intercepts

Military Industrial Complexities

The Industrial Base Transformation (IBT) directorate in the Office of the Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Industrial Policy is seeking vendors to help assess the impact of corporate mergers and acquisitions on the defense industry.

IBT issued the sources-sought notice July 2, and responses were due July 9. The notice is limited to small businesses, and the contract requires the winning vendor to perform assessments with IBT staff.

Jeannette Jordan, a contracting specialist at the Defense Contracting Command-Washington, D.C., said the project team will select mergers or acquisitions for assessment as they occur during the contract period.

"The overall goal is to understand the financial dimensions and implications of transactions, focusing on the impact on the financial position of the buying firm and the health of the target firm as an ongoing concern," Jordan said.

The contract's value will be determined based on the proposals received and it will be awarded as soon as possible, she said.

I Want My I-TV

With strong indications that the 150,000 U.S. troops in Iraq will remain there for the foreseeable future, lawmakers continue to question Pentagon leaders about decreasing that number and increasing the percentage of coalition forces.

Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) agrees with that notion but said it should expand to include reaching out to Iraqis and enabling them to reach out to one another on television.

"False propaganda that we blew up a mosque must be countered by Iraqis speaking about our rebuilding efforts in their communities," he said during a July 9 Senate Armed Services Committee meeting.

Levin said he has already spoken to Stephen Cambone, undersecretary of Defense for intelligence, about the idea.

AKO Backup Online

The Army recently completed an emergency data recovery site supporting the most critical applications on the Army Knowledge Online (AKO) portal.

Col. Timothy Fong, director of the Army's chief technology office, said the data recovery site was launched June 30 and is "capable of supporting our five most critical applications," although he declined to provide details.

AKO provides Army news, distance learning, e-mail accounts, an advanced search engine, instant messaging and chat capabilities. It also has a knowledge collaboration center for service staff worldwide.

Phase I of the AKO backup, which replicates the e-mail and knowledge collaboration data stores, has been up since June 27, he said. Now the service is working to replicate the rest of the massive data center. "We are executing the [data recovery] in a phased approach, and we are still working on Phases II and III."

Fong would not discuss specific details about the remaining data recovery phases or say how much the backup effort is costing the Army. The prime contractor for the project is CherryRoad Technologies Inc., which has subcontracted work to Northrop Grumman Information Technology.

IG Report MIA

At the National Imagery and Mapping Agency's request, the Defense Department Inspector General's office pulled a report off its Web site to determine if some information should be reclassified.

The June 6 report noted that procurement officials at NIMA had not complied with contracting policies and procedures — including omitting documents required by the Federal Acquisition Regulation — in awarding some recent professional and technical service contracts.

The report was put online early last month, but agency officials requested that it be removed. "NIMA discovered the report contained organizational numbers and functions that are exempt from disclosure to the public," an agency spokeswoman said.

"Our attorneys are looking at it and trying to determine if reclassifying some of the information" is necessary, Shaun Wiggins, a DOD IG external affairs officer told the Interceptor June 23. He added that the full report, or an amended version, should be on the DOD IG Web site within about a week, but, as of July 10, it had yet to be reposted.

Shea's Joint View

President Bush has nominated Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Robert Shea to be director of command, control, communications and computer (C4) systems for the Joint Staff and appointed him to the rank of lieutenant general.

Shea will replace Army Lt. Gen. Joseph "Keith" Kellogg Jr., who held the position until his retirement last month.

Shea's military career spans 32 years, and he is currently serving as deputy commander, U.S. Forces Japan. In the past, he has worked for the Marines as director of C4 and chief information officer.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld announced Shea's nomination July 1, but a confirmation date has not been set.

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