Navy | The Contracting Education Academy

August 8, 2018 By cs

Navy’s top acquisition priority stumbles out of the gate

The U.S. Navy’s $122.3 billion Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine program is off to an inauspicious start after faulty welding was discovered in several missile tubes destined for both the Columbia and Virginia-class programs, as well as the United Kingdom’s follow-on SSBN program.

**The future ballistic missile submarine Columbia, the lead boat in the next generation of nuclear missile boats.** (drawing courtesy of US Navy)

In all, 12 missile tubes manufactured by BWXT, Inc., are being scrutinized for substandard welds. Seven of the 12 had been delivered to prime contractor General Dynamics Electric Boat and were in various stages of outfitting, and five were still under construction. The Navy and Electric Boat have launched an investigation, according to a statement from Naval Sea Systems Command spokesman Bill Couch.

“All BWXT welding requiring volumetric inspection has been halted until the investigation is complete,” Couch said.

The bad welds came to light after discrepancies were discovered with the equipment BWXT used to test the welds before shipping them to GDEB, according to a source familiar with the issue.

The discovery of a significant quality control issue at the very outset of fabrication of Columbia injects uncertainty in a program that already has little room for delays. The issue is made even more troubling because it arises from a vendor with an excellent reputation, and raises questions about whether the Navy can deliver Columbia on time, something the Navy says is vital to ensuring continuous nuclear deterrent patrols as the Ohio class reaches the end of its service life.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.defensenews.com/breaking-news/2018/08/06/the-us-navys-top-acquisition-priority-stumbles-out-of-the-gate-after-bad-welds-discovered-in-missile-tubes/

June 15, 2018 By cs

$20 million lawsuit settled alleging contractor falsely overcharged Navy for ship husbanding services

Inchcape Shipping Services Holdings Limited and certain of its subsidiaries (collectively, Inchcape) have agreed to pay $20,000,000 to resolve allegations that they violated the False Claims Act by knowingly overbilling the U.S. Navy under contracts for ship husbanding services, the Department of Justice has announced.

Inchcape is a marine services contractor headquartered in the United Kingdom.

Inchcape provided goods and services to Navy ships at ports in several regions throughout the world, including southwest Asia, Africa, Panama, North America, South America and Mexico. Inchcape provided ships with food and other subsistence items, waste removal, telephone services, ship-to-shore transportation, force protection services and local transportation. The lawsuit alleged that from 2005 to 2014, Inchcape knowingly overbilled the Navy for these services by submitting invoices that overstated the quantity of goods and services provided, billing at rates in excess of applicable contract rates, and double-billing for some goods and services.

“Federal contractors may only charge the government for costs allowed by their federal contracts,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Chad A. Readler, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “The Department of Justice will take action against contractors that knowingly submit inflated claims to the armed forces—or any other agency of the United States—as those inflated claims wrongfully divert taxpayer dollars.”

“We trust contractors supporting our warfighters to act with the utmost integrity and expect them to comply with their obligations to bill the government as called for by their contracts,” said U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jessie K. Liu. “This settlement reflects our Office’s strong commitment to holding accountable those who violate these fundamental principles, no matter where they may be located.”

“This settlement demonstrates that the Department of the Navy will continue to hold contractors accountable for the agreements they make to supply our fleet,” said Secretary of the Navy Richard V. Spencer. “The Department expects strict adherence to higher standards within the Department and expects the same from its contractors.”

“Fraud is an abuse of the system that siphons resources away from the American warfighter,” said Jeremy Gauthier, Special Agent in Charge of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service’s Washington D.C. field office. “NCIS will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to hold responsible those who would put personal gain above corporate integrity.”

The lawsuit was brought under the qui tam, or whistleblower, provisions of the False Claims Act by three former employees of Inchcape, Noah Rudolph, Andrea Ford and Lawrence Cosgriff. Under the act, a private citizen may bring suit on behalf of the United States for false claims and share in any recovery. The government may intervene in the case, as it did here. The False Claims Act allows the government to recover treble damages and penalties from those who violate it. As part of today’s resolution, the whistleblowers will receive approximately $4.4 million.

The case was handled jointly by the Civil Division’s Commercial Litigation Branch and the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the District of Columbia, with assistance from the Department of the Navy and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.

The case is captioned United States ex rel. Rudolph v. Inchcape Shipping Services Holdings Limited, et al., No. 1:10-cv-01109 (D.D.C). The claims alleged in the case are allegations only, and there has been no determination of liability.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/united-states-settles-lawsuit-alleging-contractor-falsely-overcharged-united-states-navy

April 27, 2018 By cs

Navy wants a better way to keep China’s nose out of its contracts

The other day, the U.S. Navy was about to issue a contract — nothing remarkable for an organization that awards dozens each week.

Then the contracting office realized that the specific division of the company they wanted to work with was in a joint venture with Chinese smartphone maker Huawei. All of a sudden, the service “turned around and said, ‘Whoa, stop the horses,’” Navy Secretary Richard Spencer told lawmakers Thursday.

In 2014, concerns about espionage led the U.S. to ban Huawei, which was founded by a former People’s Liberation Army engineer, from bidding on government contracts. In February, U.S. intelligence chiefs cautioned even the average American against buying Huawei products.

In this case, the Navy didn’t automatically kill the contract — though they did put a hold on it as they talked with the prime contractor.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.govexec.com/contracting/2018/04/navy-wants-better-way-keep-chinas-nose-out-its-contracts/147603/

March 26, 2018 By cs

Riding the acquisition innovation avalanche

You know a transformation is afoot when the Navy chooses as its acquisition chief a man known as “Hondo,” who is famous for an Iron Man exoskeleton project and a “Thunderdrone” UAV tournament.

Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition James “Hondo” Geurts is the father of SOFWERX, the U.S. Special Forces Command’s technology incubator, where the super suit and the drone coliseum are housed. SOFWERX is dedicated to fomenting creative collisions among divergent thinkers, and Geurts is the personification of the most expansive explosion of innovative in federal acquisition in a quarter century.

As Geurts often says, we are in the Age of Surprise. Timelines are shorter. The technology gap between the United States and its adversaries is disappearing.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.govexec.com/excellence/promising-practices/2018/03/riding-acquisition-innovation-avalanche/146745/

March 21, 2018 By cs

Ineligible SBIR contractor pays $12 million to settle False Claim Act allegations

TrellisWare Technologies, Inc. has agreed to pay $12,177,631.90 to settle civil False Claims Act allegations that it was ineligible for multiple Small Business Innovation and Research (SBIR) contracts it entered into with the Defense Department.

TrellisWare is a majority-owned subsidiary of ViaSat, Inc., a global broadband services and technology company headquartered in San Diego.

The SBIR program is designed to stimulate technological innovation by funding small businesses to engage in federal research and development efforts. To be considered a small business for purposes of SBIR awards, a contractor must not be majority owned by another company.

Between 2008 and 2015, TrellisWare was awarded multiple SBIR contracts to provide the Navy, Army and Air Force with a variety of technology services and products involving communications and signal processing systems, including wireless networks used in military tactical environments. TrellisWare self-certified that it met the small business size requirements for eligibility to receive SBIR funding. But based on certain disclosures that TrellisWare later made about its ownership relationship with ViaSat, the government conducted an investigation into TrellisWare’s eligibility for SBIR awards. The government contends that TrellisWare was not eligible for SBIR awards because it was actually a majority-owned subsidiary of ViaSat at the time it was awarded and performed on SBIR contracts.

This matter was investigated by auditing personnel of the Affirmative Civil Enforcement Unit of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, in coordination with Special Agents of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service; Naval Criminal Investigative Service; Army Criminal Investigation Command; Air Force Office of Special Investigations; and Small Business Administration, Office of the Inspector General.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdca/pr/san-diego-communications-company-pays-more-12-million-settle-false-claim-act

The U.S. Navy’s $122.3 billion Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine program is off to an inauspicious start after faulty welding was discovered in several missile tubes destined for both the Columbia and Virginia-class programs, as well as the United Kingdom’s follow-on SSBN program.

The other day, the U.S. Navy was about to issue a contract — nothing remarkable for an organization that awards dozens each week.

You know a transformation is afoot when the Navy chooses as its acquisition chief a man known as “Hondo,” who is famous for an Iron Man exoskeleton project and a “Thunderdrone” UAV tournament.

TrellisWare Technologies, Inc. has agreed to pay $12,177,631.90 to settle civil False Claims Act allegations that it was ineligible for multiple Small Business Innovation and Research (SBIR) contracts it entered into with the Defense Department.

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