Georgia Tech Procurement Assistance Center

Chinese government hackers steal massive amounts of data from Navy contractor computers

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Chinese government hackers have stolen large swaths of highly sensitive data on undersea warfare from a Navy contractor’s computers, The Washington Post reports.

The stolen information includes secret plans to develop a supersonic anti-ship missile to be used by submarines by 2020, American officials told the Post.

The incidents took place in January and February, but officials did not disclose the contractor that was targeted, the newspaper reported Friday.

Although the information was highly sensitive, it was housed on the contractor’s unclassified network, according to the Post.

“Per federal regulations, there are measures in place that require companies to notify the government when a ‘cyber incident’ has occurred that has actual or potential adverse effects on their networks that contain controlled unclassified information,” Navy Lt. Marycate Walsh said in a statement. “It would be inappropriate to discuss further details at this time.”

Keep reading this article at: http://wtkr.com/2018/06/08/wapo-chinese-government-hackers-steal-massive-amounts-of-data-from-navy-contractor-computers/

Court grapples with Albany Marine Corps Logistics Base contractor’s bribery conviction

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The owner of a trucking company who was convicted of paying bribes to rake in more than $20 million from military contracts fought for relief last Wednesday at the 11th Circuit.

Arguing before a three-judge panel in Atlanta, attorney Edward Garland said that the evidence showed only that his client, Christopher Whitman, gave gratuities to officials.   “The defense was presented for five weeks … evidence was used on the record for, what we’ll call, ‘buttering up,’” said Garland, a partner with Garland, Samuel and Loeb.

Justice Department attorney Alex Robbins told the panel meanwhile that the proper time to raise such arguments was at trial.  “Timing is everything,” Robbins said. “You need to submit your argument to the jury. … None of that happened here.”

Robbins added: “There is nothing in the record at all that suggested these payments were gratuities.”

Garland’s argument also drew skepticism from at least one judge on the panel.  “But you never argued this, did you?” said U.S. District Judge John Antoon II, sitting by designation from the Middle District of Florida.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.courthousenews.com/court-grapples-with-defense-contractors-bribery-conviction/

See our earlier reports on this case at: http://gtpac.org/?p=10102 and http://gtpac.org/?p=7589. 

2 San Diego contractors sentenced in DoD scam

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Two San Diego defense contractors were each sentenced Thursday to 15 months in custody for conspiring to commit wire fraud and file false claims, and making false statements on their federal income tax returns.

Jeffrey Harrington, 55, and Michael Mayer, 63, admitted to fraudulently obtaining money from the U.S. government by making false claims to the Department of Defense for payment on items that the defendants knew had not been sold to the Navy, but which had been substituted with other, unauthorized products.

As part of the sentence, three of the companies owned by Harrington and Mayer — San Diego-based Veteran Logistics, Industrial Xchange and Boston Laser Technology — were ordered to forfeit over $1.4 million and pay a $1 million fine for their roles in the offenses, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Keep reading this article at: https://timesofsandiego.com/crime/2017/12/14/2-san-diego-contractors-sentenced-in-department-of-defense-scam/

Sealift Command contractor charged for taking $3 million in bribes

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A contractor who worked on the Navy’s supply and transport arm is facing a five-count indictment for his alleged role in a bribery scheme that allegedly netted him $3 million.

Scott B. Miserendino Sr., 58, was charged on May 4 on charges that he accepted bribes over 15 years while working for a contractor at the Military Sealift Command.

The indictment alleges that Miserendino, while employed as a contractor for Military Sealift Command, assisted Joseph P. Allen and his contracting company “in obtaining and expanding a commission agreement with a telecommunications company” that provided satellite services to MSC.

Officials said that Miserendino used his position to influence MSC to take “official acts” that benefited the telecommunications company, and Allen through the commission agreement, from 1999 until 2014.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.federaltimes.com/articles/military-sealift-command-contractor-charged-for-taking-3m-in-bribes

Defense contractors see end of budget decline

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“The tide has definitely turned in the direction of contract spending,” wrote a team directed by Andrew Hunter of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Defense Department fiscal 2016 contract obligations increased by 7 percent over the previous year, “far higher than predicted,” said the analysis of the outlook for spending on research and development, defense acquisition reform and procurement performance-based data from the Federal Procurement Data System.

Significant boosts in spending commitments were recorded by the Missile Defense Agency, the Air Force and the Navy, “driven primarily by increased obligations for large procurement programs like the C-130J transport aircraft, the KC-45A tanker aircraft, and the Trident II missile program,” CSIS said. “Even the Army, which had declined far more steeply than DoD overall throughout the budget drawdown, was virtually stable between 2015 and 2016.”

Keep reading this article at: http://www.govexec.com/contracting/2017/04/defense-contractors-see-end-budget-decline/136788

Missing JV agreement sinks offeror’s proposal

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A small business joint venture’s proposal was excluded from the competition because the joint venture failed to submit a signed copy of its joint venture agreement, as required by the solicitation.

In a recent bid protest decision, the GAO held that the procuring agency acted properly in excluding the joint venture’s proposal, even though the joint venture’s price was more than $300,000 lower than the lowest-priced awardee’s.

The GAO’s decision in CJW Desbuild JV, LLC, B-414219 (Mar. 17, 2017) involved a NAVFAC solicitation for construction services.  The solicitation was issued as a small business set-aside, and contemplated the award of up to six IDIQ contracts.

The solicitation called for NAVFAC to make award on a best value basis, taking into account both price and non-price factors. The three non-price factors were construction experience, safety, and past performance.

Keep reading this article at: http://smallgovcon.com/uncategorized/missing-jv-agreement-sinks-offerors-proposal/

Feds say Navy contractor stole $13 million, but U.S. government still works with it

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A North Carolina-based defense contractor defrauded the U.S. government of more than $13.6 million over the course of a decade, according to documents filed in U.S. District Court in Norfolk.

But the government is still doing business with the company: Global Services Corp. of Fayetteville, N.C.

Two men – one of whom lives in Hampton Roads – have pleaded guilty, but federal prosecutors have worked the past several months to keep secret the identity of the contractor and its owner.

Court documents do not name the firm or two Newport News-based companies that they say were integral to the conspiracy. They are identified only as Firm G, Company A and Company B.

In most cases, the documents also do not name the president of the defense contracting firm – who prosecutors say was the primary beneficiary of the fraud. The documents generally identify him only by the initials “PAM.”

On one occasion, however, prosecutors filed a document in connection with an accomplice’s case that identified him as Philip A. Mearing – the president of Global Services Corp.

Keep reading this article at: http://pilotonline.com/news/local/crime/feds-say-navy-contractor-stole-million-but-u-s-government/article_f0e96b82-c45c-5577-b9f9-6a2cc5ffdfbc.html 

GAO decision illustrates breadth of agency discretion in past performance evaluations

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past-performance-relevanceIn the recent bid protest decision of Halbert Construction Company Inc., the Government Accountability Office (GAO) illustrated the breadth of a procuring agency’s discretion in conducting a past performance evaluation.

Halbert Construction brought the protest after being excluded from the competitive range, arguing primarily that the Navy unreasonably included a non-relevant prior project in the past performance evaluation which led to Halbert Construction’s exclusion.  The GAO sustained the protest based on the well- established principle that offerors must be treated equally because the Navy excluded another offeror’s past performance reference from the evaluation as not relevant under the solicitation’s relevancy criteria but then failed to do the same for the protestor.

More notable than the relatively straight-forward application of the disparate treatment principle was the decision’s discussion of the very broad discretion of agencies in past performance evaluations.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.insidegovernmentcontracts.com/2016/10/gao-decision-illustrates-breadth-agency-discretion-past-performance-evaluations/

Army Corps of Engineers hosts Industry Day for Kings Bay maintenance dredging projects on June 23

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Army Corps of EngineersThe U.S. Army Corps of Engineers-Jacksonville District (Corps) will hold an Industry Day for the Maintenance Dredging Projects at Naval Submarine Base, Kings Bay, Georgia on Thursday, June 23, 2016 from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm at the Prudential Building, 701 San Marco Blvd, Jacksonville, FL 32207.

The purpose of this event is to re-introduce the Dredging Industry to the Maintenance Dredging Projects at Naval Submarine Base, Kings Bay, Georgia. Additionally this event will provide an opportunity to not only discuss the forthcoming requirements, but openly discuss project challenges and potential acquisition strategies which will increase competition.

Work Descriptions
  • Kings Bay Entrance Channel: Kings Bay Entrance Channel, which is located in the St. Mary’s River and Cumberland Sound at the Georgia-Florida boundary, has a performance which typically commences in December and concludes no later than March 31st. This requirement consists of maintenance dredging of portions of the Kings Bay Entrance and Inner Channels to a specified required depth. This combined project, referred to as Kings Bay Entrance Channel, requires excavated material be distributed among the North Beach Disposal Area (D/A-NB), the Fernandina Ocean Dredged Material Disposal Site (ODMDS) (D/A-O) and the Fernandina Nearshore Disposal Area (D/A-N); as such U.S. Coast Guard Certification is required. Incidental work associated with the Entrance Channel includes turbidity monitoring, environmental species monitoring, vibration monitoring and sea turtle non-capture trawling.
  • Kings Bay Inner Channel: Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base is located near St. Mary’s, Camden County, Georgia or five miles north of the Georgia/Florida border and 28 miles north of the Jacksonville International Airport (JAX). Water access to the Subase is approximately 10 nautical miles from the Atlantic Ocean through the confluence of the St. Mary’s and Amelia Rivers at Cumberland Sound and along the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway (AIWW). The channel connecting the inshore waterways to the Subase is known as Kings Bay Inner Channel (KBIC) and is approximately 8.6 nautical miles west of the mouth of the St. Mary’s Entrance (River Stations 00+000 to 48+250). This requirement is typically performed from late Spring to early Summer and consists of maintenance dredging of portions of the Kings Bay Inner Channel and placing excavated material at Disposal Area Crab Island (D/A-C). NOTE: Previous Inner Channel projects have included maintenance dredging of Marine Corps Support Facility – Blount Island, which is located approximately 8.0 miles northeast of downtown Jacksonville, Florida and 9 miles west of the mouth of the St. Johns River. The disposal area for this feature of work is Dayson Island DMMA (D/A-D). Incidental work associated with both the Inner Channel and Blount Island features of work include turbidity monitoring, environmental species monitoring and bird monitoring.
  • The NAICS code assigned to this work is 237990 – Other Heavy and Civil Engineering Construction.
Industry Day Registration Requirements

To register for this event, email your firm name, as well as list of attendees, to Timothy Donnellan at Timothy.A.Donnellan@usace.army.mil. Your registration will be confirmed via email.

This event is ONLY for those firms interested in these specific requirements. Seating is limited to 100; only 3 individuals per firm will be allowed to register/attend. Once capacity is reached, registration will be closed.  Registration requests received after June 15, 2016 will not be honored; walk-ups will not be admitted.

Agenda

Download the draft agenda here: Draft_Agenda_-_Kings_Bay_Industry_Day 06.23.2016

POCs
:
Timothy A. Donnellan
Phone: 904-232-3055
:
Tedra N. Thompson
Phone: 904-232-2016

If you think the Navy spends most of its procurement budget on ships, think again

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Navy logoYou might assume the Navy spends most of its weapons budget on its fleet of aircraft carriers, submarines, destroyers and other ships. But you would be wrong. The sea service spends most of its budget on aircraft—by a substantial margin.

An analysis by Govini, a data analytics company, shows that Navy spending on fixed-wing aircraft rose to $11.4 billion in 2015, with spending on combat ships and landing vessels coming in at $8.8 billion during the same period. Govini has formed a data sharing partnership with Government Executive Media Group; earlier this month Govini and GEMG released the 2016 Federal Scorecard, an annual ranking of government contractors based on more than 6,000 data points.

The Navy, which is the top-spending federal agency, has been spending more on aircraft than ships in recent years, but the gap grew significantly in 2015. Company analysts estimate the pattern will continue through 2018.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.govexec.com/defense/2016/04/if-you-think-navy-spends-most-its-procurement-budget-ships-think-again/127848

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