs, Colorado; Tucson, Arizona; other government designated sites and other contractor designated prime, subcontractor, and supplier operating locations.  The modification brings the total cumulative face value of the contract including options from $6,140,952,229 by $6,560,000,000 to $12,640,952,229.  The DSC contract modification period of performance is six years; January 2018, through December 2023. The undefinitized modification will be performed by an industry team consisting of The Boeing Co.; Orbital ATK; Northrop Grumman Systems Corp.; and Raytheon Co..  This acquisition was executed on a sole-source basis under the statutory authority of 10 U.S. Code 2304(c)(1), as implemented by Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1, only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements.  Boeing as the GMD DSC prime contractor, along with its subcontractors, collectively have demonstrated special capabilities and/or expertise that no other companies have been able to satisfactorily perform the required services or deliveries without unacceptable delays in fulfilling the Agency's requirements. Fiscal 2017 and 2018 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $213,832,268 were obligated at the time of award.  The Missile Defense Agency, Huntsville, Alabama, is the contracting activity (HQ0147-12-C-0004).

ARMY

BAE Systems Land & Armaments L.P., York, Pennsylvania, was awarded a $148,884,392 modification (P00005) to contract W56HZV-17-C-0001 for early procurement material in support of the M109A7 and M992A3 vehicle production. Work will be performed in York, Pennsylvania, with an estimated completion date of Nov. 30, 2022. Fiscal 2018 other procurement (Army) funds in the amount of $148,884,392 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Warren, Michigan, is the contracting activity.

L3 Combat Propulsion Systems, Muskegon, Michigan, was awarded a $55,995,796 modification (P00049) to contract W56HZV-15-C-0119 for 120 800HP transmissions (60 remanufactured transmissions and 60 new transmissions) and ancillary to support Paladin Integrated Management; and 100 800HP remanufactured transmissions and refurbished containers to support requirements for the Bradley Fighting Vehicle System. Work will be performed in Muskegon, Michigan, with an estimated completion date of Oct. 18, 2018. Fiscal 2018 other procurement (Army); and aircraft procurement (Army) funds in the amount of $55,995,796 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Warren, Michigan, is the contracting activity.

TRAX International Corp., Las Vegas, Nevada, was awarded a $36,650,944 modification (P00220) to contract W9124R-09-C-0003 for on-personal test support services in support of the Army’s Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona. Work will be performed in Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona; and Fort Greely, Alaska, with an estimated completion date of May 31, 2018. Fiscal 2018 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $2,019,620 were obligated at the time of the award. Mission and Installation Contracting Command, Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona, is the contracting activity.

Lockheed Martin Corp., Orlando, Florida, was awarded a $25,207,324 modification (000503) to foreign military sales (Egypt) contract W52P1J-17-D-0043 for Modernized Target Acquisition Designation Sight/Pilot Night Vision Sensor system kits and spares for the Apache attack helicopter. Work will be performed in Orlando, Florida, with an estimated completion date of Oct. 31, 2020. Fiscal 2018 other foreign military sales funds in the amount of $25,207,324 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois, is the contracting activity.

Lockheed Martin Corp., Missile and Fire Control, Dallas, Texas, was awarded an $18,195,587 modification (0002) to foreign military sales (Kuwait, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Taiwan, Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, and Romania) contract W31P41-17-G-0001 for Phased Array Tracking Radar Intercept on Target (PATRIOT) advanced capability-3 and missile segment enhancement basic ordering agreement software task (engineering services). Work will be performed in Dallas, Texas, with an estimated completion date of Jan. 31, 2019. Fiscal 2010 and 2017 other procurement (Army); and other funds in the combined amount of $18,195,587 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabma, is the contracting activity.

Marton Technologies Inc., Newport News, Virginia, was awarded an $11,344,357 modification (000153) to contract W52P1J-14-G-0021 for continued performance of logistics support services at Fort Riley, Kansas. Work will be performed in Fort Riley, Kansas, with an estimated completion date of Jan. 31, 2019. Fiscal 2018 operations and maintenance (Army) funds in the amount of $2,113,516 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois, is the contracting activity.

Raytheon Co., Andover, Massachusetts, was awarded a $7,688,012 modification (P00008) to contract W31P4Q-17-C-0003 to provide depot level diagnosis, clean up, repair and maintenance on all Phased Array Tracking Radar Intercept on Target (PATRIOT) major items including services required to return and maintain PATRIOT major items to maximum operational readiness. Work will be performed in Andover, Massachusetts, with an estimated completion date of Jan. 31, 2020. Fiscal 2018 operations and maintenance (Army) funds in the amount of $7,688,012 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity.

AIR FORCE

Raytheon Missiles Systems, Tucson, Arizona, has been awarded a $105,220,215 firm-fixed-price, cost-plus-fixed-fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite quantity modification (P00002) to previously awarded contract FA8656-17-D-0005 for Griffin missiles. The modification brings the total cumulative face value of the contract to $210,080,601, and provides for the exercise of an option for delivery of all variants of Griffin standoff precision guided munitions and corresponding production, test and engineering support.  Work will be performed in Tucson, Arizona, and is expected to be complete by Dec. 31, 2020. Fiscal 2016 and 2018 procurement funds in the amount of $11,259,027 are being obligated at the time of award. Contracting activity is the Air Force Lifecycle Management Center, Eglin Air Force Base, Florida.

Harris Corp., Government Communications Systems, Palm Bay, Florida, has been awarded a $63,822,097 cost-plus-fixed-fee modification (P00263) to previously awarded contract FA8819-08-C-0001 for continued space control depot support (SCDS).  This modification brings the total cumulative face value of the contract to $530,437,809 and is required to extend the period of performance on the SCDS contract, which supports a diverse portfolio of space control systems, including development, sustainment engineering, and ongoing logistics support.  Work will be performed in Palm Bay, Florida and is expected to be complete by Oct. 31, 2018. Fiscal 2018 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $19,084,800; and fiscal 2018 research and development funds in the amount of $6,208,594 are being obligated at the time of award.  Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center, Space Superiority Systems Directorate, Los Angeles Air Force Base, California, is the contracting activity.

Aircraft Group Moog Inc., East Aurora, New York, was awarded a $26,736,540 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for the remanufacture of the B-1 Structural Mode Control System servo-cylinders.  Work will be performed in East Aurora, New York and is expected to be complete by March 30, 2023.  The award was the result of a competitive acquisition and two offer were received. Air Force Sustainment Center, Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma is the contracting activity (FA8118-18-D-0025).

Thomas Instrument, Brookshire, Texas, was awarded a $21,439,000 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity for the remanufacture of the B-1 Structural Mode Control System servo-cylinders.  Work will be performed in Brookshire, Texas, and is expected to be complete by March 30, 2023.  The award was the result of a competitive acquisition and two offer were received. Air Force Sustainment Center, Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma is the contracting activity (FA8118-18-D-0027).

BAE Systems, Information and Electronic Systems Integration Inc., Nashua, New Hampshire, has been awarded a $13,106,317 contract for the phase 2 Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Seeker Cost Transformation program. The contract seeks to demonstrate that a high performance seeker can be used in precision guided munitions and accurately guided to a target by a low cost, modular open-architecture, low size, weight, power and cost seeker. Work will be performed in Nashua, New Hampshire, and is expected to be complete by July 2019. This award is the result of a competitive acquisition and two offers were received. Fiscal 2018 research and development funds in the amount of $2,000,000 are being obligated at the time of award. Air Force Research Laboratory, Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, is the contracting activity (FA8651-18-C-0010).

Akima Logistics Services LLC, Herndon, Virginia, has been awarded a $7,815,953 firm-fixed-price contract to exercise option three in previously awarded contract FA8106-16-D-0001 for full contractor logistics support of 58 Air Force Academy aircraft.  Work will be performed at the Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Colorado; Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado Springs, Colorado; and theAir Force Academy auxiliary airfield.  Work is expected to be completed by Jan. 31, 2019. Fiscal 2018 operations and maintenance funds for the total amount of the contract are being obligated at the time of the award. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma, is the contracting activity (FA8106-18-F-8000).

NAVY

Q.E.D. Systems Inc., Virginia Beach, Virginia, is being awarded a $43,603,034 cost modification to a previously awarded contract (N00024-15-C-4400) to exercise options for third party advanced planning services in support of chief of naval operations availabilities, continuous maintenance availabilities (CMAV), inactivation CMAVs, sustainment availabilities, phased modernization availabilities, re-commissioning availabilities, continuous maintenance and emergent maintenance windows of opportunity for Navy surface combatant ship classes (CG 47 and DDG 51).  Work will be performed in Norfolk, Virginia (53 percent); San Diego, California (36 percent); and Everett, Washington (11 percent), and is expected to be completed by February 2019.  Fiscal 2018 operations and maintenance (Navy) funding in the amount of $5,022,867 will be obligated at time of award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year.  The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity.

BAE Systems, Information and Electronic Systems Integration Inc., Greenlawn, New York, is being awarded $23,494,071 for modification P00002 to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract (N00019-17-D-0007).  This modification exercises an option for the procurement of up to 89 AN/APX-111 Mode 5 combined interrogator transponders, up to 100 Mode 5 upgrade kits, up to 100 receiver/transmitter upgrade kits, up to 20 integrations of Mode 5 upgrade kits, up to 330 shop replaceable assemblies and up to 20 test asset repairs for the F/A-18 aircraft platform in support of the Air Traffic Control and Landing program office.  Work will be performed in Greenlawn, New York (84 percent); and Austin, Texas (16 percent), and is expected to be completed in December 2018.  No funds will be obligated at time of award.  Funds will be obligated on individual delivery orders as they are issued.  The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.

Pensacola Bay Support Services LLC, Cape Canaveral, Florida, is being awarded a $22,774,573 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for base operating support services at Pensacola Naval Regional Complex.  The work to be performed provides for base operating support services to include port operations, facility management, facility investment, pavement clearance, utilities management, electrical, gas, wastewater, steam, water, chiller plant, base support vehicles and equipment, and environmental.  The maximum dollar value including the base period and seven option years is $182,764,646.  Work will be performed in Pensacola, Florida, and is expected to be completed by March 2019.  No funds will be obligated at time of award.  Fiscal 2018 operations and maintenance (Navy); fiscal 2018 Navy working capital funds; and fiscal 2018 defense health program contract funds in the amount of $18,324,240 for recurring work will be obligated on individual task orders issued during the base period.  This contract was competitively procured via the Navy Electronic Commerce Online website with nine proposals received.  The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Southeast, Jacksonville, Florida, is the contracting activity (N69450-18-D-2013).

Raytheon Co., Tucson, Arizona, is being awarded $12,200,065 for modification 10 to cost-plus-fixed-fee delivery order 4767 previously issued against basic ordering agreement N00019-15-G-0003.  This modification provides for the design, development and integration of a Government Furnished Integrated Single Box Solution (ISBS) radio and upgraded antennas into the Tactical Tomahawk (TACTOM) Block IV all-up-round missile.  It also includes integration of the ISBS into the TACTOM guidance test set, update of test equipment, support for the Advanced Communications Architecture test strategy and continued engineering for navigation system upgrades.  Work will be performed in Tucson, Arizona (86 percent); and Boulder, Colorado (14 percent), and is expected to be completed in February 2019.  Fiscal 2018 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $4,235,000 are being obligated on this award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year.  The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.

Oceaneering International Inc., Chesapeake, Virginia, is being awarded a $7,254,362 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for the accomplishment of maintenance requirement card 003 inspections and repairs in support of the conversion of USS San Francisco (SSN 711) to a moored training ship.  This action is necessary for conducting the hull structural survey in accordance with unrestricted operations maintenance requirement card (URO/MRC) 003 on USS San Francisco while undergoing conversion.  Work will be performed in Portsmouth, Virginia, and is expected to be completed by August 2019.  Fiscal 2017 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funding in the amount of $7,254,362 will be obligated at time of award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured, in accordance with 10 U.S. Code 2304(c)(1) (only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements).  The Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Portsmouth, Virginia, is the contracting activity (N42158-18-C-S001).

U.S. TRANSPORTATION COMMAND

Harley Marine Services Inc., Seattle, Washington, has been awarded a firm-fixed-price contract (HTC711-18-C-W001). The contract will provide transportation of Department of Defense owned fuel and marine diesel by tug and barge. Work will be performed between ports and points on coastal waterways and inland waterways in Delaware, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, Washington, District of Columbia, Defense Fuel Support Point Jacksonville and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The contract base period is April 1, 2018, to March 31, 2019, with four available 12-month option periods. This contract was a competitive acquisition and two proposals were received. Fiscal 2018 defense working capital funds in the amount of $26,163,242 were obligated at award. The contracting activity is U.S. Transportation Command, Directorate of Acquisition, Scott Air Force Base, Illinois.

*Small business

David Duke: Thank you President Trump. Americans are "Dreamers" too

America's first white supremacist president* hit his applause lines well last night.

Fascist overtones, explicit demonizing of immigrants, calls for increased militarization and policing of our country, this repulsive display by Trump continues.

David Duke, Stormfront and myriad other white supremacists were listening.

The reviews are in:
Charlie Pierce in Esquire offers words of sanity, commentary that is succor roughly one year before we declare war with Iran.

It was the most elaborate of charades, the most sophisticated of masquerades, that played itself out in the chamber of the House of Representatives on Tuesday night. The amount of pretense required to keep all sensible people—which is to say, any person who was not a Republican—in their chairs must have been heroic.

All involved had to pretend that Donald Trump makes sense as a president, that his administration makes sense as a government, and that his first State of the Union address made sense as either a description of national policy, or as a rhetorical summons to national unity. All involved had to pretend that his thoughts were coherent, that his words made sense, and that the complete and universal collapse of civic responsibility that propelled him onto the podium was not the most singularly destructive event in the history of American democracy since the Civil War. Everyone had to pretend that a freak show was Shakespeare, and that a rumbling, stumbling geek was Lincoln, and that the whole tableau unfolding before the Congress was somehow made noble despite the obvious fact that the whole event was an endless procession of lies and half-truths, and that the only truly remarkable thing about the speech was that it was such a perfectly round and complete crock of shit.

I don’t know how long the institutions of the republic can sustain this much pretense. Over my lifetime, the American presidency has tested what were believed to be the outer limits of counterfeit grandeur, but now we see that there is a vast universe of untruth and malignant fantasy of which we were painfully unaware. It is a burden to maintain the masquerade. It is beyond the strength even of the sturdiest democracy to be led by such a vanguard of unreality. Why anyone showed up on Tuesday night is a mystery to me.

Yes, Trump is happening, right now. Norman Cohn would have been impressed.

Jan 30, 2018

Trump Was Detached from Reality, then Let Loose with Vindictive Shot at Children

Bernie Sanders delivered multiple responses to the fear-
mongering Trump in SOTU address, (Twitter)
The only serious question in President* Trump's first State of the Union address was whether the smirking psychopath was going to reveal himself amid the unity rhetoric and his basking in the valor of Americans receiving SOTU nods.

Following Trump's hollow assurance that he would "protect our citizens of every background, color, religion, and creed," the racist garbage promptly took a shot at the children and young adults who were protected by President Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals executive order, the Dreamers.

"My duty, and the sacred duty of every elected official in this chamber, is to defend Americans -- to protect their safety, their families, their communities, and their right to the American Dream. Because Americans are dreamers too," said Trump, (CNN).

Not just those immigrants, but Americans too.

The address was predictable, including near-constant fear mongering and race-baiting from this white supremacist garbage,

Fuck you, Trump.

Kudos to Joe Kennedy and Bernie Sanders, needed tonic after the lunatic:

Department of Defense Contracts—Jan 30, 2018


Here are United States Department of Defense Contracts for Jan 30, 2018.

Contracts valued at $7 million or more are announced each business day at 5 p.m., eastern, at the U.S. Department of Defense.

From the U.S. Department of Defense, Contracts

Release No: CR-019-18
Jan 30, 2018

CONTRACTS

ARMY

Raytheon Co., Andover, Massachusetts, was awarded a $2,300,304,490 hybrid (cost-plus-fixed-fee, firm-fixed-price and level-of-effort) contract for engineering services to support Phased Array Tracking Radar Intercept on Target (PATRIOT) system of systems, for ongoing support of software, refresh for obsolescence to include support of systems outside the continental U.S., and partner country systems. One bid was solicited with one bid received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Jan. 31, 2023. U.S. Army Contracting Command, New Jersey, is the contracting activity (W15QKN-18-D-0015).

Turner Construction Co., New York, New York, was awarded a $148,599,600 firm-fixed-price contract for construction of new bed tower at James A. Haley Veterans Hospital, Tampa, Florida. Bids were solicited via the Internet with four received. Work will be performed in Tampa, Florida with an estimated completion date of April 19, 2021. Fiscal 2018 construction/major projects Department of Veteran's Affairs funding (non-expiring) in the amount of $148,599,600 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Mobile, Alabama, is the contracting activity (W91278-18-C-0009).

Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, Orlando, Florida, was awarded a $80,250,000 modification (P00071) to contract W31P4Q-15-C-0151 for the Hellfire production ramp-up effort (i.e. production line set-ups, acquisition of additional tooling/test equipment, and establishment of additional suppliers) required to increase production capacity up to 11,000 missiles per year. Work will be performed in Orlando, Florida, with an estimated completion date of Sept. 30, 2021. Fiscal 2017 other procurement, Army funds in the amount of $80,250,000 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity.

BAE Systems Land & Armaments L.P., York, Pennsylvania, was awarded a $26,973,254 modification (P00029) to contract W56HZV-16-C-0167 for system technical support and sustainment systems technical support services for the Paladin Integrated Management family of vehicles. Work will be performed in York, Pennsylvania, with an estimated completion date of Sept. 30, 2018. Fiscal 2017 and 2018 other procurement (Army) funds in the amount of $26,973,254 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Warren, Michigan, is the contracting activity.

Vectrus Systems Corp., Colorado Springs, Colorado, was awarded a $23,592,164 modification (P00014) to contract W91RUS-17-D-0002 for non-personal operations and maintenance supply services. Work will be performed in Germany and Poggop-Renatic, Italy, with an estimated completion date of Jan. 31, 2023. Fiscal 2018 operations and maintenance (Army) funds in the amount of $1 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, is the contracting activity.

CORRECTION:  The contract announced on Jan. 29, 2018, to Tetra Tech-Maytag JV, Pasadena, California (W912DY-18-F-0087), for $7,938,235, was announced with an incorrect award date. The correct award date is Jan 30, 2018. All other contract information was correct.

NAVY

Scientific Research Corp., Atlanta, Georgia, is being awarded an estimated value $86,721,758 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, cost-plus-fixed-fee, firm-fixed-price contract for the procurement of the Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Intelligence (C4I) engineering, integration and installation contract includes integration, engineering, procurement of incidental supplies, fabrication, assembly, test, inspection, delivery and installation of integrated C4I capabilities aboard new construction ships for the Program Executive Office C4I.  This contract includes support for shipbuilding conversion, Navy and other U.S. government shipbuilding programs.  The contract’s principal place of performance is Charleston, South Carolina.  Work is also anticipated to include the following shipyards Mobile, Alabama; San Diego, California; Bath, Maine; Pascagoula, Mississippi; and Marinette, Wisconsin.  Work is expected to be completed in February 2023.  This contract has a five-year ordering period up to the contract award amount.  No funding will be obligated at the time of award.  Funds will be obligated as individual delivery orders are issued.  This contract was competitively procured as a full and open competition with proposals solicited via the Government Wide Point of Entry E-Commerce website with four offers received.  The Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command, San Diego, California, is the contracting activity (N00039-18-D-0005).

Bell-Boeing JPO, Amarillo, Texas, is being awarded $69,668,099 for modification P00005 to definitize a previously awarded undefinitized contract action placed against N00019-17-C-0015 to a cost-plus-fixed fee, firm-fixed price contract.  In addition, this modification provides for the upgrade of three MV-22 aircraft from the Block B to the Block C configuration in support of the V-22 common configuration-readiness and modernization (CC-RAM).  Work will be performed in Ridley Park, Pennsylvania (57.1 percent); Fort Worth, Texas (18.6 percent); Park City, Utah (1.8 percent); Glen Riddle, Pennsylvania (1.7 percent); and various locations within the U.S. (20.8 percent), and is expected to be completed in May 2020.  Fiscal 2017 and 2018 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $69,668,099 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year.  The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.

Charles Stark Draper Laboratory Inc., Cambridge, Massachusetts, is being awarded $65,526,930 for fixed-price-incentive, cost-plus-incentive-fee contract modification P00006 to a previously awarded contract (N00030-17-C-0008) for Trident (D5) MK 6 guidance system production with failure verification, test, repair and recertification of inertial measurement units, electronic assemblies, and electronic modules.  The maximum value of the contract if all options are exercised is $370,175,927.  Work will be performed in Minneapolis, Minnesota (27.34 percent); Clearwater, Florida (25.19 percent); Cambridge, Massachusetts (24.39 percent); and Pittsfield, Massachusetts (23.08 percent), and is expected to be completed Jan. 30, 2021.  Fiscal 2017 weapons procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $63,766,000; and United Kingdom funds in the amount of $1,761,000 are being obligated on this award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Strategic Systems Programs, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity.

Kay and Associates Inc., Buffalo Grove, Illinois, is being awarded $61,119,477 for modification P00005 to a previously awarded cost-plus-fixed-fee contract (N00421-17-C-0044) to exercise an option for contractor maintenance and support services in support of F/A-18 C/D aircraft for the government of Kuwait under the Foreign Military Sales program.  Work will be performed in Kuwait, and is expected to be completed in January 2019.  Foreign military sales funds in the amount of $61,119,477 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year.  The Naval Air Warfare Center, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.

The Boeing Co., St. Louis, Missouri, is being awarded $21,853,448 for firm-fixed-price delivery order N00383-18-F-0AY0 under previously awarded basic ordering agreement (N00383-18-G-AY01) for the repair of various avionics equipment used on the F/A-18 aircraft.  Work will be performed in Lemoore, California (99 percent); and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1 percent), and is expected to be completed by December 2020.  Fiscal 2018 working capital (Navy) funds in the full amount of $21,853,448 will be obligated at the time of award to fund the delivery order, and funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. One firm was solicited for this non-competitive requirement under authority 10 U.S. Code 2304 (c)(1) and Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1.  The requirement was posted to the Federal Business Opportunities website and the Navy Electronic Commerce Online website, with one offer received.  Naval Supply Systems Command Weapon Systems Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is the contracting activity.

Andromeda Systems Inc.,* Virginia Beach, Virginia, is being awarded an $18,568,548 cost-plus-fixed-fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for logistics services in support of the Industrial and Logistics Maintenance Planning/Sustainment Department at the Fleet Readiness Center, Southwest, San Diego California.  Work will be performed in San Diego, California (35 percent); Lemoore, California (5 percent); Patuxent River, Maryland (5 percent); Lakehurst, New Jersey (5 percent); Orlando, Florida (5 percent), China Lake, California (5 percent); Point Mugu, California (5 percent); Jacksonville, Florida (5 percent); Cherry Point, North Carolina (5 percent); Norfolk, Virginia (5 percent); Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (5 percent); Oceana, Virginia (5 percent); Beaufort, South Carolina (5 percent); and St. Louis, Missouri (5 percent), and is expected to be completed in February 2023.  Fiscal 2018 operation and maintenance (Navy) funds in the amount of $353,119 will be obligated at the time of award, all of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year.  This contract was competitively procured via an electronic proposal as a 100 percent small business set-aside; two offers were received.  The Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division, China Lake, California, is the contracting activity (N68936-18-D-0016).

BAE Systems Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii, was awarded a $14,188,881 undefinitized contract action modification to previously awarded contract (N00024-14-C-4412) for scheduled selected restricted availability (SRA) for USS Port Royal (CG73). The scheduled SRA is an opportunity in the ship’s life cycle primarily to conduct structural repairs and alterations to systems.  A focal point of the work is to perform extensive aluminum superstructure repairs and install a reverse-osmosis water purification unit.  Work will be performed at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and is expected to be completed by November 2018.  Fiscal 2018 operations and maintenance (Navy) funding in the amount of $14,188,881 was obligated at time of award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year.  The Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, is the contracting activity.  (Awarded Jan. 25, 2018)

AIR FORCE

Sallyport Global Holdings, Reston, Virginia, has been awarded a not-to-exceed $400,000,000 cost-plus-fixed-fee undefinitized contract action to provide base operations support, base life support, and security services in support of the Iraq F-16 program. The contract provides for the support of F-16-related contractor personnel at Balad Air Base, Iraq. Work will be performed at Balad Air Base, Iraq, and is expected to be complete by Jan. 30, 2019.  This contract was the result of a sole-source acquisition and involves foreign military sales to Iraq.  Foreign military sales funds in the amount of $196,000,000 will be obligated at the time of the award.  Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton, Ohio, is the contracting activity (FA8630-18-C-5003).

Rolls-Royce Corp., Indianapolis, Indiana, has been awarded a $47,701,299 task order (FA8504-18-F-0013) to previously awarded contract FA8504-17-D-0002 for C-130J propulsion long term sustainment. This task order provides for sustainment support, inventory control point management, repair, sustaining engineering support, and technical data in support. Work will be performed in Indianapolis, Indiana, and is expected to be complete by Jan. 31, 2019.  Fiscal 2018 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $47,701,299 are being obligated at the time of award. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, is the contracting activity.

CORRECTION:  The contract modification announced on Jan. 29, 2018, to L-3 Link Simulation and Training, Arlington, Texas (P00143), for $8,177,812, was announced with an incorrect award date. The correct award date is Jan 30, 2018. All other contract information was correct.

CORRECTION:  The contract modification announced on Jan. 26, 2018 to Tri-Cor Inc., Alexandria, Virginia (P00034) for $30,256,209, was announced with an incorrect amount.  The correct amount was $20,748,204. All other contract information was correct.

DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY

Bluewater Defense Inc.,** Corozal, Puerto Rico, has been awarded a maximum $62,509,500 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for Army combat uniform coats and trousers. This is a one-year base contract with four one-year option periods. Maximum dollar amount is for the life of the contract. This was a competitive acquisition with 13 responses received. Location of performance is Puerto Rico, with a Jan. 29, 2023, performance completion date. Using military service is Army. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2018 through 2023 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE1C1-18-D-1030).

Accent Controls Inc.,* Riverside, Missouri, has been awarded an $8,717,503 modification (P00037) exercising the third one-year option period of a one-year base contract (SP3300-15-C-5004) with four one-year option periods for warehousing and distribution support services. This is a fixed-price-incentive, firm-target contract with cost reimbursement line items. Locations of performance are Missouri and North Carolina, with a Jan. 31, 2019, performance completion date. Using customer is Defense Logistics Agency. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2018 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Distribution, New Cumberland, Pennsylvania.

MISSILE DEFENSE AGENCY

Cherokee Nation Red Wing,* Huntsville, Alabama, is being awarded a $35,753,054 competitive firm-fixed-price contract for facility activity support services. The building and operations support includes facility operations, management, maintenance, and logistics support services, to include warehousing, shipping and receiving, and administrative property management. The work will be performed in Huntsville, Alabama; Fort Belvoir, Virginia; Dahlgren, Virginia; Vandenberg Air Force Base, California; and Pacific Missile Range Facility, Hawaii, with an estimated completion date of January 2023. This contract was competitively procured via publication on the E-Buy website with five proposals received. Fiscal 2018 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $242,000 are being obligated at time of award. The Missile Defense Agency, Huntsville, Alabama, is the contracting activity (HQ0147-18-F-7003).

*Small business
**Small business in a historically underutilized business zone
#

Wisconsin Is Ground Zero in Fight for the Republic

Election 2018 may be the year that citizen activists for clean water
become an unstoppable electoral force. Above is a cow
constructed in Wood County, Wisconsin, calling for the
halt to the construction of what would be a massive
factory farm, or CAFO, that would devastate parts of four
counties in central Wisconsin.
Madison, Wisconsin—In November 2016, third-party presidential candidates put up significant numbers in Wisconsin, collectively garnering some 153,227 votes, 5.1 percent of the total vote.

As the 2016 general election in Wisconsin was decided by a mere 22,748 votes, (0.77 percent), political strategists should consider who these 153,227 voters are and what they want, if campaigns seek victory in November 2018. Worth noting is Scott Walker's narrow 136,793 victory margin over the Democratic Party nominee in 2014.

Conventional wisdom and informed analyses point to historic gains in 2018 for the Democratic Party against the Trump-led, white supremacist-oligarch Republican Party.

Wisconsin will be ground zero with near-presidential-level turn out as the U.S. Senate race between Sen. Tammy Baldwin and the Republican Party nominee and Gov. Scot Walker and the Democratic Party nominee will see $100 of millions spent in two races, both of which will be decided by a fraction of a percentage point.

In Wisconsin's Lost Decade, (2011-2019), most of the legislative and congressional races will have been conducted under what will likely be decided as an unconstitutionally gerrymandered Republican redistricting scheme. The voters are the victims.

Republicans have also engineered the transformation of Wisconsin election law against voters in favor of their Party, and in the latest Republican maneuver comes an unprecedented refusal by Scott Walker to call for a special election in the vacant state senate district in northeastern Wisconsin, a gerrymandered district that would nevertheless go Democratic if an election were held today, according to clean water activists in Door County.

So how do we defeat the Republican Party? The following are a start:

  • Engage directly the clean water activists, the young-voter demographics who see the two major parties as corrupt
  • Stand with black and brown disenfranchised and obstructed voters
  • Speak directly to the concerns of the 153,227 voters that the Republican and Democratic parties are a bunch of out-of-touch hacks and lightweights engaged in group-think who cannot solve the most urgent problems facing the nation, the state, and our locales
  • Go out among the rural citizens of Wisconsin and listen to their concerns and brainstorm ideas to solve or ameliorate their struggles
Give it a try.

Jan 29, 2018

Department of Defense Contracts—Jan 29, 2018

Here are United States Department of Defense Contracts for Jan 29, 2018.

Contracts valued at $7 million or more are announced each business day at 5 p.m., eastern, at the U.S. Department of Defense.

From the U.S. Department of Defense, Contracts

Release No: CR-018-18
Jan 29, 2018

CONTRACTS

ARMY

Raytheon Missiles Systems, Tucson, Arizona, was awarded a $95,000,000 hybrid (cost-plus-fixed-fee and firm-fixed-price) contract for engineering services to support the 155mm Excalibur program. One bid was solicited with one bid received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Jan. 25, 2023. U.S. Army Contracting Command – New Jersey, is the contracting activity (W15QKN-18-D-0002).

General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems, St. Petersburg, Florida, was awarded a $13,548,167 modification (P00005) to contract W52P1J-17-C-0024 to procure 120mm M865 recap cartridges for 120mm tank training ammunition. Work will be performed in St. Petersburg, Florida, with an estimated completion date of Dec. 31, 2019. Fiscal 2018 other procurement (Army) funds in the amount of $13,548,167 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois, is the contracting activity.

Orbital Alliant Techsystems Operations LLC, Plymouth, Minnesota, was awarded a $10,452,069 modification (P00003) to contract W52P1J-17-C-0025 to procure 13,990 120mm tank training ammunition M865 recapitalized cartridges. Work will be performed in Plymouth, Minnesota, with an estimated completion date of Jan. 29, 2018. Fiscal 2018 other procurement (Army) funds in the amount of $10,452,069 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois, is the contracting activity.

Billy W. Jarrett Construction Co. Inc.,* Auburn, Alabama, was awarded an $8,503,506 firm-fixed-price contract for Dorn Veterans Affairs Medical Center parking deck construction. Bids were solicited via the Internet with two received. Work will be performed in Columbia, South Carolina, with an estimated completion date of Jan. 26, 2018. Fiscal 2018 operations and maintenance (Army) funds in the amount of $8,503,506 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Charleston, South Carolina, is the contracting activity (W912HP-18-C-4000).

Tetra Tech-Maytag JV, Pasadena, California, was awarded a $7,938,253 firm-fixed-price contract for recurring maintenance and minor/emergency repair of Defense Logistics Agency fuel systems. Bids were solicited via the Internet with two received. Work will be performed in Pendleton, Oregon; Boone, Iowa; Fort Bliss, Texas, Johnston, Iowa; San Miguel, California; Warrenton, Oregon; Dugway, Utah; Davenport, Iowa; Cheyenne, Wyoming; Fort Hunter Liggett, California; Fort Hood, Texas; Fort Huachuca, Arizona; Fort Irwin, California; West Jordan, Utah; Los Alamitos, California; Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington; Mather, California; Marana, Arizona; Fort McCoy, Wisconsin; Bellemont, Arizona; Pinon Canyon, Colorado; Pueblo, Colorado; Phoenix, Arizona; Rock Island, Illinois; Little Falls, North Carolina; Herlong, California; Salem, Oregon; San Luis Obispo, California; St. Cloud, Minnesota; St. Paul, Minnesota; Tooele, Utah; White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico; Clackamas, Oregon; Waterloo, Iowa; Yakima, Washington; and Yuma, Arizona, with an estimated completion date of Jan. 27, 2019. Fiscal 2018 defense working capital funds in the amount of $7,938,235 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Huntsville, Alabama, is the contracting activity (W912DY-18-F-0087).

AIR FORCE

Brinkerhoff Excavating and Construction Inc., Ogden, Utah (FA8201-18-D-0001); Consolidated Paving and Concrete Inc., Ogden, Utah (FA8201-18-D-0002); and Mountain West Precast LLC., Brigham City, Utah (FA8201-18-D-0003), have been awarded a combined, not-to-exceed $85,000,000 multiple award indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for paving construction services. Work will be performed at Hill Air Force Base, Utah; and additional areas under Hill Air Force Base jurisdiction, and is expected to be complete by July 28, 2024.  This multiple award is the result of a competitive acquisition and seven offers were received.  Fiscal 2018 operations and maintenance funds will be obligated at the task order level.  Air Force Sustainment Center, Hill Air Force Base, Utah, is the contracting activity. 

Honeywell Defense & Space, Tempe, Arizona, has been awarded a not-to-exceed $42,636,136 undefintized contract modification (P00132) to previously awarded contract  FA8208-07-C-0001 for secondary power logistics solution increment one. This modification provides for the performance-based logistical support of ground carts, auxiliary power units, and secondary power for B-2 and C-130 weapon systems. Work will be performed at Hill Air Force Base, Utah; and Tempe, Arizona, and is expected to be complete by Nov. 30 2018. This contract involves foreign military sales to the Republic of Korea, Germany, Egypt, Greece, Saudi Arabia, Romania, Israel, Bahrain, the Netherlands, Japan, Mexico, Taiwan, Jordan, Australia, NATO, Argentina, Kuwait, Pakistan, Turkey and Poland. This award is the result of a sole-source acquisition. Air Force Working Capital funds in the amount of $31,977,102 are being obligated at the time of award. Air Force Sustainment Center, Hill Air Force Base, Utah, is the contracting activity.

L-3 Link Simulation and Training, Arlington, Texas, has been awarded an $8,177,812 modification (P00143) to previously awarded FA8621-13-C-6323 for the Predator Mission Aircrew Training System (PMATS) Block 30 retrofit communication kits and simulator seats. This modification brings the total cumulative face value of the contract to $120,753,927, and provides for the shipment and installation of 40 communication kits to fielded PMATS, and the purchase and installation of 40 sets of simulator seats. Work will be performed in Arlington, Texas, and is expected to be complete by June 30, 2020. Fiscal 2017 procurement funds are being obligated at the time of award.  Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity.

*Small business

Pro-Human Thinking Against White Supremacist Administrations

Otto Dix. The Wounded Man. Dix, (1891–1969) was an
anti-fascist, anti-war German artist whose work is known
for brutal depictions of the madness of war and oppression

Banding together against the toxic combination of belligerence and hate from white supremacists, Trump and Walker


The Trump adminstration is preying on people systemically and capriciously, partnering with the most anti-human, authoritarian forces of American society.

As Trump and Scott—"Divide and Conquer" families—Walker work against people, a nugget of wisdom comes from cj bakken in some 60 words:
Great idea. See also George Pyle, Salt Lake Tribune.

The Trump and Walker adminstration are clear and present dangers to our Republic and the state of Wisconsin.

Notes Charles Pierce commenting on the 2016 Republican presidential primary that featured Trump and Walker, both of whom were leading the Iowa primary at one point before Walker was "called" away by god and sub-one percent approval ratings in September 2015:

[A]lone among the crowd of candidates, Walker most clearly is running on his record of being a complete prick to the right people – which include teachers and nurses and the people who clean up after Alzheimer's patients in group homes. Running against the right people is a staple of all campaigns, right and left, but it's rarely as clear the raison d'etre of one as it is the raison d'etre of the Walker campaign. It is a toxic combination of belligerence and aggressive victimhood. 

Innovative ideas in launching a United Front against fascism are critical.

Jan 26, 2018

Televangelist Who Denies PTSD Speaks at Military Prayer Event

PTSD and Fundies


There is a large group of chickenhawks, Christian Dominionists and rightwingers who deny PTSD, work to minimize and prevent military veterans and contractors from receiving PTSD disability benefits, (Boston Review), while always calling for more war.

PTSD is not functional to the war-making enterprise, so many less-than-sophisticated religious fundamentalists say, pray it away.

Even better god loves war, so praying as a weapon in the long tradition of killing for Christ continues for young servicemembers in training. See Trump to ask for $716 billion in defense spending in 2019 budget as Trump works for a war with Iran. It's what god wants.

One really nutty religious fundie coming next week to Fort Jackson, Feb. 1, to give the troops the word epitomizes our religious-military-industrial complex.

From Hemant Mehta at Patheos:

Now that he has a new private jet, televangelist Kenneth Copeland is heading to Fort Jackson, South Carolina — to the nation’s largest training installation — to headline a National Prayer Breakfast event.

That alone may not be a huge deal, but Chris Rodda points out that Copeland is an awful choice to speak at any military event — even a Christian one — because he’s said in the past that soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are kidding themselves because God would never let that happen.

Reading from Numbers 32: 20-22, Copeland said, 'So this is a promise — if you do this thing, if you arm yourselves before the Lord for the war … you shall return, you’re coming back, and be guiltless before the Lord and before the nation.'

'Any of you suffering from PTSD right now, you listen to me,' Copeland said as [pseudo-historian David] Barton affirmed him. 'You get rid of that right now. You don’t take drugs to get rid of it. It doesn’t take psychology. That promise right there will get rid of it.'
Video of Copeland's medical brilliance on PTSD:
Below is the text of the letter Mikey Weinstein sent to the Commanding General of Fort Jackson to work for the freedom our service-members in a secular military.
--

Dear Major General John P. “Pete” Johnson,

Sir, it is with deep respect that I earnestly write to you this morning on behalf of 56 of your U.S Army subordinates (Officers, NCOs and U.S. Army civilians), directly under your command, with an expeditious, rational and reasonable demand in your official capacity as the Commanding General of Fort Jackson, South Carolina. For the record, sir, 32 of these complainants practice the Christian faith (Protestant or Roman Catholic), 6 are Jewish, 8 are Muslims, 2 are Hindus, 1 is a Native American spiritualist and the remainder would describe themselves as nontheist, agnostic, atheist, secularist or humanist.

By way of brief introduction, sir, my name is Michael L. “Mikey” Weinstein and I am the Founder and President of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF). As you may know, MRFF is a large, civil rights advocacy, nonprofit organization founded in late 2005 which vigorously protects and defends, inter alia, the Constitutional, First Amendment civil rights of DoD servicemen and women for Church/State separation in the United States armed forces. Presently, including the 56 servicemen and women mentioned above, MRFF proudly represents over 53,400 United States soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen in the active duty, reserve, national guard and civilian components of our nation’s military as well as veterans. Approximately 96% of MRFF’s total clients are devoted practitioners of many varied denominations of the Christian faith; about 3/4 of that number are from a large spectrum of Protestant sects and the bulk of the remaining 1/4 are Roman Catholic.

General Johnson, sir, please allow me to cut to the chase as I know you must be very busy as, likewise, we are at MRFF.

General, every year at this time like clockwork MRFF is usually inundated with a plethora of complaints about matters associated with the so-called “National Prayer Breakfasts” (NPBs) and “National Prayer Luncheons” (NPLs) which so many military installations hold on an annual basis. It has  been MRFF’s experience that such events, though billed as “non-mandatory” and pure-as-the-driven-snow “voluntary” are very often QUITE the opposite, in all actuality, for so very many unfortunate military subordinates who are “VOLUNTOLD” to attend by their command chains. (I will leave alone, for the moment, the array of serious issues of illicit, First Amendment breaches associated with all of these NPBs and NPLs as they are SO often misused and abused for sinister, twisted purposes of fundamentalist Christian proselytization.)

This new year of 2018 is no different from all of the prior years vis-a-vis the NPBs and NPLs and Fort Jackson’s version of the NPB is currently scheduled for a week from today on Thursday, February 1, 2018. These NPBs and NPLs always feature a special “guest speaker” and THAT, sir, is PRECISELY why I am writing to you this day with a respectful demand for your kind attention and timely help to right an absolutely egregious wrong.

General, do you have ANY idea, sir, whom your staff has selected to be the Fort Jackson special “guest speaker” at your Feb. 1, ’18 NPB?

Assuming you do not, sir, let me please advise you that it is the universally despicable, discredited, fundamentalist Christian extremist/supremacist Kenneth Copeland. Do you know ANYthing of moment about this feckless, religious bully/provocateur, General Johnson?  To aid you in your further research, please see the excerpt in red highlight below from a breaking news article publicly published this VERY morning by MRFF’s Senior Research Director, Ms. Chris Rodda (the full article will be immediately sent to you, as well, this morning for your further review):

--

“Will Kenneth Copeland Tell Soldiers at Fort Jackson Prayer Breakfast that PTSD Isn’t Real?”

He’s been investigated by the Senate for financial misconduct. He’s called himself a “Christian extremist.” His fraudulent practices have been exposed by his own employees. He’s Islamophobic, homophobic, and believes that America is a Christian nation. He needs a private jet because commercial airplanes are filled with demons.

Any one of the above things should make televangelist Kenneth Copeland an obviously inappropriate and outrageous choice to be the speaker for the National Prayer Breakfast observance at any U.S. military installation. And yet Copeland has been invited to do just that, and is scheduled to speak at the February 1 prayer breakfast at Fort Jackson, South Carolina — the U.S. Army’s largest training installation and home to the Armed Forces Army Chaplaincy School and Army’s Drill Sergeant School.

But there’s something else that makes Copeland an even more outrageous choice to speak to any military audience. He has claimed that PTSD isn’t real because it isn’t biblical, saying on a 2013 Veterans Day episode of his TV show:

“Any of you suffering from PTSD right now, you listen to me. You get rid of that right now. You don’t take drugs to get rid of it, and it doesn’t take psychology. That promise right there [referring to a Bible verse he had just read] will get rid of it.”

Copeland’s guest that day, Christian nationalist pseudo-historian David Barton, wholeheartedly agreed, adding that warriors in the Bible fighting in the name of God were “esteemed” and in the “faith hall of fame” because they “took so many people out in battle.”

---

Oh, General Johnson, there is just SO much, much more about this disgusting Copeland person which MRFF could expand upon but suffice it to say that this great homage and special invitation proffered by your command staff to honor a miserable, fundamentalist Christian wretch like Copeland as the special “guest speaker’ at Fort Jackson’s NPB is TOTALLY antithetical to the United States Army’s vaunted “7 Core Values” of loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity and personal courage. Indeed, General, the SHOCKING selection of such a divisive and corrosive individual/religious predator and bully to be the main speaking attraction at your NPB at Fort Jackson is nothing less than a terminal and swift cancer to the bedrock good order, morale, discipline and unit cohesion of your command at Fort Jackson.

The 56 U.S. Army personnel under your direct command, sir, at Fort Jackson who have pleaded for MRFF to intercede on their collective behalf regarding this sordid matter justly fear punitive reprisal and retribution if they try to express their outrage over Copeland’s selection via their respective chains of command or by “outting” themselves via Inspector General/Equal Employment Opportunity (IG/EEO) complaints.

Therefore, sir, on behalf of our 56 U.S.Army clients, MRFF is officially demanding that you immediately rescind this invitation to Kenneth Copeland to speak at the Fort Jackson NPB. General Johnson, sir, the good news is that there is still time to do the right thing here! Sir, please replace this hideously reprehensible fundamentalist Christian charlatan cum exclusivist bigot with another more respectable and inspiring, inclusive individual. General, please pick SOMEone else, ANYone else who, unlike Copeland who gleefully brags about being a “Christian extremist”, clearly represents and buttresses the aforementioned Army’s “7 Core Values” whilst concomitantly strengthening the “Army Strong” foundations of strength-through-diversity inextricably intertwined with supporting and enhancing good order, morale, discipline and unit cohesion.

General Johnson, I am happy to discuss this urgent matter of MRFF’s demand that you rescind Kenneth Copeland’s Fort Jackson NPB speaking invitation with you at your earliest opportunity should you have any additional queries or desire, for any other reason, to further communicate.

Sincerely and respectfully submitted with best wishes and standing by for your decision,

Michael L. “Mikey” Weinstein, Esq.

Founder and President, MRFF

Department of Defense Contracts—Jan 26, 2018

Here are United States Department of Defense Contracts for Jan 26, 2018.

Contracts valued at $7 million or more are announced each business day at 5 p.m., eastern, at the U.S. Department of Defense.

From the U.S. Department of Defense, Contracts

Release No: CR-017-18
Jan 26, 2018

CONTRACTS

MISSILE DEFENSE AGENCY

Lockheed Martin Corp. Missiles and Fire Control, Dallas, Texas, is being awarded a $459,230,468 modification (P00008) to a previously-awarded contract HQ0147-17-C-0032 to exercise an option for the production of additional Lot 10 Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) interceptors (one-shot devices); and to provide associated production support efforts under fixed-price incentive-firm target contract line item numbers. The value of this contract is increased from $826,614,843 to $1,285,845,311. The work will be performed in Dallas, Texas; Sunnyvale, California; Huntsville, Alabama; Anniston, Alabama; Camden, Arkansas; and Troy, Alabama, with an expected completion date of June 25, 2021.  Fiscal 2018 procurement funds in the amount of $459,230,468 are being obligated at time of award.  The Missile Defense Agency, Huntsville, Alabama, is the contracting activity.

Decisive Analytics Corp.,* Arlington, Virginia, is being awarded a $59,463,490 competitive cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for advisory and assistance services for cybersecurity compliance and risk management in support of technical, engineering, advisory and management support.  This contract covers improved independent verification and validation analysis and reporting of the Ballistic Missile Defense System and Enterprise cybersecurity controls, and will expand information cybersecurity knowledge improving the system architecture, system life cycles, and authorization decisions for the Missile Defense Agency.  The work will be performed in Colorado Springs, Colorado; and Huntsville, Alabama, with an estimated completion date of April 2023.  This contract was competitively procured via publication on the Federal Business Opportunities website with five proposals received.  Fiscal 2018 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $833,600 are being obligated at time of award.  The Missile Defense Agency, Huntsville, Alabama, is the contracting activity (HQ0147-18-C-0012).

NAVY

Lockheed Martin Aculight Corp., Bothell, Washington, is being awarded a $150,022,901 cost-plus-incentive-fee contract for Surface Navy Laser Weapon System Increment 1, High Energy Laser and Integrated Optical-dazzler with surveillance system.  Under this contract Lockheed Martin Aculight Corp. will develop, manufacture, and deliver two test units in fiscal 2020 (one unit for DDG 51 FLT IIA, and one for land-based testing).  This contract includes options which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this contract to $942,818,114.  Work will be performed in Bothell, Washington (52 percent); Moorestown, New Jersey (31 percent); Owego, New York (9 percent); Marion, Massachusetts (3 percent); Clearwater, Florida (3 percent); Manassas, Virginia (0.9 percent); Baltimore, Maryland (0.6 percent); and Akron, Ohio (0.5 percent), and is expected to be completed by April 2020.  Fiscal 2018 research, development, testing, and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $3,500,000 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year.  This contract was competitively procured via the Federal Business Opportunities website, with four proposals received.  The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington Navy Yard, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity (N00024-18-C-5392).

Sonalysts, Inc.,* Waterford, Connecticut (N66604-18-D-A801); Systems Engineering Associates Corp.,* Middletown, Rhode Island (N66604-18-D-A802); and Transtecs Corp.,* Wichita, Kansas (N66604-18-D-A803), are being awarded a combined $49,403,766 cost-plus-fixed-fee, firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, multiple-award contract to procure training systems, classrooms and lab environments in support of the Waterfront Surface Trainers Program.  This contract combines purchases for the Navy (99 percent); and the government of the Philippines (1 percent) under the Foreign Military Sales program.  Work will be performed in Waterford, Connecticut; Middletown, Rhode Island; and Wichita, Kansas (percentages will vary due to the competition of individual orders), and is expected to be completed by January 2021.  Fiscal 2018 operations and maintenance (Navy) funding in the amount of $7,500 will be obligated at time of award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year.  This contract was competitively procured via the Federal Business Opportunities website, with six offers received.  The Naval Undersea Warfare Center Newport Division, Newport, Rhode Island, is the contracting activity.

Huntington Ingalls Inc. - Ingalls Shipbuilding, Pascagoula, Mississippi, is being awarded $30,169,626 for a cost-plus-fixed fee modification to a previously awarded contract (N00024-17-C-4444) for the execution of USS Fitzgerald (DDG 62) emergent repair and restoration.  This effort shall provide for the additional modernization work items and contract growth for collision repairs as well as maintenance for USS Fitzgerald (DDG 62). Additional contract modifications for collision repair, equipment installation as well as other maintenance and modernization requirements are planned with final definitization of this contract in the third quarter of fiscal 2018.  Work will be performed in Pascagoula, Mississippi, and is expected to be completed by January 2020.  Fiscal 2018 operations and maintenance (Navy) funding in the amount of $14,425,453; and fiscal 2018 other procurement (Navy) in the amount of $659,360 will be obligated at time of award.  Contract funds in the amount of $14,425,453 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year.  The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity.

AIR FORCE

Certified Stainless Service Inc., doing business as West-Mark, Ceres, California, has been awarded a maximum $53,000,000 fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment contract for commercial sweeper and scrubber equipment. This is a five-year contract with no option periods. This was a competitive acquisition with six responses received. Location of performance is California, with a Jan. 25, 2023, performance completion date. Using customers are Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and federal civilian agencies. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2018 through fiscal 2023 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE8EC-18-D-0009).

General Electric - Aviation, Lynn, Massachusetts, has been awarded a maximum $14,957,814 firm-fixed-price delivery order (SPRPA1-18-F-E003) against a five-year basic ordering agreement (FA8122-14-G-0001) for T-64 engine combustion liners. This was a sole-source acquisition using justification 10 U.S. Code 2304 (c)(1). Location of performance is Massachusetts, with a Jan. 28, 2022, performance completion date. Using military service is Navy. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2018 through fiscal 2022 Navy working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Aviation, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Woodward HRT Inc., Santa Clarita, California, has been awarded a maximum $14,114,934 firm-fixed-price contract for hydraulic servo valves. This is a one-year base contract with one one-year option period. This was a sole-source acquisition using justification 10 U.S. Code 2304 (c)(1). Location of performance is California, with a Jan. 26, 2019, performance completion date. Using military service is Army. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2018 through fiscal 2019 Army working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Land and Maritime, Warren, Michigan (SPRDL1-18-C-0161).

CFM International Inc., West Chester, Ohio, has been awarded a maximum $8,538,960 firm-fixed-price order (SPRTA1-18-F-0119) against a five-year basic ordering agreement (SPRTA1-14-G-0002) for fan A vane assemblies. This was a sole-source acquisition using justification 10 U.S. Code 2304 (c)(1). Location of performance is Ohio, with an Aug. 2, 2021, performance completion date. Using military service is Air Force. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2018 through fiscal 2021 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Aviation, Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma.

General Electric - Aviation, Lynn, Massachusetts, has been awarded a maximum $7,865,255 firm-fixed-price delivery order (SPRPA1-18-F-E002) against a five-year basic ordering agreement (FA8122-14-G-0001) for T-64 engine front frames. This was a sole-source acquisition using justification 10 U.S. Code 2304 (c)(1). Location of performance is Massachusetts, with a Jan. 28, 2022, performance completion date. Using military service is Navy. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2018 through fiscal 2022 Navy working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Aviation, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

AIR FORCE

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc., Poway, California, has been awarded a $49,336,683 cost-plus-fixed-fee order (FA8620-18-F-2363) to previously awarded basic ordering agreement FA8620-15-G-4040.  This contract provides for tasks necessary to develop, field, and sustain Air Force Special Operations Command and Air Combat Command MQ-9 software development. Work will be performed in Poway, California, and is expected to be complete by Jan. 31, 2020.  This award is the result of a sole-source acquisition.  Fiscal 2017 and 2018 research and development funds in the amount of $9,864,489 are being obligated at the time of the award.  Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity.

Concurrent Technology Corp., Johnstown, Pennsylvania (FA8650-18-D-5660); Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, Texas (FA8650-18-D-5680); and University of Dayton Research Institute, Dayton, Ohio (FA8650-18-D-5670), have been awarded a $49,000,000 shared ceiling, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for research and development associated with the Rapid Assessment of Technologies and Energy for the Alternative Power and Technology Office.  This contract provides for research and development to accelerate the implementation and transition of energy efficiency and alternative energy technologies to meet Air Force energy goals.  Work will be performed in Johnstown, Pennsylvania; San Antonio, Texas; and Dayton, Ohio, and is expected to be complete by January 2025. Fiscal 2017 research and development funds in the amount of $3,259,019 are being obligated at the time of the award. This award is the result of a competitive acquisition and four offers were received. Air Force Research Lab, Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity.

Tri-Cor Inc., Alexandria, Virginia, has been awarded a $30,256,209 firm-fixed-price contract modification (P00034) to previously awarded contract FA4452-13-D-0002 to extend support for existing applications, infrastructure and system support services.  This modification brings the total cumulative face value of the contract to $138,955,903.  Work will be performed at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, and is expected to be complete by Jan. 31, 2019.  Fiscal 2018 transportation working capital funds, TWCF operations funds, and operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $20,369,337 will be obligated at the time of the award.  The 763rd Specialized Contracting Squadron, Scott AFB, Illinois, is the contracting activity.

AAI Corp., Hunt Valley, Maryland, has been awarded a $15,670,445 firm-fixed-price contract for unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) services, to include supporting force protection efforts and providing a non-developmental Contractor-Owned and Contractor-Operated UAS ISR solution to perform operational, engineering, and sustainment efforts.  Work will be performed at Bagram and Kandahar Airfields, Afghanistan, and is expected to be complete by Sept. 27, 2018.  This award is the result of a sole-source acquisition.  Air Combat Command Acquisition Management and Integration Center, Langley Air Force Base, Virginia, is the contracting activity (FA4890-18-C-0005).

Lockheed Martin Services Inc., Colorado Springs, Colorado, has been awarded a $10,812,817 modification (P00117) to previously awarded contract FA8823‐13‐C‐0002 for Global Positioning System control segment sustainment. This contract provides for procurement of remaining hardware, and provides engineering, installation, and test resources to deploy Phase 3 of Combined Hardware and Software Commercial-Off-The-Shelf Upgrade and Ground Antenna/Air Force Satellite Control Network Interface Technology Refresh.  Work will be performed in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and is expected to be complete by June 30, 2019. Fiscal 2018 other procurement funds in the amount of $8,212,803 are being obligated at the time of award. Space and Missile Systems Center, Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado, is the contracting activity (FA8823-13-C-0002).

*Small business

Jan 25, 2018

Department of Defense Contracts—Jan 25, 2018

Here are United States Department of Defense Contracts for Jan 25, 2018.

Contracts valued at $7 million or more are announced each business day at 5 p.m., eastern, at the U.S. Department of Defense.

From the U.S. Department of Defense, Contracts

Release No: CR-016-18
Jan 25, 2018

CONTRACTS

ARMY

Raytheon Missiles Systems, Tucson, Arizona, was awarded a $92,011,033 cost-plus-fixed-fee domestic and Foreign Military Sales (Poland and Taiwan) contract to provide engineering and technical services to support the Stinger Weapon System. Bids were solicited via the Internet with one received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Dec. 29, 2022. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity (W31P4Q-18-D-0010).

Watterson Construction Co., Anchorage, Alaska, was awarded a $58,078,800 firm-fixed-price contract to design and construct an F-35A aircraft weather shelter at Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska. Bids were solicited via the Internet with six received. Work will be performed in Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska, with an estimated completion date of Nov. 5, 2019. Fiscal 2017 military construction funds in the amount of $58,078,800 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Anchorage, Alaska, is the contracting activity (W911KB-18-C-0005).

Security Signals Inc.,* Cordova, Texas (W52P1J-18-D-0024); and Day & Zimmerman Lone Star Inc., Texarkana, Texas (W52P1J-18-D-0025), will share in a $49,500,000 firm-fixed-price contract for procurement of the M82 percussion primer and the M82 foam washer. Bids were solicited via the Internet with four received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Jan. 25, 2023. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Rock Island, Illinois, is the contracting activity.

Olin Corp. – Winchester Division, East Alton, Illinois, was awarded a $43,385,736 modification (P00019) to contract W52P1J-16-C-0003 for 5.56mm and 7.62mm small caliber ammunition cartridges. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of July 31, 2019. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Rock Island, Illinois, is the contracting activity.

Goodwill Industries of San Antonio Contract Services, San Antonio, Texas, was awarded a $7,973,586 firm-fixed-price contract for processing of service treatment records. One bid was solicited with one bid received. Work will be performed in San Antonio, Texas, with an estimated completion date of Jan. 25, 2023. Fiscal 2018 operations and maintenance Army funds in the amount of $7,973,586 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Health Readiness Contracting Office, San Antonio, Texas, is the contracting activity (W81K04-18-C-0002).

DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY

General Electric - Aviation, Cincinnati, Ohio, has been awarded an estimated maximum $84,961,099 fixed-price with price redetermination, requirements contract for F118-101 aircraft engine support. This was a sole-source acquisition using justification 10 U.S. Code 2304 (c)(1). This is a five-year base contract with one three-year and one two-year option periods. Locations of performance are Ohio and Kansas, with a Jan. 24, 2023, performance completion date. Using military service is Air Force. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2018 through fiscal 2023 Air Force appropriated funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Aviation, Richmond, Virginia (SPE4AX-18-D-9419).

General Dynamics Land Systems, Inc., Sterling Heights, Michigan, has been awarded an $11,694,873 modification (P00017) to a three-year base contract (SPE7MX-16-D-0100) with two one-year option periods adding vehicle spare parts. This is a firm-fixed-price, indefinite-quantity contract. Locations of performance are Michigan and South Carolina, with an Aug. 11, 2019, performance completion date. Using military service is Army. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2018 through fiscal 2019 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Land and Maritime, Columbus, Ohio.

NAVY

Jacobs Technology Inc., Ridgecrest, California, is being awarded a $17,505,371 modification (P00045) to a previously awarded cost-plus-fixed-fee, cost contract (N68936-15-C-0026).  This modification provides for additional engineering services in support of launch test capability (LTC) for the Navy and the government of the United Kingdom.  Services to be provided include the design and development, site activation, test and evaluation and operation of the LTC complex located at the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division (NAWCWD), China Lake, California.  Work will be performed at NAWCWD, China Lake, California, and is expected to be completed in December 2019.  No funds are being obligated at time of award.  This modification combines purchases for the Navy ($15,754,833; 90 percent); and the government of the United Kingdom ($1,750,537; 10 percent) under the Foreign Military Sales Program.  The Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division, China Lake, California, is the contracting activity.

General Dynamics Mission Systems, Pittsfield, Massachusetts, is being awarded $8,307,797 for cost-plus-incentive-fee, cost-plus-fixed-fee contract modification P00017 to a previously awarded contract (N00030-16-C-0005) for sustainment of the U.S. and United Kingdom (UK) SSBN fire control system, the U.S. SSGN attack weapon control system, including training and support equipment.  Also included is the missile fire control for the Columbia-class and UK Vanguard-class Common Missile Compartment Program development, through first unit UK production, and strategic weapon interface simulator.  The work will be performed in Pittsfield Massachusetts (90.5 percent); Bremerton, Washington, (3.6 percent); Kings Bay, Georgia (2.7 percent); Dahlgren, Virginia (1 percent); Cape Canaveral, Florida (0.9 percent); Portsmouth, Virginia (0.9 percent); and the United Kingdom (0.4 percent), with an expected completion date of September 2023.  Fiscal 2018 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $4,800,000; and fiscal 2018 operations and maintenance (Navy) funds in the amount of $3,507,797 and are being obligated on this award.  Funds in the amount of $3,507,797 will expire at the end of the fiscal year.  Strategic Systems Programs, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity.

*Small business

Jan 24, 2018

Senate Judicial Comm Chair Grassley Changes Rules to Jam Through Trump-nominated Judges

When Republicans cannot gain public support for their work in Congress, they change the rules.

On the confirmation of lifetime appointments of federal judges, Americans tune out of the grand experiment known as American democracy. The result is the Koch brothers and billionaires take over.

This is on Sen. Leahy and the craven Grassley:

From today's Des Moines Register on the U.S. Senate Committee of the Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley:

[T]his week, Sen. Grassley pushed through the nomination of Michael Brennan to the 7th Circuit Federal Court of Appeals, and in doing so rejected decades of precedent, including his own promises.

Brennan’s nomination by Donald Trump ignored the bipartisan judicial selection process Wisconsin senators of both parties have observed since the 1970s.

And his hearing before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, at the direction of Sen. Grassley, was scheduled without the consent of both of the state’s U.S. senators, commonly known as the blue-slip process in which senators indicate their support on a blue slip of paper. The blue-slip process that allows home-state senators input and approval on judicial nominees from their states is critical. Sen. Grassley has said so himself.

 In a Des Moines Register oped in April of 2015, Sen. Grassley complimented his Democratic counterpart, Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, who used the blue-slip process even when those in his own party wanted it to end, Grassley wrote, “I appreciate the value of the blue-slip process and also intend to honor it.”
Republicans will say or do anything, period. When Democrats fail at the Senate level citing tradition over need as Sen Leahy did, the price is heavy.

From the The Leadership Conference on Civil and Hum­­­­an Rights calling for the rejection of Trump's newest radical-whack for the federal judiciary.

Dear Senator:

On behalf of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Hum­­­­an Rights, a coalition of more than 200 national organizations committed to promoting and protecting the civil and human rights of all persons in the United States, I write in strong opposition to the confirmation of Michael Brennan to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

Mr. Brennan’s nomination is objectionable both on process and substance grounds.  Now that a Republican occupies the White House, Chairman Grassley has reversed his own adherence to the century-old practice of only scheduling hearings for judicial nominees who have the support of both home-state senators.  If he were following the practice he required under the previous administration, Mr. Brennan would not move forward in the confirmation process because Senator Tammy Baldwin opposes this nominee and has not returned her blue slip.  Mr. Brennan has a far-right judicial philosophy that includes a disrespect for the bedrock principle of stare decisis.  In addition, he served for six years as the chair of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s judicial selection committee, and he helped appoint several judicial extremists to the state supreme court.  His nomination should be rejected by the United States Senate.

Blue Slip Abuse:  The scheduling of a hearing for Mr. Brennan over the objection of home-state senator Tammy Baldwin is the latest example of Senator Grassley’s deeply troubling disregard of Senatorial courtesy and Senate tradition.[1]

Senator Baldwin has not returned her blue slip for Mr. Brennan, so he should not be granted a hearing.  This is now the second time during the Trump presidency that Chairman Grassley has abused the blue slip tradition in order to help President Trump attempt to install a conservative ideologue over the objection of a Democratic senator.  When he was chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee during the Obama presidency, Chairman Grassley did not grant a hearing to any nominee unless they had blue slips from both home-state senators.

The Constitution assigns to the Senate a separate and independent role from the president for lifetime appointments to the federal judiciary.  The first prong of the Senate’s role is to provide advice and the second is to determine whether to consent to a nominee’s confirmation.  The blue slip is a piece of paper that reflects the important role that home-state senators have played for the last century in providing advice to presidents about lifetime appointments in their state. If the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee allows judicial nominees to advance without receiving the blue slips from home-state senators, no president will be compelled to listen to their advice.  A recent Congressional Research Service report identified only three judicial nominees who have been confirmed over blue slip objections.[2]

The blue slip practice is one of the critical checks and balances that helps maintain equilibrium among the branches of government.  Over the years, when the Senate majority placed partisan loyalty to the president over the Senate’s institutional interest in independently carrying out its constitutional responsibilities, the blue slip served as a vital corrective.  This institutional check has arguably never been more important than today, with a president who undermines the legitimacy of judges who disagree with his actions and who prioritizes loyalty to him over fealty to the law.

Chairman Grassley’s decision to give a hearing to Mr. Brennan, and in November to controversial Eighth Circuit nominee David Stras –  over the objection of a home-state senator –  is a rejection of Senate tradition and demonstrates his troubling double standard.  Here is what Chairman Grassley promised less than three years ago, during the presidency of Barack Obama:

For nearly a century, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee has brought nominees up for committee consideration only after both home-state senators have signed and returned what’s known as a “blue slip.”  This tradition is designed to encourage outstanding nominees and consensus between the White House and home-state senators. Over the years, Judiciary Committee chairs of both parties have upheld a blue-slip process, including Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, my immediate predecessor in chairing the committee, who steadfastly honored the tradition even as some in his own party called for its demise. I appreciate the value of the blue-slip process and also intend to honor it.[3]
Chairman Grassley’s strict observance of the blue slip tradition during the Obama presidency led to the denial of hearings and votes for 18 Obama judicial nominees.[4]  But now that President Trump is the one making judicial nominations, Chairman Grassley has abandoned his promise and a century of Senate tradition in order to jam through Trump’s far-right judicial nominees.  Chairman Grassley’s about-face should be condemned by senators of both parties because it will strip them of their constitutional role of providing advice and consent for judicial appointments in their states from this and all future administrations.  As Senator Hatch astutely observed in 2014: “Weakening or eliminating the blue slip process would sweep aside the last remaining check on the president’s judicial appointment power.  Anyone serious about the Senate’s ‘advice and consent’ role knows how disastrous such a move would be.”[5]

Ironically, Mr. Brennan himself has written in defense of Senate deference to home-state senators in the selection of federal judges.  Following Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson’s election to the Senate in November 2010, he decided not to return a blue slip on Victoria Nourse, who had been nominated by President Obama to fill the vacancy for which Mr. Brennan has now been nominated.  In a 2011 op-ed entitled “Sen. Johnson only wants to have his say on Nourse nomination,” Mr. Brennan and his co-authors wrote:

There are now two senators from Wisconsin from different political parties, so to exclude Johnson and those citizens who voted for him would be a purely partisan move…. Why can’t Johnson, elected by the citizens of Wisconsin, participate in the selection of a judge for a Wisconsin seat on the 7th Circuit, as Kohl did?  Lady Justice is blindfolded, which represents her neutrality.  Neutrality comes from applying the same procedures to all.[6]

In light of the position he took in this op-ed, it is the height of hypocrisy for Mr. Brennan to have agreed to being nominated without the support of Senator Baldwin.  Senator Johnson’s obstruction of this judicial vacancy during the Obama presidency is why it has become the oldest circuit court vacancy in the United States; it has been vacant since January 2010.

Rejection of the Wisconsin Tradition:  Mr. Brennan’s nomination is an affront not only to the Senate’s constitutional advice-and-consent role as represented by the blue slip tradition, but also to the Wisconsin federal judicial selection tradition.  After Mr. Brennan was nominated in August 2017, Senator Baldwin declared: “President Trump has decided to go it alone and turn his back on a Wisconsin tradition of having a bipartisan process for nominating judges.  I am extremely troubled that President Trump has taken a partisan approach that disrespects our Wisconsin process.”[7]
The Wisconsin tradition, which goes back for decades, requires a bipartisan commission – whose members are chosen by the two Wisconsin senators – to solicit applications and recommend finalists for judicial vacancies to the senators, who then decide which names to send to the White House for consideration.  The commission’s charter requires that the commission only recommend applicants who receive votes from at least five of the commission’s six members.[8]  What is the purpose of the five-vote requirement?  Here is an explanation from Senator Johnson in 2015: “To ensure that the senators would nominate qualified judges rather than candidates who were on either extreme, the senators each selected three commissioners and required that any candidate recommended to the senators have the support of at least five commissioners.”[9]  Mr. Brennan received only four votes, thus making him ineligible for recommendation.  He is just too extreme.  Nonetheless, the Trump White House went forward with Mr. Brennan’s nomination.

Mr. Brennan’s own Senate questionnaire reveals that he was interviewed by the White House for this vacancy a month before the Wisconsin bipartisan commission even began accepting applications.[10]  The White House and Senator Grassley may claim there was meaningful consultation with Senator Baldwin about filling this vacancy, but that claim is belied by the timing of Mr. Brennan’s White House interview.

Scott Walker Appointee:  From 2011 to 2017, Mr. Brennan served as the chair of Governor Scott Walker’s Judicial Selection Advisory Committee.  In this position, to which he was appointed by Governor Walker, Mr. Brennan made recommendations to fill 75 state judgeships,[11] and the judges appointed by Governor Walker have been uniformly ultraconservative and out of the mainstream of legal thought.  Two state supreme court justices, Rebecca Bradley and Daniel Kelly, made particularly offensive comments.  In a 1992 newspaper column, now-Justice Bradley wrote: “One will be better off contracting AIDS than developing cancer, because those afflicted with the politically-correct disease will be getting all the funding.  How sad that the lives of degenerate drug addicts and queers are valued more than the innocent victims of more prevalent ailments.”[12]  She also wrote that conservative author Camille Paglia “legitimately suggested that women play a role in date rape,”[13] and that “Feminists whined about the ‘ordeal’ perjurer Anita Hill suffered under the male-dominated Senate judiciary committee, yet they vociferously supported members Herb Kohl over Susan Engeleiter and Paul Simon over Lynn Martin.”[14]  The other Walker supreme court appointee, Daniel Kelly, wrote in 2014: “Affirmative action and slavery differ, obviously, in significant ways.  But it’s more a question of degree than principle, for they both spring from the same taproot.  Neither can exist without the foundational principle that it is acceptable to force someone into an unwanted economic relationship.  Morally, and as a matter of law, they are the same.”[15]  Although the views of Justices Bradley and Kelly cannot be attributed directly

An article entitled “Scott Walker ties himself to the Federalist Society,” indicates that Governor Walker – much like President Trump – has outsourced the selection of judges to the far-right Federalist Society.[16]  The article noted that the two extreme judges appointed by Governor Walker to the state supreme court – Justices Bradley and Kelly – were past presidents of the Milwaukee Federalist Society chapter.  The article also noted that Mr. Brennan was the founder of the Milwaukee Federalist Society chapter, and he served as the chapter president from 1991 to 1999 and has been an advisor since 2000.  This out-of-the-mainstream legal organization represents a sliver of America’s legal profession – just 4 percent – yet over 94 percent of Trump’s circuit court nominees, and a significant number of his district court nominees, have been Federalist Society members.  In the article discussing Governor Walker’s reliance on Mr. Brennan and the Federalist Society in making state judicial selections, a prominent Milwaukee attorney, Craig Mastantuono, observed: “The Federalist Society is the developmental league for the takeover of the conservative movement in the judiciary in the United States and they’ve been quite effective in getting the far right into positions of power in disproportionate numbers in the state and federal judiciaries.  It’s an activist movement.  It’s an organized takeover.”[17]
Far-Right Judicial Philosophy:  Mr. Brennan believes that judges should dismiss the principle of precedent and stare decisis when it conflicts with their personal, ideological view of how the Constitution should be interpreted.  This view is antithetical to the rule of law and the clear obligations of lower court judges.  In a 2001 National Review op-ed, Mr. Brennan wrote: “If, after reexamination of a legal decision, a court concludes that the ruling was incorrect, stare decisis does not require that the rule of that case be followed.  To do so would violate a judge’s oath…. Stare decisis does not dictate slavish adherence to poorly reasoned precedent, nor does it transform originalist interpretation of a constitutional or statutory provision into judicial activism.  Bush-appointed judges cannot accurately be labeled as activists for reexamining and following only correct precedent.”[18]

Mr. Brennan’s theory is at odds with the bedrock principle of stare decisis, which the Supreme Court has said “promotes the evenhanded, predictable, and consistent development of legal principles, fosters reliance on judicial decisions, and contributes to the actual and perceived integrity of the judicial process.”[19]

In the same article, Mr. Brennan wrote: “The oath of a federal justice or judge at 28 U.S.C. § 453 makes express that his or her duty is first to the Constitution and the laws of the United States, not to other judges’ interpretation thereof.  That duty includes reexamination of precedent to ensure that the correct law is applied.”[20]

But this statute says nothing about what a judge should do if he or she believes that the law conflicts with other judges’ interpretation of it.  Rather, the statute merely sets forth the basic judicial oath of office in which a judge vows to perform all duties “under the Constitution and laws of the United States.”  Mr. Brennan’s interpretation of this statute is alarming and a clear indication of judicial activism.  He seems to believe that judges should only follow those precedents with which they agree, and that is a deeply troubling approach to legal analysis.

Mr. Brennan’s far-right judicial philosophy has also led him to praise Supreme Court decisions that limit Congress’s authority to help victims of domestic violence and discrimination victims.  In a 2001 Federalist Society blog post, he praised Supreme Court cases that struck down portions of the Violence Against Women Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act, and he wrote that “justices and judges faced with activist legislatures are not required to roll over in the name of judicial restraint.”[21]  In his tight embrace of limited government, Mr. Brennan also opined that “Legal reasoning that could result in truncating a small part of Congress’s power is not activism.  It is not second-guessing.  It is a check in the balance of the separation of powers.”[22]

In a 2005 article entitled “Are courts becoming too activist?,” Mr. Brennan discussed examples of judicial activism by the Wisconsin Supreme Court, and all the cases he cited involved plaintiffs who prevailed in tort cases or defendants who prevailed in criminal cases.[23]

Harsh Criminal Sentencing:  When he served as a Milwaukee County trial court judge, from 2000-2008, Mr. Brennan presided over a case in which four young African-American men, including the son of Congresswoman Gwen Moore, were charged with vandalism for letting the air out of the tires on some vans that had been rented by the Republican Party on election day in 2004.  The Milwaukee District Attorney reached a plea agreement with the defendants, who pled to a misdemeanor in return for a recommended sentence of probation.  Mr. Brennan rejected the plea agreement and imposed a jail sentence of six months, which one commentator called “one of the most blatant demonstrations of racial inequality in justice in Milwaukee County.”[24]

Mr. Brennan’s draconian approach to criminal sentencing can also be seen in his work from 1998-1999 while serving as staff counsel to the Wisconsin Criminal Penalties Committee, a position to which he was appointed by Governor Tommy Thompson.  The committee rewrote Wisconsin’s criminal sentencing law, and, as explained by Mr. Brennan: “Parole was abolished” and “The act also increased penalty ranges 50 percent for all felonies.”[25]  At the time he worked on this Wisconsin Criminal Penalties Committee, Mr. Brennan also served as an Assistant District Attorney.

Partisan Activities: Mr. Brennan has been a Republican Party activist for many years.  He has not just made political contributions, though he has certainly made his share: he has contributed over $10,000 to Republican politicians, including a contribution of $500 to Chairman Grassley in 2016.  He has also served as a fundraiser.  He acknowledged on his Senate questionnaire that he has served as a fundraiser for Ron Johnson for Senate in 2010 and 2016, and for Tommy Thompson in 2012, among others.  And he served on the finance committee of the Wisconsin State Republican Party from 1992-1995 and from 1998-1999.  If confirmed, Mr. Brennan would have to consider recusing himself in any case involving the Republican Party or Republican officials due to his partisan bias.
For the foregoing reasons, The Leadership Conference urges you to reject the nomination of Michael Brennan to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.  Thank you for your consideration of our views.  If you have any questions or would like to discuss this matter further, please contact Mike Zubrensky, Chief Counsel and Legal Director, at (202) 466-3311.

Sincerely,
Vanita Gupta
President and  CEO

[1]https://medium.com/@civilrightsorg/top-ten-ways-grassley-is-choosing-politics-over-principle-in-judicial-confirmations-41ffe34e59bf.
[2]https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R44975.pdf.
[3]https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/opinion/columnists/iowa-view/2015/04/15/working-secure-iowas-judicial-legacy/25801515/.
[4]https://www.acslaw.org/acsblog/10-things-you-need-to-know-about-blue-slips.
[5]http://thehill.com/opinion/op-ed/203226-protect-the-senates-important-advice-and-consent-role.
[6]http://archive.jsonline.com/news/opinion/126042043.html/.
[7]https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/2017/08/04/donald-trump-appoints-gov-scott-walker-ally-federal-7th-circuit-court-appeals/539442001/.
[8]https://www.wisbar.org/aboutus/governmentrelations/Documents/Wisconsin%20Judicial%20Nominations%20Commission%20Charter%202017.pdf.
[9]https://www.ronjohnson.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2015/5/johnson-contacts-white-house-regarding-seventh-circuit-court-of-appeals-nomination.
[10]https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Brennan%20SJQ.pdf.
[11]Id.
[12]http://host.madison.com/ct/news/local/govt-and-politics/rebecca-bradley-called-gay-people-degenerates-queers-in-college-newspaper/article_7b92ace5-d4d2-54af-a2de-54860858be47.html.
[13]http://host.madison.com/ct/news/local/govt-and-politics/rebecca-bradley-in-camille-paglia-legitimately-suggested-women-play-role/article_28cb63fe-d647-5ce3-b558-3497c8f6f418.html.
[14]Id.
[15]https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/7/22/1551102/-Judge-says-affirmative-action-and-slavery-are-morally-the-same-is-appointed-to-WI-Supreme-Court.
[16]http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/scott-walker-ties-himself-to-the-federalist-society/article_15b2e76a-5229-5ab1-b785-5e6c39087671.html.
[17]Id.
[18]https://www.afj.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Brennan-QA-Clip-170-1.pdf.
[19]Kimble v. Marvel Enterprises, 135 S. Ct. 2401, 2409 (2005).
[20]https://www.afj.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Brennan-QA-Clip-170-1.pdf.
[21]https://fedsoc.org/commentary/publications/hot-topics-judicial-activism.
[22]Id.
[23]https://www.afj.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Are-Courts-Becoming-Too-Activist.pdf.
[24]https://afj.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/ZIEGLER_-WMC-ESTABLISH-NEW-LOW-IN-COURT-ETHICS.pdf.
[25]https://www.afj.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Brennan-QA-Clip-159.pdf.