Alabama company awarded defense contract

Sysco Foodservice of Sysco Alabama of Calera is being awarded a maximum $22,500,000 fixed-price with economic price adjustment, sole-source, prime vendor, bridge contract for food and beverage support.

There are no other locations of performance.

Using services are Army, Navy, and Air Force.

The original proposal was Web-solicited with one response.

The date of performance completion is Oct. 16, 2011.

The Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pa., is the contracting activity.

Alabama company awarded defense contract

Sysco Foodservice of Sysco Alabama of Calera is being awarded a maximum $22,500,000 fixed-price with economic price adjustment, sole-source, prime vendor, bridge contract for food and beverage support.

There are no other locations of performance.

Using services are Army, Navy, and Air Force.

The original proposal was Web-solicited with one response.

The date of performance completion is Oct. 16, 2011.

The Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pa., is the contracting activity.

Montgomery company awarded defense contract

Clement Group, LLC of Montgomery was awarded on Sept. 30 a $11,405,417 firm-fixed-price contract.

This contract is for brigade complex headquarters/sensitive compartmental information facilities, "(L) Phase 1 B, PN 65362," Fort Carson, Colo.

Construct one standard design Brigade headquarters building with sensitive compartmental information facilities.

Work is to be performed in Fort Carson, Colo., with an estimated completion date of Jan. 20, 2012.

Four bids were solicited with two bids received.

Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha, Neb., is the contracting activity.

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Raytheon Co., IDS of Huntsville was awarded on Sept. 29 a $11,963,111 firm-fixed-price contract.

This contract is for the Integrated Air and Missile Defense (IAMD) plug and fight (P&F) A-kit design definition to develop an integrated set of components/platform end item preliminary engineering change proposals for the development of IAMD P&F A-kits that integrate the government furnished equipment IAMD B-kits.

Work is to be performed in Huntsville with an estimated completion date of Feb. 28, 2011. One bid was solicited with one bid received.

AMCOM Contracting Center, Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal is the contracting activity.

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Brassfield & Gorrie of Birmingham was awarded on Sept. 30 a $9,742,000 firm-fixed-price contract to design and construct a soldier family care clinic.

Work is to be performed in Fort Stewart, Ga., with an estimated completion date of March 22, 2012.

Corps of Engineers Savannah District, Ga., is the contracting activity.

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BAE Systems, Inc. of Anniston was awarded on Sept. 29 a $6,200,000 firm-fixed-price contract for the overhaul of 20 M113A3 Bradley family of vehicles for the Army National Guard.

Work is to be performed in Anniston with an estimated completion date of Jan. 1, 2011.

One bid was solicited with one bid received.

TACOM, CCTA-AHLA, Warren, Mich., is the contracting activity.

Alabama company awarded defense contract

Austal USA, of Mobile is being awarded a $204,652,897 modification to previously awarded contract (N00024-08-C-2217) for the exercise of construction options for ships four and five of the Joint High Speed Vessel (JHSV) program.

The JHSV will provide high speed, shallow draft transportation capability to support the intra-theater maneuver of personnel, supplies and equipment for the Navy, Marine Corps, and Army.

Work will be performed in Mobile and is expected to be completed by December 2013.

Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year.

The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity.

Stop Loss extension

Congress approved an extension for veterans affected by Stop Loss to claim their benefits.

The new deadline is Dec. 3, 2010.

For more information, click here.

Here's the story I wrote in August on the issue:

Service members and veterans who were on "stop loss" from Sept. 11, 2001, to Sept. 20, 2009, are eligible for extra money. The problem is the Department of Defense is having a hard time finding them.

Stop loss refers to service members who were kept on active duty beyond their contract to the military, typically because of shortages or needs in certain career fields.

The defense department estimates that 145,000 service members and veterans nationwide are eligible for the benefit. More than $111 million has been paid to 25,000 troops and the Pentagon has about $423 million left in the program's fund, according to DoD figures.

Congress approved the $500 per-month-served special payment when it passed the end of service dates as part of the 2009 War Supplemental Appropriations Act.

But, the law only allows the department to accept applications for the benefit between October 2009 and this October. There are no authorizations in the law to make payments after the deadline.

The average payout is $3,000 to $4,000, according to DoD figures. Each of the services has been reaching out to its members but finding all those eligible for the retroactive pay is proving to be a challenge, said Sam Retherford in a Department of Defense news release. He's the director for the DoD officer and enlisted personnel management office.

"Getting the word out is our No. 1 challenge," he said in the news release. "Many are former members. Many have no obligation to the military anymore and are scattered across the world right now. Getting the word out for people to solicit the claim is our first challenge."

More than 420,000 veterans are living in Alabama. Thousands have deployed or been activated with the National Guard and Reserves since Sept. 11, 2001.

To apply for the retroactive payment, service members must have been honorably discharged and have documentation to prove they were affected by stop loss. Those who served under stop loss but later decided to extend their commitment or re-enlist are also eligible for the benefit.

Documents that will be used to determine eligibility include a certificate of discharge, separation orders, retirement orders, memos from previous commanders or organizations.

Retherford encourages service members to apply even if they don't have all the documentation because the service may have the documents to fill in the holes.

Stop Loss has been used by the military since 1983 in cases of national emergency, according to the department.

FIND OUT MORE

Here's where to get information from each service:

Army: www.stoplosspay.army.mil or e-mail to RetroStopLossPay@conus.army.mil

Navy: E-mail to NXAG_N132C@navy.mil

Air Force: www.afpc.randolph.af.mil/stoploss/

Marine Corps: www.manpower.usmc.mil/stoploss or e-mail to stoploss@usmc.mil

USS Alabama Commission has new chairman

From the USS Alabama Commission:

Col. Bill Callender of Mobile was elected chairman of the USS Alabama Battleship Commission at their September 2010 meeting held aboard Battleship USS Alabama in Mobile.

Callender has served on the Commission since 2005. He is an US Army Aviator who flew helicopters during the Vietnam War, retiring with the rank of colonel. He is also a retired public school administrator and served on the administrative staff at the University of South Alabama. He and his wife, Kay, have three daughters and a son.

Callender has been very involved in the Military Officers Association of America and Association of the US Army. He is a graduate of the University of Alabama with additional studies at the University of South Alabama and the Army War College. He is a member of several military organizations and led the drive for a veterans cemetery located in Baldwin County. He served as chairman of the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce Military Affairs Committee and the Mobile Bay Veterans Day Commission, Inc. for several years. He is an ambassador for Honor Flight South Alabama.

Commission officers also elected include: Vice-Chair – Aubury Fuller of Summerdale, Secretary - Col. Pat Downing, USA (Ret) of Mobile, and Treasurer - Cdr. B. C. Jackson of Hope Hull. Immediate Past Chairman is Col. Barney Gass of Gulf Shores.

Additional Commissioners are: Greg Albritton, Range; Terry Ankerson, Mobile; Barry Booth, Spanish Fort; Ben Brooks and Robert Edington, Mobile; Gary Fitts, Tuscaloosa; William J. “Happy” Fulford, Montgomery; Lee A. Hallman, Tuscaloosa; Herb Malone, Gulf Shores; Hal Pierce, Daphne; Tim Russell, Foley, and; Paul Wesch, Mobile.

The USS Alabama Battleship Commission is an independent agency of the State, whose 18 members are Alabama citizens appointed by the Governor. Created in 1963, the Commission oversees operations at Battleship Memorial Park in Mobile, which displays the Battleship USS Alabama, Submarine USS Drum, 25 aircraft, and other exhibits.

Established to honor Alabamians who served in all United States military actions, Battleship Memorial Park has hosted more than 13 million visitors since opening in 1965, and is an internationally known major tourist attraction. Since inception, the Park has been self-supporting for daily operations without using any State of Alabama, or Mobile City and County tax funds.

Alabama airman killed in Afghanistan

Senior Airman Mark Forester, 29, of Tuscaloosa died Sept. 29 in Uruzgan province, Afghanistan, while conducting combat operations in the area, according to a Defense Department release.

He was assigned to the 21st Special Tactics Squadron, Pope Air Force Base, N.C.