GovCon Insights July 11, 2011: Costs of Protecting Unclassified Info; Anonymous Hack of IRC Federal; 7-Eleven Contracting on 7/11

Anonymous steals information from FBI contractor IRC [Computer Business Review] – Anonymous has admitted to hacking the website of FBI contactor IRC Federal and has posted internal documents and email information. The hacker group made a statement urging company employees to stop “selling out their ‘skills’ to the US empire.”

7-Eleven Government Contracting for 7/11 [GovWin] – In a 7/11 special, blogger Anthony Critelli discusses 7-Eleven CEO Joe DePinto’s appearance in an Army commercial and one franchisee’s contract with the Naval War College. He also discusses the company’s franchise discounts for veterans, which helped land it on a military-friendly employer’s list.

Contract Might Get Canceled? Don’t Panic. [GovWin] – Blogger Lindley Ashline goes over how to find out if your contract is ending and what to do if it does. She points out the new contractor often takes on existing employees.

As base grows, Fort Meade group adds business development initiative [Capital Business] – The Fort Meade Alliance is piloting a nine-month mentorship program in which about 25 companies will be paired with a contractor to teach them how to win work with Fort Meade’s agencies, including an expanding NSA, U.S. Cyber Command and the Defense Information Systems Agency. Rosemary Budd, alliance president and a vice president at TASC, says many small businesses do not know how to connect with business opportunities at the base.

Gazette opinion: Build bigger Billings VA clinic next year [Billings Gazette] – On a visit to the Billings, Mont.,Veterans Administration (VA) clinic on Friday, VA Secretary Eric Shinseki called for the contracting schedule of the new clinic to be moved up a year to be finished by October 1, 2012. Democratic Sen. Jon Tester had convinced former VA Secretary James Peak that the existing clinic was inadequate.

Retired State Trooper Killed In Afghanistan [Hartford Courant] – Retired Connecticut state trooper and Military Professional Resources Inc. contractor Paul Protzenko was killed Saturday when struck by small arms fire while riding in a vehicle in Afghanistan.

F-35 adds to Oklahoma’s aviation heritage [KRMG] – Pro-Fab, the main contractor in Oklahoma for the Lockheed Martin F-35 project, is closely watching the federal budget battle as full production of the aircraft would give them 200 orders a year. The current level of  20 aircraft per year has brought 400 direct and indirect jobs to Oklahoma.

Afghans say US firms cheat them [Boston Globe] – Both U.S. and Afghan officials admit that American contractors not paying Afghan subcontractors is a common problem. The U.S. military notes that its only recourse is recommending debarment, but does suggest Afghans file suit for breach of contract in a U.S court, though few have the money or connections to hire an American lawyer.

DOD Contract Announcements
Contract Announcements for July 8, 2011 [Defense.gov] – BAE Systems won a $165.5 million Army award for 43 heavy equipment recovery combat utility life evacuation system recovery vehicles and another $23.6 million contract for maintenance for all tracked vehicles managed by the program manager for the Heavy Brigade Combat Team for the Army Prepositioned Stock Program and the Theater Sustainment Stock fleet in Kuwait. The Defense Logistics Agency handed a $13.8 million contract modification to Sterling Foods for polymeric traypack baker ration items. See the full announcement for more details and other awards.

Federal Register Updates
DOD is issuing notification of potential arms sales for:

• $217 million worth of good and services, including five UH-60M Blackhawk VIP helicopters, to the United Arab Emirates (Sikorsky and GE primary contractors)
• $67 million worth of good and services, including eight Sentinel M1152 High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles, to Morocco (Raytheon, ITT American General primary contractors)
• $90 million worth of good and services, including seven System Signal and Direction Finding Stimulator packages to the United Kingdom (Argon ST primary contractor)
• $675 million worth of support and maintenance of multiple aircraft systems to Iraq (Hawker Beechcraft, Flight Safety International, Alliant Techsystems, L-3 Communications and Integration Innovation primary contractors)

Today’s GovCon Cons
Charged: NASA contractor charged with fraud [Houston Chronicle/AP] – Roger Lewis Pulley, owner and operations manager of Aerotech Precision Manufacturing, is charged with fraud involving parts for the International Space Station and lying about their quality standard. The company has 40 contracts worth around $300,000 with NASA.

Dismissed: Jury rejects woman’s rape claims in KBR suit [Houston Chronicle] – A federal jury rejected Jamie Leigh Jones’ claims that she was drugged and raped by several KBR firefighters when working for the company in 2005 and that the former Halliburton subsidiary committed fraud by “inducing her to enter into an employment contract.” The case was successful in bringing about a 2009 legislative action to stop DOD from contracting with companies that require employees to resolve sexual assault cases through arbitration.