At 5:00 p.m. last Friday, U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) officials announced 14 separate contract awards worth a total of approximately $1.34 billion.
In the largest award, Boeing Co., Mesa, Ariz., was given a firm-fixed price, option eligible, multi-year contract with a cumulative maximum value of $904,418,647 for 36 new Block III Apache Helicopters (AH-64E) for the Republic of Korea. This contract, an approved foreign military sale to the Republic of Korea overseen by the U.S. Army Contracting Command, is to include logistical support, spares and one Longbow crew trainer. Funding will be from fiscal 2013 with other procurement and foreign military sales funding.
The second biggest contract went to Northrop Grumman Corp., Aerospace Systems Division, Redondo Beach, Calif., which has been awarded a $152,826,531 contract modification that incorporates 12 outstanding contract changes that evolved from the company’s National Polar Orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) contract. NPOESS was a joint DoD, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA) next-generation satellite system for monitoring the Earth's weather, land, oceans, atmosphere, and near-space environment. In 2010, NPOESS was restructured into separate projects: one for NOAA/NASA, the other for the DoD. The DoD Defense Weather Satellite System contract was canceled in 2012, while the NOAA/NASA Joint Polar Satellite System continues. The contract modification ensures that the true contract value and the actual scope of work are represented more accurately and that the contractor is reimbursed for all costs and fees associated with these changes.
Other major defense contract awardees include Lockheed Martin Corp., Harris Corp., and Honeywell Technology Solutions Inc.
Classified by the DoD as a small business, Soldream Inc., Vernon, Conn., an aerospace machining and manufacturing firm, has been awarded a maximum $7,657,298 firm-fixed-price contract for turbine nozzle segments for the U.S. Air Force with a Dec. 31, 2014 performance completion date. The appropriation is from fiscal 2013 Air Force working capital funds.