Marine Corps | The Contracting Education Academy

March 1, 2018 By cs

Here’s how the Marines’ cyber warriors are buying new equipment

The service cyber components that feed up to Cyber Command are responsible to man, train and equip their cyber warriors, meaning each service ends up using their own acquisition and service-specific models to do so.

While Cyber Command possesses limited acquisition authority, this capability is nascent meaning the individual services still are charged with equipping their cyber forces based upon minimum operating capabilities operating capabilities Cyber Command’s Capabilities Development Group outlines.

Marine Corps Forces Cyberspace Command does not possess direct acquisition authority and so they have to work through a variety of vectors including other commands within the service to procure both offensive and defensive capabilities.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.fifthdomain.com/dod/marine-corps/2018/02/21/heres-how-the-marines-cyber-warriors-are-procuring-equipment/

May 4, 2017 By cs

Former Native corporation exec alleges ‘sham companies’ get government contracts

The Afognak Village Corporation, with 1,000 shareholders, operates about two dozen companies with nearly 5,000 employees across the United States and overseas.

Its national and worldwide reach with hundreds of millions in contracts grew from subsidiaries that qualify for Small Business Administration contracting preferences with the Department of Defense, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Air Force, the Navy, the Army, the Marines, the Coast Guard and other agencies.

The company describes its shareholders as descended from the village of Afognak, which was on an island just north of Kodiak hit hard by the tsunami that followed the 1964 earthquake.

Its website features 382 job listings from Japan to Alabama and from Guantanamo Bay to Iraq. Afognak ranked 130th of the top 200 federal contractors in fiscal year 2015, according to a Bloomberg analysis, with $406 million in obligations.

The process by which it emerged as a federal contracting heavyweight is at the heart of a whistleblower lawsuit with legal bills in the millions that is slowly progressing in federal court in Alaska.

According to the lawsuit filed by a former company official, Afognak and its wholly owned subsidiary, Alutiiq, LLC, created “sham” companies to become eligible for more federal contracts than allowed.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.adn.com/opinions/2017/04/25/former-native-corporation-exec-alleges-sham-companies-get-government-contracts/

July 8, 2016 By cs

Don’t learn the wrong lessons from rapid acquisition

Our enthusiasm must be tempered by an understanding of the wartime circumstances that made it work and the downsides that were accepted.

Every time the Marine Corps sent me back to Operation Iraqi Freedom, new and better equipment awaited: radios, armored vehicles, electronic jammers to foil roadside bombs. It was clear that the rapid acquisition policies created or updated for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars were sending high-performing, technical systems to the battlefield much faster than conventional acquisition could. They helped me do my infantryman’s job better, and helped our force adapt to evolving threats in months rather than years or decades.

Sensibly, policymakers are trying to figure out how rapid acquisition ideas could help the conventional acquisition system perform better. Early this year, the Pentagon enshrined rapid acquisition by including a dedicated section on it in the latest regulations governing acquisition. The Air Force recently announced that it is procuring its new B-21 bomber through its rapid capabilities office, and the Navy is setting up a similar office to speed up acquisitions.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.defenseone.com/ideas/2016/06/dont-learn-wrong-lessons-rapid-acquisition/129332

September 30, 2015 By cs

Lockheed Martin’s new combat vehicle bid could redraw battle lines in defense industry

The battle lines in the defense industry are in the process of being redrawn, and the unveiling of Lockheed Martin’s Amphibious Combat Vehicle (ACV) provides yet another example that the big players could be reshuffling.

Lockheed Martin has introduced its candidate for the new Amphibious Combat Vehicle. Photo courtesy Lockheed Martin.

At the Modern Day Marine Trade Show in Quantico on September 22nd, Bethesda, Maryland-based Lockheed Martin Corp. (NYSE: LMT) formally introduced its entrant into the U.S. Marine Corps ACV competition.

The ACV is slated to replace the Marine Corps’ current aging fleet of Amphibious Assault Vehicles (AAV), land and sea vehicles with the capability to shuttle Marine forces in seafaring vessels ashore.

What’s particularly interesting about Lockheed Martin’s unveiling is that it is further a representation of the defense giant’s move to control a broader range of platforms in its defense portfolio.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/blog/fedbiz_daily/2015/09/lockheed-martins-new-combat-vehicle-bid-could.html

September 10, 2015 By cs

Lockheed protests Army’s JLTV contract to Oshkosh

Defense contracting giant Lockheed Martin Corp. on Tuesday (Sept. 8, 2015) confirmed it’s protesting the U.S. Army’s decision to award truck-maker Oshkosh Corp. the contract to build a replacement to the iconic Humvee.

The move came less than two weeks after the the Army awarded Oshkosh a $6.7 billion contract to build the first 17,000 production models of the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle.

The work could eventually be worth some $30 billion, as the Army and Marine Corps plan to buy a total of nearly 55,000 of the combat vehicles, including 49,100 for the Army and 5,500 for the Corps, to replace about a third of the Humvee fleets.

“After evaluating the data provided at our debrief, Lockheed Martin has filed a protest of the award decision on the JLTV program,” according to a statement from the company. “We firmly believe we offered the most capable and affordable solution for the program. Lockheed Martin does not take protests lightly, but we are protesting to address our concerns regarding the evaluation of Lockheed Martin’s offer.”

Keep reading this article at: http://www.dodbuzz.com/2015/09/08/lockheed-protests-armys-jltv-contract-to-oshkosh

Read the earlier article about the Army’s intention to award to Oshkosh here: http://contractingacademy.gatech.edu/2015/09/02/oshkosh-wins-6-7-billion-contract-to-replace-humvee-vehicle-with-jltv

The service cyber components that feed up to Cyber Command are responsible to man, train and equip their cyber warriors, meaning each service ends up using their own acquisition and service-specific models to do so.

The Afognak Village Corporation, with 1,000 shareholders, operates about two dozen companies with nearly 5,000 employees across the United States and overseas.

Our enthusiasm must be tempered by an understanding of the wartime circumstances that made it work and the downsides that were accepted.

The battle lines in the defense industry are in the process of being redrawn, and the unveiling of Lockheed Martin’s Amphibious Combat Vehicle (ACV) provides yet another example that the big players could be reshuffling.

Defense contracting giant Lockheed Martin Corp. on Tuesday (Sept. 8, 2015) confirmed it’s protesting the U.S. Army’s decision to award truck-maker Oshkosh Corp. the contract to build a replacement to the iconic Humvee.

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