Supreme Court to Review Contractor Negligence
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economic community. The opinions expressed here do not reflect opinions of the Leader’s owners or staff.
Army veteran Winston Hencely, who sued a defense contractor over injuries from a suicide bombing in Afghanistan, will have his case reviewed by the US Supreme Court, reports Stars and Stripes. Hencely wants a definitive answer to how an exception under the Federal Tort Claims Act applies to state-law claims against government contractors. Four appellate courts have reached different conclusions. The high court agreed Monday to review the case this fall. Hencely filed a legal claim in 2019 alleging Fluor Corp. in South Carolina had been negligent in the fatal attack at Bagram airfield three years earlier.
DefSec Pete Hegseth’s decision to cut more than half of DoD’s test and evaluation personnel was partly driven by concerns over that office’s plans to provide testing oversight for the Trump administration’s $175 billion Golden Dome missile defense project. Hegseth cut the Office of the Director of Operational Test and Evaluation’s 94-person staff to 46 — a mix of civilians, military personnel, and one senior executive — and has put an end to all contractor support. Administration officials had worried that the office would slow the missile project and increase its costs. They elevated their concerns to the White House, reports Defense News.
DoD’s research and development agency has achieved the transmission of laser energy more than 5 miles, reports Aviation Week. DARPA’s aim is to pass forward laser energy from a ground station through the air to a relay aerial drone, and ultimately move vital warfighting energy around the battlefield at the speed of light, changing a century of warfare logistics based on shipping petroleum fuels to power aircraft, tanks, and ships.
Hegseth will send some civilian employees to support Homeland Security at the southern border, and support “internal immigration enforcement,” reports Defense One. No other details were provided regarding the mission, how many are going, or what their jobs are.
The State Department has notified Congress of more program cuts than previously revealed by SecState Marco Rubio, including a steeper 18% reduction of staff in the US, reports The Associated Press. The restructuring is partially to find a new home for the remains of the US Agency for International Development, dismantled by DOGE. Divisions overseeing America’s two-decade involvement in Afghanistan, including resettling Afghan nationals who worked alongside the US military are also slated for elimination.
About 200 US troops of a Patriot missile-defense unit in South Korea deployed to an undisclosed location in the Middle East last month, reports Stars and Stripes. US Forces Korea oversees approximately 28,500 American troops on the peninsula.
The Pentagon is proposing terminating 14 defense advisory groups, 11 established by statute will require legislative change to terminate, reports Military Times.
Kingsley Wilson, daughter of a right-wing commentator and herself known for combative social media posts, is the latest person to hold the seat of Pentagon press secretary, reports Stars and Stripes. Her history of social media posts ranges from Jewish issues to questioning US involvement in conflicts abroad. The posts have not been deleted.
The White House is withdrawing the nomination of Jared Isaacman to be administrator of NASA, throwing an agency already reeling from proposed massive budget cuts into further disarray, says SpaceNews. Until this news, Isaacman appeared ready to be confirmed within days. Some sources speculate that it was linked to an eroding relationship between President Donald Trump and Elon Musk, the chief executive of SpaceX who has been a close adviser to the president.
Trump has nominated Derrick Anderson to serve as assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low-intensity conflict, reports Defense Scoop. Anderson has an extensive military background in the Army and special operations community and was director for counterterrorism at the National Security Council during the early months of Trump’s second term. Trump previously tapped Air Force veteran Michael Jensen for the ASD SO/LIC job but his nomination was withdrawn last month without explanation.
Trump has nominated VAM Frank Bradley to lead US Special Operations Command, reports USNI. If confirmed, Bradley would take over command from Army GEN Bryan Fenton, who has led SOCOM since August 2022. Bradley has led Joint Special Operations Command since August 2022.
About 6,093 civil service mariners, CIVMARs, work for the Military Sealift Command, providing cost-savings and increasing readiness, reports Stars and Stripes. About seven ships operate with hybrid crews under the leadership of a Navy captain. CIVMARs assignments include kitchen duty, cleaning, maintenance, engineering, and navigation. Expanding the use of hybrid crews could save hundreds of millions of dollars a year and allow the Navy to keep ships adequately crewed while on station longer, making it easier to grow the fleet, according to a December 2020 US Naval Institute report.
On what is becoming a standard flight for the company, Blue Origin sent six people to space on a suborbital spaceflight May 31. Blue Origin’s New Shepard vehicle lifted off from the company’s Launch Site One in West Texas, reached 105 kilometers, and landed 10 minutes later. Chief executive Dave Limp says the flights are both good business and a way to test technology, reports SpaceNews.
Hawaii’s congressional delegation wants more information about the Navy’s plan to more than double bombardment training on a small Hawaiian Island considered a critical bird sanctuary, reports Military.com. Kaula is a nesting ground to about 18 species of birds and home to monk seals and other marine life. Since 1953, the Navy has used it for target practice, replacing live explosive ordnance in the 1980s with inert dummy rounds. In 2024, the Navy proposed increasing bombing runs from 12 a year to as many as 31 and argued that the environmental impacts would be “less than significant.”
The court-martial for an Army major charged with raping or sexually assaulting more than a dozen women in the Washington, DC, region between 2019 and 2023 is set to begin this week at Fort Meade, MD. Stars and Stripes reports Maj. Jonathan Batt faces charges for more than 63 accusations, including 10 specifications of rape, and 15 of sexual assault against 17 women, according to the Army’s Office of Special Trial, which prosecutes sexual cases in the service. He also faces aggravated assault, battery, abusive sexual contact, and obstruction of justice charges in the case.
Hegseth has ordered the Navy to rename the ship that honors Harvey Milk, a former sailor who later became the first openly gay man elected to office in California, reports Stars and Stripes. The USNS Harvey Milk, a John Lewis-class replenishment oiler, was first named after the gay rights activist in 2016 by then-NavSec Ray Mabus. The John Lewis-class oilers are designated by the Navy to be named for civil rights leaders and activists.
NavSec John Phelan visited Guam earlier this month and was “appalled” after seeing the conditions of an Air Force barracks where junior service members were living, prompting an ongoing Navy-wide inspection of more than 100,000 barracks units, reports Military.com.
The Navy awarded a $536 million contract to NorthStar Maritime Dismantlement Service to dismantle, recycle, and dispose of the former aircraft carrier Enterprise (CVN-65), a four-year undertaking that will set precedents for nuclear-powered ship disposals, reports Breaking Defense. It’s the Navy’s first disposal of a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. Using a commercial contractor is also a first. The service disposes of nuclear-powered submarines by a combination of public shipyards and Department of Energy facilities.
The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals penned a letter to Hegseth and Phelan Thursday, thanking the Trump administration for its ban on Navy-funded dog and cat experiments announced this week and requesting a broader ban on all animal testing in all military branches, reports Fox News.
State insurance officials warn that thousands of Marylanders who bought health insurance on the state marketplace could see the cost of coverage increase an average of 17% next year unless Congress extends federal subsidies that are set to expire in December, reports Maryland Matters.
Contracts:
Rockwell Collins, Inc., Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is awarded a $16,587,477 cost-plus-fixed-fee order (N0001925F0087) against a previously issued basic ordering agreement (N0001924G0017). This order provides software sustainment support and cyber security lifecycle support for the E-6B aircraft for the Navy. Work will be performed in Richardson, Texas (95%); Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma (3%); and Patuxent River, Maryland (2%), and is expected to be completed in June 2026. Fiscal 2025 operations and maintenance (Navy) funds in the amount of $5,288,092 will be obligated at the time of award, all of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This order was not competed. Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.
The Survice Engineering Co. LLC, Belcamp, Maryland, is awarded a $9,833,548 modification (P00043) to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract (N0001923C0033). This modification exercises options to provide for the production and delivery of 31 TRV-150C Tactical Resupply Unmanned Air Systems, and to procure one inspection and evaluation of a system in support of the Navy and Marine Corps Small Tactical Unmanned Aircraft Systems. Work will be performed in Harford County, Maryland (100%), and is expected to be completed in April 2026. Fiscal 2025 procurement (Marine Corps) funds in the amount of $9,830,462; and fiscal 2025 operation and maintenance (Marine Corps) funds in the amount of $3,087 will be obligated at the time of award, $3,087 of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This modification was not competed. Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.
Rapid Offset Technologies LLC, Toano, Virginia, was awarded a $7,633,600 firm-fixed-price contract for Air Combat Command Scientific Advisor to the Commander support services. This contract provides for services including, but not limited to, technical consulting, program management, systems engineering, analysis, development, integration, testing, and evaluation for the F-35 advanced sensor open system architecture tactical radio architecture program. Work will be performed on Langley Air Force Base, Virginia, and is expected to be completed by June 30, 2028. This contract was a competitive acquisition and three offers were received. Fiscal 2024 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $2,152,800 are being obligated at time of contract award. The 633rd Contracting Squadron, Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia, is the contracting activity (FA4800-25-F-0096).
Leidos Inc., Reston, Virginia, was awarded a $20,945,962 cost-plus-fixed-fee and cost only modification to previously awarded contract (N00024-22-C-5231) to exercise options for integrated logistic support, fleet maintenance support, and lifecycle sustainment of the Navy’s AN/SQQ-89 surface ship undersea warfare combat systems. Work will be performed in Chesapeake, Virginia (51%); San Diego, California (37%); Yokosuka, Japan (3%); Bath, Maine (3%); Pascagoula, Mississippi (3%); Mayport, Florida (2%); and Seattle, Washington (1%), and is expected to be completed by May 2026. Fiscal 2025 operations and maintenance (Navy) funding in the amount of $1,919,000 (56%); fiscal 2025 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funding in the amount of $687,642 (20%); Foreign Military Sales (FMS) (Australia) funding in the amount of $486,579 (14%); and FMS (Japan) case funding in the amount of $334,332 (10%), will be obligated at the time of award and $1,919,000 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity. (Awarded on May 29, 2025)
ByteCubed LLC, Arlington, Virginia, was awarded a $35,372,268 firm-fixed-price contract for software development in support of artificial intelligence for data driven decision making. Bids were solicited via the internet with nine received. Work will be performed in Washington, DC, with an estimated completion date of May 30, 2026. Fiscal 2025 research, development test, and evaluation, Army funds in the amount of $5,400,000 were obligated at the time of the award. Army Contracting Command, Rock Island, Illinois, is the contracting activity (W519TC-25-F-0241).
AMP United LLC, Dover, New Hampshire (N42158-21-D-S001); International Marine and Industrial Applicators LLC, Spanish Fort, Alabama (N42158-21-D-S002); and Q.E.D. Systems Inc., Virginia Beach, Virginia (N42158-21-D-S003), are awarded a combined $36,481,929 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, multiple award contract modification to exercise Option Year Four for the preservation and maintenance of Navy submarines. The contracts have a base one-year ordering period with four additional optional one-year ordering periods which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value to $248,692,224 over a five-year period to the three vendors combined. Work for this option year will be performed in Portsmouth, Virginia (80%); and Kittery, Maine (20%), and is expected to be completed by June 2026. If all options are exercised, work will continue through June 2026. No funding will be obligated at time of modification. Funding will be obligated at the time of task order award. These contracts were competitively procured via the Federal Business Opportunities website, with three offers received. Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Portsmouth, Virginia, is the contracting activity.
Astronics Test Systems Inc., Irvine, California (N66604-25-D-S501); and Serco Inc., Herndon, Virginia (N66604-25-D-S502), are awarded a combined $49,525,360 firm-fixed-price, cost-plus-fixed-fee, and cost reimbursement, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, multiple award contract for the procurement of Radio Frequency Distribution and Control System (RFDACS) for installation on board current and future class submarines and to modernize, when required, existing Fleet RFDACS. This contract includes an ordering period of five years. Work will be performed at the contractors’ facilities in Irvine, California (40%); Herndon, Virginia (40%); and at Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division Newport, Newport, Rhode Island (20%), and is expected to be completed in June 2030. Each awardee will be awarded an initial task order with other procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $500 immediately following basic contract award, all of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This multiple award contract was competitively procured via the System for Award Management website with three offers received. Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division Newport, Newport, Rhode Island, is the contracting activity.
Cardno–Amec Foster Wheeler JV, Charlottesville, Virginia, is awarded an $80,000,000 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, architect-engineering contract for facilities assessments utilizing BUILDER Sustainment Management System at Marine Corps installations worldwide. Work will be performed at Marine Corps installations in California (30%), Japan (19%), Hawaii (13%), North Carolina (11%), Korea (9%), Georgia (8%), Arizona (4%), South Carolina (3%) and Virginia (3%), and is expected to be completed by June 2030. Fiscal 2025 operation and maintenance (Navy) funds in the amount of $5,000 (minimum contract guarantee) will be obligated at time of award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via the sam.gov website with five offers received. The Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command Southwest, San Diego, California, is the contracting activity (N62473-25-D-2217).
