In Brief:
SSG Salvatore Giunta, 2nd Battalion, 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade speaks with Pentagon reporters via satellite from Vicenza, Italy. SSG Giunta will become the first living recipient of the Medal of Honor from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
HSI/ICE agents and others receiving U.S. EPA Montreal Protocol Award for ozone-protecting investigation
The good news, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Stratospheric Ozone Protection Progress Report, is that "The ozone layer has not grown thinner since 1998 over most of the world, and it appears to be recovering because of reduced emission of ozone-depleting substances (ODS)." More good news is that the EPA and other federal agencies, including Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), are investigating and arresting criminals who break environmental laws enacted to protect and heal the planet's protective stratospheric shell.
HSI Supervisory Special Agent James Weir and HSI Special Agent Giddel Casadesus, both from the Commercial Fraud Group of ICE's HSI Special Agent in Charge (SAC) Miami, are U.S. EPA Montreal Protocol Award recipients and will be honored at a ceremony on September 23, 2010 at the Canadian Embassy in Washington, D.C., along with others, for their work in a joint EPA-ICE investigation. Under the Montreal Protocol, the U.S. and world community are restricting production and import of ODS, including hydrochloroflurocarbons (HCFCs).
"We congratulate the award winners on their accomplishments in protecting our Earth's ozone layer," said Drusilla Hufford, director of the EPA's Stratospheric Protection Division. "They are sending strong signals that illegal importation of HCFC-22 into the U.S. is not acceptable; we must adhere to our commitments under the Montreal Protocol and protect our environment for future generations."
The award recipients, along with a task force that included state and local law enforcement officers from Miami, brought to justice 44-year-old Miami resident James Garrido, who was smuggling into the United States a highly-restricted refrigerant known as HCFC-22 or R-22. R-22 is used in residential heat pump and air-conditioning systems, but is so environmentally damaging that it's being phased out with a complete ban starting in 2030.
The suspected environmental malfeasance came to light through a tip-off from the ICE-led National Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Center, the multi-agency federal government clearing house for investigations into IPR crimes.
The subsequent investigation led Casadesus and officials from U.S. Customs and Border Protection to closely examine three containers at the Miami seaport. On opening the shipping containers, cylinders of legal refrigerant were found on top. When investigators "tunneled through," however, they found hidden R-22. The shipment originated in China and traveled to the Dominican Republic before entering the United States. Federal agents followed the containers' path, which led them to Garrido.
The fair market value of Garrido's 11 illegal shipments of 418,654 kilograms of R-22 from March 2007 until law enforcement authorities confronted him in April 2009, in fact, totaled more than $3.9 million.
Garrido pleaded guilty in November 2009 in federal district court in Miami to charges related to illegally smuggling restricted ODS into the U.S. in violation of the Clean Air Act and other laws. In February 2010, Garrido was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison, and his import company, Kroy Corporation, was sentenced to five years of probation. They must jointly pay $40,000 in fines and forfeit $1.3 million to the United States.
Garrido's tangled web of connections stretched to distributors, including Mar-Cone Appliance Parts Co., (Marcone) who bought the illegal ODS Garrido was selling. Marcone pled guilty to knowingly receiving, buying, selling and facilitating the transportation, concealment and sale of R-22. On March 18, 2010, Marcone was sentenced to five years probation and ordered to pay $500,000 in criminal fines. Marcone was also ordered to perform community service by making a $400,000 payment to the Southern Environmental Enforcement Training Fund, a not-for-profit training organization. Additionally, Marcone was ordered to forfeit his illicit proceeds of $190,534.70 to the U.S. government.
During the investigation, Casadesus said EPA Criminal Investigation Division and ICE worked closely together examining containers, interviewing parties, gathering evidence, coordinating with the U.S. Attorney's Office and coordinating all the moving parts of the investigation.
"The illegal importation of ozone depleting substances makes everyone and everything on earth vulnerable to the harmful effects of UV radiation," said Maureen O'Mara, Special Agent-in-Charge of EPA's Office of Criminal Enforcement in Atlanta. "This prosecution against those who try to import and distribute ozone depleting substances illegally was a textbook example of how federal law enforcement agencies and their international partners work cooperatively and effectively to protect the public and the environment."
"We will continue to vigorously investigate those who are determined to line their pockets with the proceeds of crimes against the environment," said ICE/HSI SAC Miami Anthony V. Mangione.
For information regarding ozone layer protection and sun safety, click on any of the EPA provided links below.
www.epa.gov/ozone/strathome.html
www.epa.gov/Ozone/intpol/index.html
www.epa.gov/sunwise
www.skincancerprevention.org
www.epa.gov/ozone/partnerships/greenchill/index.html
www.epa.gov/ozone/partnerships/rad/index.html
www.epa.gov/Ozone/title6/imports.html
www.epa.gov/ozone/snap/index.html
www.epa.gov/ozone/awards/index.html
www.epa.gov/sunwise/uvindex.html
FEMA Preparedness Month:
More Information on Tennessee Severe Storms and Flooding
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and Tennessee Emergency Management Agency (TEMA) are working with the state and local governments and certain non-profit organizations in 10 Tennessee counties to begin the application process for federal reimbursement of eligible response and recovery costs associated with the August flooding.
“We’re working with the state to start the process for public assistance applicants to submit their requests for federal funding,” said Federal Coordinating Officer Gracia Szczcech. “Our goal is to assist them in getting the grant money needed to restore infrastructure back to pre-disaster condition.”
FEMA assigns public assistance officers to work with eligible government and non-profit entities to help guide them through the application process.
For approved projects, FEMA will pay 75 percent of the cost. The state and applicant are responsible for the remaining 25 percent.
Projects may include debris removal, emergency services and repair or replacement of damaged public roads, bridges, utilities and facilities.
Source: FEMA
Qualified private non-profit organizations may also receive assistance to restore certain kinds of facilities. These include educational, utility, emergency, medical, custodial care and other essential services.
Clay, Cocke, Hardin, Jackson, Macon, Overton, Pickett, Putnam, Smith, and Wayne counties are now approved for Federal Public Assistance under the Tennessee disaster declaration signed by President Barack Obama on Sept. 15.
Follow the recovery in Tennessee online at http://twitter.com/t_e_m_a, http://twitter.com/fema, http://www.facebook.com/TNDisasterInfo, www.youtube.com/fema and http://www.flickr.com/photos/t_e_m_a.
The social media links provided are for reference only. FEMA and TEMA do not endorse any non-government websites, companies or applications.
FEMA’s mission is to support our citizens and first responders to ensure that as a nation we work together to build, sustain, and improve our capability to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate all hazards.
COAST GUARD
Vice Commandant, Government officials tour North Slope of Alaska
We have written before about the changing conditions in the Arctic, the difficulties presented by its vast expanse and its unforgiving climate. The magnitude and relevance of those challenges to maritime safety, environmental protection and U.S. sovereignty were highlighted by a group of senior officials who returned from the region this weekend. Post written by [...]
CONTRCTS SEPT 8th:
CONTRACTS
MISSILE DEFENSE AGENCY
The Missile Defense Agency is pleased to announce the award of advisory and assistance services contracts to Booz Allen Hamilton, McLean, Va (HQ0147-10-D-0018); Computer Sciences Corp., Huntsville, Ala. (HQ0147-10-D-0019); Paradigm Technologies, Inc., Arlington, Va. (HQ0147-10-D-0020); and Odyssey Systems Consulting Group, Wakefield, Mass. (HQ0147-10-D-0021). Each firm is being awarded an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract to provide advisory and assistance services to the Business Financial Management Organization (DOB). The contractors will assist the DOB directorate in providing financial management services in support of the Ballistic Missile Defense system. This procurement is managed by the Missile Defense Agency Engineering and Support Services Program Office. This program office is responsible for centrally managing the acquisition of advisory and assistance services for the Agency. These contracts are being competitively awarded under the full and open, unrestricted, Request for Proposal HQ0147-09-R-0002. Each contract has a not-to-exceed ordering ceiling of $374,800,000. The companies will have the opportunity to bid on each individual task order. Work under these contracts will be performed in Huntsville, Ala.; Los Angeles, Calif.; Colorado Springs, Colo.; Indianapolis, Ind.; Dahlgren, Va.; Arlington, Va.; Albuquerque, N.M.; and Columbus, Ohio. The performance period is through August 2015. Obligations will be made by task orders using research, development, test and evaluation funds.
Raytheon Missile Systems Co., Tucson, Ariz., is being awarded a cost-plus-award-fee with technical/schedule performance incentive contract with a total value of $165,288,359 under contract HQ0276-10-C-0005. Under this contract, Raytheon will perform Preliminary design review efforts including, but not limited to, engineering services and material for systems engineering, design and development support, and initial hardware fabrication for the Standard Missile-3 Block IIA missile. The work will be performed in Tucson, Ariz., and is expected to be completed by March 31, 2011. Research, development, test and evaluation funds for fiscal 2010 will be used to for this effort with initial incremental funding in the amount of $40,000,000.
NAVY
The Boeing Co., Seattle, Wash., is being awarded a $136,598,000 modification to a previously awarded advance acquisition contract (N00019-09-C-0022) to procure long-lead materials in support of P-8A low-rate initial production II aircraft. Work will be performed in Seattle, Wash. (63.8 percent); Greenlawn, N.Y. (11.7 percent); Baltimore, Md. (10.9 percent); North Amityville, N.Y. (8.3 percent); and McKinney, Texas (5.3 percent), and is expected to be completed in December 2013. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity.
CKY, Inc.*, Hagatna, Guam (N40192-10-D-0004); Donaldson Enterprises, Inc.*, Waikoloa, Hawaii (N40192-10-D-0005); Environet, Inc.*, Honolulu, Hawaii (N40192-10-D-0006); and Unitek Environmental Guam*, Barrigada, Guam (N40192-10-D-0007), are each being awarded an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity multiple award contract for remediation services at various locations in Guam and the Pacific Ocean area. The work to be performed provides for munitions response and incidental environmental remediation at sites which potentially contain munitions and explosives of concern and material potentially presenting an explosive hazard at various locations in Guam and the Pacific Ocean area. The maximum dollar value, including the base period and four option years, for all four contracts combined is $50,000,000. No task orders are being issued at this time. Work will be performed in Guam and the Pacific Ocean area. The term of the contract is not to exceed 60 months, with an expected completion date of September 2015. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via the Navy Electronic Commerce Online website, with five proposals received. These four contractors may compete for task orders under the terms and conditions of the awarded contract. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Marianas, Guam, is the contracting activity.
Raytheon Co., McKinney, Texas, is being awarded a $37,329,835 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for the designing, building and testing of an upgrade of an existing variant of the AN/AAS-53 Common Sensor Payload, including enhanced high definition/target location accuracy imaging capability. This contract shall provide engineering to surface issues relating to the development or integration of the high definition detectors into the AN/AAS-53 Common Sensor Payload to enhance high definition/target location accuracy imagining capability. Raytheon shall deliver a quantity of eight Common Sensor Payload high definition/target location configuration systems. Work will be performed in McKinney, Texas, and is expected to be completed by December 2012. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured. Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane, Ind., is the contracting activity (N00164-06-G-8555-0071).
Lockheed Martin Corp., Mission Systems and Sensors, Owego, N.Y., is being awarded a $10,077,448 modification to the previously awarded cost-plus-award-fee VH-71 system development and demonstration contract (N00019-05-C-0030), which was terminated for the convenience of the government. This modification provides funding for post-termination related expenses, including, but not limited to, the physical inventory of contractor acquired property, proposal preparation, security, disposition of contract inventory, subcontractor settlement costs, and termination management activities. Work will be performed in Owego, N.Y. (36 percent), and at various subcontractor facilities (64 percent) located in the United States, the United Kingdom and Italy. Work is expected to be completed by September 2011. Contract funds in the amount of $10,077,448 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity.
Computer Sciences Corp., Washington, D.C., is being awarded a $6,659,408 firm-fixed-price contract for the design, fabrication, installation and testing of the Full Mission Bridge (FMB) 2 trainer, for the modification of FMB-2 from functionality currently existing in Conning Officer Virtual Environment (COVE) FMB-1, and for the modification of the existing COVE training systems located at the Surface Warfare Officers School Command in Newport, R.I. Work will be performed in the District of Columbia (65 percent) and Newport, R.I. (35 percent). Work is expected to be completed in September 2012. Contract funds in the amount of $478,267 will expire at the end of the fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured. The Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division, Orlando, Fla., is the contracting activity (N61339-10-C-0038).
Sunland Builders, Inc.*, Newport, N.C., is being awarded $6,600,700 for firm-fixed-price task order #0003 under a previously awarded multiple award construction contract (N40085-09-D-9027) for the repair of concrete which includes air field surfaces 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, and 7 at Marine Corps Air Station New River. The work to be performed provides for the repair of damaged concrete located on the aircraft parking aprons. These air field surfaces are used for the parking, loading, and maintaining of rotary wing aircraft. The sealant between the concrete sections shall also be replaced. Aircraft tie-downs, storm drains, and expansion joints encased within the existing slabs shall also be replaced. The task order also contains one unexercised option which, if exercised, would increase cumulative task order value to $7,952,650. Work will be performed in Jacksonville, N.C., and is expected to be completed by August 2012. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Five proposals were received for this task order. The Officer in Charge of Construction Marine Corps Installations East, Camp Lejeune, N.C., is the contracting activity.
Kalman & Co., Inc., Virginia Beach, Va., is being awarded $6,528,722 for task order #0031 under previously awarded contract (M67854-03-A-5158) to provide business and analytical support to the Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical and Biological Defense systems. Objectives of this initiative include risk analyses supporting enterprise-wide efforts and current programs of record, leading to concise business case analyses that identify cost and performance projections, schedule impacts, and sustainment/ lifecycle considerations. Work will be performed in Falls Church, Va. (95 percent); MacDill Air Force Base, Fla. (4 percent); and Fort Leonard Wood, Mo. (1 percent). Work is expected to be completed in September 2011. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Marine Corps System Command, Quantico, Va., is the contracting activity.
AIR FORCE
JE Hurley Construction, Colorado Springs, Colo., was awarded a $25,000,000 contract which will provide roofing repair and replacement at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo. At this time, $50,000 has been obligated. 10 CONS/LGCA, U.S. Air Force Academy, Colo., is the contracting activity (FA7000-10-D-0013).
Battelle Memorial Institute, Columbus, Ohio, was awarded a $23,788,531contract which will assess and report on Marine Corps Protection, Mission Assurance, Homeland Defense and Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear programs relative to readiness, viability, condition, procedures, and protocols; analyze assessment results for trends and identify corrective actions; and develop training and support documents to enhance readiness and protection. At this time, $700,000 has been obligated. 55 CONS/LGCD, Offutt Air Force Base, Neb., is the contracting activity (SP0700-03-D-3180; Delivery Order 676).
*Small business
