DRIVERLESS VEHICLES

FROM:  NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION 

Demonstrating a driverless future

Carnegie Mellon researchers bring NSF-funded autonomous vehicle to D.C. to show promise of driverless cars

In the coming decades, we will likely commute to work and explore the countryside in autonomous, or driverless, cars capable of communicating with the roads they are traveling on. A convergence of technological innovations in embedded sensors, computer vision, artificial intelligence, control and automation, and computer processing power is making this feat a reality.

This week, researchers from Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) will mark a significant milestone, demonstrating one of the most advanced autonomous vehicles ever designed, capable of navigating on urban roads and highways without human intervention. The car was brought to Washington, D.C., at the request of Congressman Bill Shuster of Pennsylvania, who participated in a 33-mile drive in the autonomous vehicle between a Pittsburgh suburb and the city's airport last September.

Developed with support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the U.S. Department of Transportation, DARPA and General Motors, the car is the result of more than a decade of research and development by scientists and engineers at CMU and elsewhere. Their work has advanced the underlying technologies--sensors, software, wireless communications and network integration--required to make sure a vehicle on the road is as safe--and ultimately safer--without a driver than with one. (In the case of the Washington, D.C., demonstration, an engineer will be on hand to take the wheel if required.)

"This technology has been enabled by remarkable advances in the seamless blend of computation, networking and control into physical objects--a field known as cyber-physical systems," said Cora Marrett, NSF deputy director. "The National Science Foundation has long supported fundamental research that has built a strong foundation to enable cyber-physical systems to become a reality--like Dr. Raj Rajkumar's autonomous car."

Raj Rajkumar, a professor of electrical and computer engineering and robotics at CMU, is a leader not just in autonomous vehicles, but in the broader field of cyber-physical systems, or CPS. Such systems are already in use in sectors such as agriculture, energy, healthcare and advanced manufacturing, and they are poised to make an impact in transportation as well.

"Federal funding has been critical to our work in dealing with the uncertainties of real-world operating conditions, making efficient real-time usage of on-board computers, enabling vehicular communications and ensuring safe driving behaviors," Rajkumar said.

In 2007, Carnegie Mellon's then state-of-the-art driverless car, BOSS, took home the $2 million grand prize in the DARPA Urban Challenge, which pitted the leading autonomous vehicles in the world against one another in a challenging, urban environment. The new vehicle that Rajkumar is demonstrating in Washington, D.C., is the successor to that vehicle.

Unlike BOSS, which was rigged with visible antennas and large sensors, CMU's new car--a Cadillac SRX--doesn't appear particularly "smart." In fact, it looks much like any other car on the road. However, top-of-the-line radar, cameras, sensors and other technologies are built into the body of the vehicle. The car's computers are tucked away under the floor.

The goal of CMU's researchers is simple but important: To develop a driverless car that can decrease injuries and fatalities on roads. Automotive accidents result in 1.2 million fatalities annually around the world and cost citizens and governments $518 billion. It is estimated that 90 percent of those accidents are caused by human error.

"Because computers don't get distracted, sleepy or angry, they can actually keep us much safer--that is the promise of this technology," Rajkumar said. "Over time, the technology will augment automotive safety significantly."

In addition to controlling the steering, speed and braking, the autonomous systems in the vehicle also detect and avoid obstacles in the road, including pedestrians and bicyclists.

In their demonstration in D.C., cameras in the vehicle will visually detect the status of traffic lights and respond appropriately. In collaboration with the D.C. Department of Transportation, the researchers have even added a technology that allows some of the traffic lights in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Washington to wirelessly communicate with the car, telling it the status of the lights ahead.

NSF has supported Rajkumar's work on autonomous vehicles since 2005, but it is not the only project of this kind that NSF supports. In addition to CMU's driverless car, NSF supports Sentry, an autonomous underwater vehicle deployed at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, and several projects investigating unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) including those in use in search and rescue and disaster recovery operations. Moreover, NSF supports numerous projects that advance the fundamental theories and applications that underlie all autonomous vehicles and other cyber-physical systems.

In the last five years, NSF has invested over $200 million in CPS research and education, building a foundation for the smart systems of the future.

-NSF-

Media Contacts
Aaron Dubrow, NSF
Byron Spice, Carnegie Mellon University
Principal Investigators
Raj Rajkumar, Carnegie Mellon University

U.S. CONGRATULATES THE PEOPLE OF CANADA ON THEIR ANNIVERSARY OF CONFEDERATION (CANADA DAY)

FROM:   U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT 

Canada Day

Press Statement

John Kerry

Secretary of State

Washington, DC

June 30, 2014

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On behalf of President Obama and the people of the United States, I congratulate the Canadian people on the 147^th anniversary of Confederation on July 1.

The United States and Canada share a long and productive history and a common democratic heritage. Americans are proud to share not just borders, but values with the great nation of Canada.

The United States and Canada have enjoyed another year of fruitful collaboration on democracy, trade, and deepening North American economic cooperation.
I was pleased to welcome Foreign Minister Baird to Washington in January for the North American Ministerial. We discussed how to build on the success of the North American Free Trade Agreement and strengthen the economic ties between the United States and Canada.
At the North American Leaders Summit in February, President Obama and Prime Minister Harper, along with Mexican President Peña Nieto, underscored our enduring commitment to a prosperous and secure continent.

As you gather with friends and family, the United States joins you in celebrating the birth of your nation. I wish you all a happy Canada Day.

SECRETARY KERRY'S STATEMENT ON NEWS OF MURDER OF THREE ISRAELI TEENAGERS

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT 

Deaths of Naftali Frankel, Eyal Yifrach, and Gilad Shaar

Press Statement

John Kerry

Secretary of State

Washington, DC

June 30, 2014

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The news of the murder of these three Israeli teenagers -- Naftali Fraenkel, Gilad Shaar, and Eyal Yifrach -- is simply devastating. We all had so much hope that this story would not end this way. As a father, there are no words to express such a horrific loss that shakes all people of conscience. We pray for these three boys and their families, and together we grieve with all the people of Israel. Knowing that Naftali was also an American citizen makes this an especially heavy blow not just to Israel, but to the United States.

We condemn this despicable terrorist act in the strongest possible terms. The killing of innocent youths is an outrage beyond any understanding or rationale, and the perpetrators must be brought to justice. This is a time for all to work towards that goal without destabilizing the situation.

U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT CONTRACTS FOR JUNE 30, 2014

FROM:  U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT 

CONTRACTS

AIR FORCE

Raytheon Co., Tucson, Arizona, has been awarded a $163,223,113 fixed-price/fixed-price-incentive/cost-plus-incentive contract for Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM) Program Support and Sustainment (PSAS). The PSAS contract provides sustaining engineering, program management, contractor logistics support and accomplishes the diminishing manufacturing sources and material shortage tasks of extending the life of the AMRAAM Central Processing Unit, improving the AMRAAM guidance section within the current performance envelope, and developing applicable test equipment. Work will be performed at Tucson, Arizona, and is expected to be completed by Jan. 31, 2017. This award is the result of a sole source acquisition. This contract has unclassified 45.7 percent foreign military sales service/repair requirements for Saudi Arabia, Korea, Israel, Singapore and United Arab Emirates. Fiscal 2013 missile procurement funds in the amount of $40,588,238, 2014 missile procurement funds in the amount of $18,344,910, fiscal 2014 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $7,546,463, fiscal 2014 Navy weapons procurement funds in the amount of $19,857,909, and fiscal 2014 Navy operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $2,214,047, for a total of $88,551,568, are being obligated at time of award. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center/EBAK, Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, is the contracting activity (FA8675-14-C-0026).

Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co. Sunnyvale, California, has been awarded a $38,378,116 modification (P00645) to the cost-plus-incentive-fee contract F04701-02-C-0002 for Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) System Interim Contractor Sustainment Re-vector under cost line item number 0610. The total cumulative face value of the contract is $8,752,571,223. The contract modification is for critical software development for Mission Planning Development for initial operational capability in 2015. Work will be performed at Sunnyvale, California, and El Segundo, California, and is expected to be completed by June 30, 2015. Fiscal 2014 research and development funds in the amount of $11,600,000 are being obligated at time of award. This contract is not a multiyear effort. Space and Missile Systems Center/PKJ, AEHF, Los Angeles Air Force Base, California, is the contracting activity.

Alion Science and Technology Corp., McLean, Virginia, has been awarded a $24,909,860 delivery order (0079) on the Advanced Materials Manufacturing & Testing Information Analysis Center indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity cost-plus-fixed-fee contract FA4600-06-D-0003. The contract is for Life Cycle Engineering, Prototyping, Sustainability, and Manufacturing Processes for the Rapid Fielding Directorate. AMMTIAC's objective is to providing greater levels of protection to the most critical subsystems of combat platforms. Work will be performed at Alion Science and Technology Corp.'s facilities and various Air Force locations, and is expected to be completed by Dec. 29, 2016. Fiscal 2014 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $68,834 are being obligated at time of award. Air Force Installation Contracting Agency, Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, is the contracting activity.

The Boeing Co., Seattle, Washington, has been awarded a $11,150,000 firm-fixed-price, time-and-materials and cost-reimbursable contract for E-3 Engineering Services. Work will be performed at Seattle, Washington, and is expected to be completed by May 31, 2017. This is a sole source acquisition. Fiscal 2014 operations and maintenance and foreign military sales (France, United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia and NATO) funds in the amount of $11,150,000 are being obligated at time of award. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma, is the contracting activity (FA8102-14-D-0001).
Hawker Beechcraft Corp., Wichita, Kansas, has been awarded a $7,851,932 firm-fixed-price contract for the purchase of one King Air 350 Extended Range (ER) Aircraft. Work will be performed at Wichita, Kansas, and is expected to be completed by March 30, 2015. This contract will support 100 percent foreign military sales for Iraq. FMS funds in the amount of $7,851,932 are being obligated at time of award. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (FA8620-14-C-4006).

ARMY

Environmental Chemical Corporation (ECC), Burlingame, California (W912P8-14-D-0028); Ashbritt Environmental, Deerfield, Florida (W912P8-14-D-0029); CrowderGulf, LCC, Theodore, Alabama (W912P8-14-D-0030); Environmental Chemical Corporation (ECC), Burlingame, California (W912P8-14-D-0031); Ceres Environmental Services, Inc.*, Brooklyn Park, Minnesota (W912P8-14-D-0032); and Ashbritt Environmental, Deerfield, Florida (W912P8-14-D-0033), were awarded a $240,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract for advanced contracting imitative debris management services for the United States and its territories. Funding and performance location will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of June 29, 2019. Bids were solicited via the Internet with 16 received. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers – New Orleans District, New Orleans, Louisiana, is the contracting activity.

Raytheon Integrated Air Defense Center, Andover, Massachusetts, was awarded a $235,485,020 foreign military sales, firm-fixed-price contract for Phased Array Tracking Radar to Intercept on Target weapon system, procuring 72 radar digital processor upgrade kits: 62 for the United States and 10 for foreign military sales to Kuwait and the Netherlands; it also includes procuring spares for the United States, Kuwait and the Netherlands. Work will be performed in Simsbury, Connecticut (6.30 percent); Andover, Massachusetts (78.90 percent); and Chelmsford, Massachusetts (14.80 percent), with an estimated completion date of March 31, 2017. Bids were solicited via the Internet with one received. Fiscal 2014 other procurement funds in the amount of $115,387,660 are being obligated at the time of the award. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal –Missile, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity (W31P4Q-14-C-0002).
The Boeing Company, Mesa, Arizona, was awarded a $135,173,889 foreign military sales, firm-fixed-price contract for Apache foreign military sales post production support services. Work will be performed in Saudi Arabia (80 percent) and Mesa, Arizona (20 percent), with an estimated completion date of Sept. 30, 2019. Bids were solicited via the Internet with one received. Other procurement funds in the amount of $10,878,730 are being obligated at the time of the award. There is no fiscal year attached to the foreign military sales fund. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal – Aviation, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity (W58RGZ-14-C-0055).

TRAX International Corp., Las Vegas, Nevada, was awarded a $34,668,877 cost-plus-award-fee modification (P00127) to contract (W9124R-09-C-0003) for non-personal test support services in support of the U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona. This modification allows for performance through Oct. 31, 2014. Fiscal 2014 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $34,668,877 were obligated at the time of the award. Work will be performed at Yuma, Arizona (99.0 percent) and Fort Greeley, Alaska (1.0 percent), with an estimated completion date of Oct. 31, 2014. Army Contracting Command, Yuma, Arizona, is the contracting activity.

EastCor Engineering, LLC*, Easton, Maryland, was awarded a $29,405,380 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for Magnum Project advanced research and development and operational field testing and assessments using novel sensor systems for enhanced target detection and location. Funding and performance location will be determined with each order. Estimated completion date is June 29, 2019. Bids were solicited via the Internet with one received. Army Contracting Command, Adelphi Division, Adelphi, Maryland, is the contracting activity (W911QX-14-D-0002).

BAE Systems Land and Armaments, L.P., Santa Clara, California, was awarded a $20,819,031 cost-plus-fixed-fee modification (P00019) to contract (W56HZV-13-C-0018) to exercise 88,619 level of effort hours and dollars for system technical support and sustainment system technical support for the Bradley family of vehicles and multiple launch rocket system carrier. Fiscal 2014 other procurement funds in the amount of $5,753,947; fiscal 2014 other procurement (Army) funds in the amount of $14,100,734; and fiscal 2013 other procurement (Army) funds in the amount of $964,050 were obligated at the time of the award. Work will be performed at Santa Clara, California (91.71 percent); Sterling Heights, Michigan (4.91 percent); and York, Pennsylvania (3.38 percent), with an estimated completion date of Dec. 17, 2015. Army Contracting Command, Tank and Automotive Division, Warren, Michigan, is the contracting activity.
Frontier-Arrowhead JV*, Kansas City, Missouri, was awarded a $17,474,296 firm-fixed-price contract for river repairs to stone navigation structures on the Mississippi River. Work location and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of June 30, 2015. Bids were solicited via the Internet with two received. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Memphis, Tennessee, is the contracting activity (W912EQ-14-D-0008).

Welkin Sciences*, Colorado Springs, Colorado, was awarded a $9,909,482 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for small business innovative research, phase III contract, for advanced communication technologies. Work will be performed in Colorado Springs, Colorado, with an estimated completion date of June 29, 2019. Bids were solicited via the Internet with one received. Fiscal 2014 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $3,400,000 are being obligated at the time of the award. Army Contracting Command, Aberdeen Division B, Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, is the contracting activity (W56KGU-14-C-0008).
B & B General Contracting Inc*, Oscoda, Michigan, was awarded a $9,631,139 firm-fixed-price contract for repair of parking aprons A01B and A08B at the Combined Readiness Training Center. Work will be performed in Alpena, Michigan, with an estimated completion date of June 30, 2015. Bids were solicited via the Internet with six received. Fiscal 2014 other procurement funds in the amount of $9,631,139 are being obligated at the time of the award. National Guard Bureau – Michigan, Lansing, Michigan, is the contracting activity (W912JB-14-C-2004).

Aerostar SES, LLC*, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, was awarded an $8,832,628 firm-fixed-price contract to conduct improvements to the Jones Oyster-bed Island Dredged Material Containment Area which include, but are not limited to, the installing and removing of a temporary slit fence, site clearing and grubbing, surveying, and completion of a raised front perimeter dike and shoreline protection along the southwest side of Jones Oyster-bed Island. Work will be performed in Jasper County, South Carolina, with an estimated completion date of Aug. 7, 2015. Bids were solicited via the Internet with four received. Fiscal 2014 other procurement funds in the amount of $8,832,628 are being obligated at the time of the award. U.S Army Corps of Engineers, Savannah, Georgia, is the contracting activity (W912HN-14-C-0009).

MACNAK Korte Team LLC*, Lakewood, Washington, was awarded a $19,716,709 firm-fixed-price contract to design/build in fiscal year 2014 a 144-person dormitory at Cannon Air Force Base, Curry County, New Mexico. The dormitory will consist of a three-story building complete with associated utilities, storm drainage, communications, electric, HVAC, lighting protection, fire protection/alarm system, paving, sidewalks, curbs, gutters, access drives, exterior lighting, grading, and physical security requirements. The project also will include demolition of existing building 1156. Work will be performed in Clovis, New Mexico, with an estimated completion date of July 7, 2016. Bids were solicited via the internet with four received. Fiscal 2014 military construction funds in the amount of $19,716,709 are being obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers – Albuquerque District, Albuquerque, New Mexico, is the contracting activity (W912PP-14-C-0020).

NAVY

Northrop Grumman Systems Corp, Aerospace Systems, Bethpage, New York, is being awarded a $3,643,333,802 modification to definitize the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye advanced acquisition contract (N00019-13-C-9999) to a multi-year, fixed-price-incentive-firm target contract. In addition, this modification provides for the procurement of 25 full rate production E-2D Advanced Hawkeye aircraft. Work will be performed in St. Augustine, Florida (24.90 percent); Syracuse, New York (20.58 percent); Melbourne, Florida (7.60 percent); El Segundo, California (4.56 percent); Indianapolis, Indiana (4.06 percent); Menlo Park, California (3.90 percent); Rolling Meadows, Illinois (2.30 percent) and various locations
throughout the United States (32.10 percent); and is expected to be completed in August 2021. Fiscal 2014 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $871,766,824 are being obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.

The Boeing Co., St. Louis, Missouri, is being awarded a $1,939,160,819 fixed-price-incentive-fee contract for the full rate production of 11 Lot 38 F/A-18E aircraft for the U.S. Navy and 33 EA-18G aircraft for the U.S. Navy (21) and the government of Australia (12). Work will be performed in El Segundo, California (46 percent); St. Louis, Missouri (30 percent); Fort Worth, Texas (2 percent); East Aurora, New York (1.5 percent); Irvine, California (1percent); Ajax, Ontario, Canada (1 percent), and various locations within the United States (18.5 percent), and is expected to be completed in December 2016. Fiscal 2013 and 2014 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $1,405,732,929 and foreign military sales funds in the amount of $533,427,890 are being obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured pursuant to 10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(1) This contract combines purchase for the U.S. Navy ($1,405,732,929; 72.7 percent) and the government of Australia ($533,427,890; 27.3 percent) under the Foreign Military Sales Program. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity (N00019-14-C-0032).

Construction Development Services, Inc.*, Norfolk, Virginia (N40085-14-D-8152); Noah Enterprises, Inc.*, Virginia Beach, Virginia (N40085-14-D-8153); Portico Services, LLC*, Manassas, Virginia (N40085-14-D-8154); Syncon, LLC*, Chesapeake, Virginia (N40085-14-D-8155); and Turner Strategic Technologies, LLC*, Norfolk, Virginia (N40085-14-D-8156), are each being awarded an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity multiple-award design-build/design-bid-build contract for construction projects located within the Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Mid-Atlantic Hampton Roads area of responsibility (AOR), primarily for facilities for the Naval Station Norfolk/Naval Support Activity. The maximum dollar value including the base period and four option years for all five contracts combined is $95,000,000. Work provides for, but is not limited to, new construction, renovation, alteration, repairs, site improvement, general construction, electrical, fire protection, mechanical and other associated work on warehouses, training facilities, operational facilities (such as hangers and berthing piers), personnel support and service facilities, utilities, housing facilities and demolition of existing structures and facilities. Syncon, LLC is being awarded task order 0001 at $1,040,970 for the design and construction of Pier 11 power upgrades at Naval Station Norfolk, Norfolk, Virginia. Work for this task order is expected to be completed by January 2016. All work on this contract will be performed within the NAVFAC Mid-Atlantic Hampton Roads AOR, primarily for facilities for the Naval Station Norfolk/Naval Support Activity. The term of the contract is not to exceed 60 months, with an expected completion date of June 2019. Fiscal 2014 military construction (Navy) contract funds in the amount of $1,060,970 are being obligated on this award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. These five contractors may compete for task orders under the terms and conditions of the awarded contract. Future task orders will be primarily funded by military construction (Navy); operation and maintenance (Navy), and Navy working capital funds. This contract was competitively procured via the Navy Electronic Commerce Online website, with 23 proposals received. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Mid-Atlantic, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity.

John C. Grimberg Company, Inc., Rockville, Maryland, is being awarded firm-fixed-price task order 0008 for $44,200,000 under a multiple award construction contract for design and construction of the Aircraft Prototype Facility Phase II at Naval Air Station Patuxent River. The work to be performed is for the construction of a hangar space for a single large aircraft or up to four smaller aircraft, with concrete pile and grade beam foundation, structural steel frame, insulated metal panel wall system, built-up roofing system over insulated structural metal deck, steel truss roof framing and sliding hangar doors on each end. The project will provide a secure facility, individual secure area(s), aircraft preparation bay and laboratories with equal-sized bays with separate zoning for fire protection alarm system and security systems. Work will be performed at Patuxent River, Maryland, and is expected to be completed by April 2016. Fiscal 2014 non-appropriated funds in the amount of $44,200,000 will be obligated at time of this award. Five proposals were received for this task order. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Washington, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity (N40080-10-D-0492).

Hensel Phelps Construction Co., Honolulu, is being awarded a $26,615,298 firm-fixed-price contract for the construction of a Submarine Production Support Facility at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam. The contract also contains two unexercised options, which if exercised would increase cumulative contract value to $28,870,298. Work will be performed in Oahu, Hawaii, and is expected to be completed by August 2017. Fiscal 2014 and fiscal 2010 military construction (Navy) funds in the amount of $26,615,298 are being obligated at time of this award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via the Federal Business Opportunities website with three proposals received. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Pacific, Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, is the contracting activity (N62742-14-C-1304).

The Boeing Co., St. Louis, Missouri, is being awarded an undefinitized contract action against a previously awarded cost-plus-incentive Fee contract (N00019-11-C-0036) with a not-to-exceed value of $22,200,000 for production of F/A-18E/F Infrared Search and Track Engineering Development Model systems and support equipment. Work will be performed in St. Louis, Missouri (58 percent), and Orlando, Fla. (42 percent), and is expected to be completed in September 2015. Fiscal 2014 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $3,501,815 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.

Lockheed Martin Corp., Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, is being awarded a $18,369,619 modification to a previously awarded fixed-price-incentive (firm target) contract (N00019-11-C-0083) for the procurement and delivery of electronic components needed to support F-35 production, sustainment, and operations and maintenance requirements. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas, and is expected to be completed in March 2016. Fiscal 2012 and 2014 aircraft procurement, Navy and Air Force funds, and fiscal 2014 operations and maintenance, Navy and Air Force funds, in the amount of $18,369,619 will be obligated at time of award, of which $15,399,162 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract combines purchases for the U.S. Air Force ($9,346,195; 51 percent); U.S. Navy ($7,135,231; 39 percent); and international partners ($1,888,193; 10 percent). The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.

DPR Hardin Construction Company-LLC / Whitesell-Green, Inc., JV, Atlanta, is being awarded a firm-fixed-price task order 0010 for $14,810,000 under a multiple award construction contract for design, construction and renovation of the Navy Exchange Service Command Headquarters in Virginia Beach. The task order also contains five unexercised options, which if exercised would increase cumulative task order value to $16,286,000. Work will be performed in Virginia Beach, Virginia, and is expected to be completed by September 2016. Fiscal 2014 non-appropriated funds in the amount of $14,810,000 are being obligated at the time of this award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Four proposals were received for this task order. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Mid-Atlantic, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity (N40085-10-D-5333).
Choctaw Manufacturing Defense Contractor,* McAlester, Oklahoma, is being awarded $14,247,484 for firm-fixed-price delivery order 0014 under an existing indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for the purchase of 626 Medium Tactical Vehicle Replacement Modular Production Trailers and Water Dispensing System production units; training, provisioning data, and program support. Work will be performed in McAlester, Oklahoma, and is expected to be completed by Aug. 31, 2015. Fiscal 2012 procurement (Marine Corps) funds in the amount of $5,314,267 and fiscal 2012 procurement (Marine Corps) overseas contingency operations funds in the amount of $8,933,217 will be obligated at the time of award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured in accordance with 10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(5). Choctaw Manufacturing Defense Contractor is a Native American owned, Small Business Administration 8 (a)-certified company. The Marine Corps Systems Command, Quantico, Virginia, is the contracting activity (M67854-09-D-5024).

Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., Stratford, Connecticut, is being awarded a $14,000,000 firm-fixed-price delivery order (#4004) against a previously issued basic ordering agreement (N00019-14-G-0004). This order provides for non-recurring efforts to incorporate the Engineering Change Proposal 4330AU into the Royal Australian Navy MH-60R aircraft for the government of Australia under the Foreign Military Sales Program. In addition, this order includes the delivery of 22 Emergency Locator Transmitter kits. Work will be performed in Stratford, Connecticut (90 percent) and West Palm Beach, Florida (10 percent), and is expected to be completed in June 2016. FMS funds in the amount of $14,000,000 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.

Northrop Grumman Corp., Aerospace Systems, Bethpage, New York, is being awarded $10,266,560 for firm-fixed-price delivery order 0010 against a previously issued Basic Ordering Agreement (N68335-10-G-0021) to procure the avionics source data for the future acquisition of depot level operational test program sets. The avionics source data consists of a detailed functional description document package and system synthesis model report for each avionics unit under test in support of the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye aircraft. Work will be performed in Bethpage, New York, and is expected to be completed in December 2016. Fiscal 2013 and 2014 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $10,266,560 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Lakehurst, New Jersey, is the contracting activity.

BAE Systems Land & Armaments, Santa Clara, California, is being awarded a $7,882,132 modification to previously awarded contract (M67854-13-F-0009) to understand the risks and assist the government in determining the best approach for developing a High Waterspeed Amphibious Combat Vehicle (ACV). Detailed trade studies, requirements studies, operational effectiveness analyses and initial concept design results have been reported to Marine Corps leadership and the assistant secretary of the Navy research, development and acquisition. The contractors will continue these studies as they relate to flexibility and modularity requirements and the impacts to derived system specification requirements. This modification includes options which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of the modification to $17,190,479. Work will be performed in Santa Clara, California (80 percent); Sterling Heights, Michigan (11 percent); Stafford, Virginia (6 percent) Aiken, South Carolina (2 percent); and York, Pennsylvania (1 percent), and work is expected to be completed October 2014. With exercised options, work will continue through April 2015. Fiscal 2014 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $7,882,132 will be obligated at the time of award. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Marine Corps Systems Command, Quantico, Virginia, is the contracting activity.

Millennium Engineering and Integration Co., Arlington, Virginia, is being awarded a $7,528,016 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to provide mission planning, test execution and operations, data analysis and reporting, software and hardware maintenance/upgrades, and communications and facilities engineering in support of Missile Defense Communications and Operations Node systems in support of the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense Program. Work will be performed in Kauai, Hawaii (65 percent); Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (6 percent); Colorado Springs, Colorado (6 percent); Huntsville, Alabama (4 percent); Wallops Island, Virginia (3 percent); San Diego, California (3 percent); Vandenberg Air Force Base, California (3 percent); Washington, District of Columbia (2 percent); Columbia, Maryland (2 percent); Tucson, Arizona (2 percent); Arlington, Virginia (2 percent); Dahlgren, Virginia (2 percent), and is expected to be completed by June 2017. Fiscal 2014 research, development, test and evaluation funding in the amount of $460,000 will be obligated at time of award. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured in accordance with FAR 6.302-1 (a)(2) and DFARS 206.302-1. The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren Division, Dahlgren, Virginia, is the contracting activity (N00178-14-C-2006).

General Dynamics Information Technology, Fairfax, Virginia, is being awarded a $7,346,539 modification to previously awarded M67854-13-F-0010 to understand the risks and assist the government in determining the best approach for developing a High Waterspeed Amphibious Combat Vehicle. Detailed trade studies, requirements studies, operational effectiveness analyses and initial concept design results have been reported to Marine Corps leadership and the assistant secretary of the Navy research, development and acquisition. The contractors will continue these studies as they relate to flexibility and modularity requirements and the impacts to derived system specification requirements. This modification includes options which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of the modification to $15,901,781. Work will be performed in Sterling Heights, Michigan (96 percent) and Suffolk, Virginia (4 percent), and work is expected to be completed October 2014. With exercised options, work will continue through April 2015. Fiscal 2014 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $7,346,539 will be obligated at the time of award. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Marine Corps Systems Command, Quantico, Virginia, is the contracting activity.
Northrop Grumman Corp., Integrated Systems, Bethpage, New York, is being awarded a $6,700,000 modification to a delivery order (252) placed against a previously issued basic order agreement (N00019-10-G-0004) for two spare engines in support of the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye. Work will be performed in Indianapolis, Indiana (90 percent) and Bethpage, New York (10 percent), and is expected to be completed in September 2015. Fiscal 2014 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $6,700,000 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.

DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY

Pocono ProFoods,** Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, has been awarded a maximum $79,800,000 fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment for prime vendor food and beverage support. This contract was a competitive acquisition, and two offers were received. Location of performance is Pennsylvania. This is a two-year base contract with one one-year option and one two-year option period. Using military services are Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, job corps and detention centers. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2014 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE300-14-D-3011).

Buckeye Terminals, LLC, Emmaus, Pennsylvania, has been awarded a minimum $42,533,000 firm-fixed-price for fuel storage services. This contract was a competitive acquisition and four offers were received. Locations of performance are Pennsylvania and New Jersey. This is a four-year six-month base contract with no option periods. Using service is Department of Energy. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2014 through fiscal 2019 Department of Energy funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Energy, Fort Belvoir, Virginia (SP0600-14-C-5419).

Renzi Bros. Inc.,* Watertown, New York, has been awarded a maximum $33,600,000 fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment, for prime vendor food and beverage support. This contract was a competitive acquisition, and three offers were received. Location of performance is New York. This is a two-year base contract with one one-year option and one two-year option. Using military services are Army and Air Force. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2014 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE300-14-D-3012).
Global Companies, LLC, Waltham, Massachusetts, has been awarded a minimum $24,300,000 firm-fixed-price for fuel storage services. This contract was a competitive acquisition and four offers were received. Location of performance is Massachusetts. This is a four-year six-month base contract with no option periods. Using service is Department of Energy. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2014 through fiscal 2019 Department of Energy funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Energy, Fort Belvoir, Virginia (SP0600-14-C-5420).
BP Products North America, Chicago, Illinois, has been awarded a minimum $21,465,000 firm-fixed-price for fuel storage services. This contract was a competitive acquisition and four offers were received. Locations of performance are Illinois and New Jersey. This is a four-year six-month base contract with no option periods. Using service is Department of Energy. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2014 through fiscal 2019 Department of Energy funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Energy, Fort Belvoir, Virginia (SP0600-14-C-5418).

MISSILE DEFENSE AGENCY

Raytheon Missile Systems Co., Tucson, Arizona is being awarded a $50,239,866, modification (P00023) to previously awarded contract HQ0276-13-C-0001 for the procurement of material, fabrication, test and delivery of 52 SM-3 Block IB missiles and related support efforts. This modification increases the total contract value from $960,167,394 to $1,010,407,260. The work will be performed in Tucson, Arizona, with an expected completion date of Feb. 8, 2017. This modification definitizes the previously awarded undefinitized contract action (effective Jan. 9, 2014 for a value of $506,178,300). Fiscal 2014 defense-wide procurement in the amount of $152,625,839 is being obligated at the time of award. The Missile Defense Agency, Dahlgren, Virginia, is the contracting activity.

Raytheon Co, Integrated Defense Systems, Woburn, Massachusetts, has been awarded an estimated $14,521,358 modification (P00037) to previously awarded contract HQ0147-12-C-0014 for Object Classification (OC) requirement database enhancements and deployment. The modification brings the total cumulative face value of the contract to $205,098,422 from $190,531,002. Work will be performed at Woburn, Massachusetts, with an expected completion date of Oct. 31, 2017. Fiscal 2014 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $3,076,446 are being obligated at time of award. The Missile Defense Agency, Huntsville, Alabama, is the contracting activity.
*Small business

**Woman-owned small business

DOJ SAYS BJO CENTER IN IRAQ IS OPERATING AT FULL CAPACITY

FROM:  U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT 

Baghdad Joint Operations Center at Full Capacity

By Army Sgt. 1st Class Tyrone C. Marshall Jr.

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, June 30, 2014 – The joint operations center opened by U.S. forces in Baghdad to help the Iraqi government combat Sunni insurgents is fully operational and assessments of Iraqi units have begun, Defense Department spokesman Army Col. Steven Warren said today.

Warren provided Pentagon reporters with an update on the 180 personnel who arrived in Baghdad to establish the operations center.

“The six teams of advisers are on the ground beginning their assessment of Iraqi units in and around Baghdad,” Warren said.

President Barack Obama ordered the teams to Iraq earlier this month following gains made by Sunni militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant who have overrun towns and cities across Iraq’s northern and western provinces as they move closer to Baghdad.

The JOC team provides synthesis of information provided from the six assessment teams and conducts liaison coordination, the colonel explained.

“These are very well-trained personnel that are used to operating in these types of environments,” Warren said of the six assessment teams. “They are very skilled at protecting themselves.”

Additionally, the colonel said, the JOC is sharing information with the Iraqis as assessments are made.

“We’ve long had an information-sharing arrangement with the Iraqis,” Warren said. “That arrangement continues.”

There is a tentative plan for a second operations center to be positioned in the north, he added. But that, he said, hasn’t happened yet.

“Right now, the JOC is collecting the information being provided by the six assessment teams [and] collating it, so we’re still in the assessment phase now,” Warren said.

“To be clear, we’re providing the Iraqis information that will be useful to them in their fight against ISIL,” he added.

U.S. SENDS BEST WISHES TO PEOPLE OF BURUNDI ON THEIR INDEPENDENCE DAY

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT

Burundi Independence Day

Press Statement

John Kerry

Secretary of State

Washington, DC

June 30, 2014

---

On behalf of President Obama and the people of the United States, I send best wishes to the people of Burundi on the 52nd anniversary of your independence on July 1.

The United States and Burundi share a long history of friendship and cooperation based on a mutual commitment to peace and regional security. We continue to support the efforts of the government and people of Burundi to promote economic growth and development. We are deeply committed to Burundi’s continued progress as a peaceful and democratic country.
The United States wishes you a joyous celebration as you gather with family and friends to mark your national day.

PRESIDNET OBAMA'S LETTER TO CONGRESS REGARDING HUMANITARIAN SITUATION IN RIO GRANDE VALLEY

FROM:  THE WHITE HOUSE 

June 30, 2014

Letter from the President -- Efforts to Address the Humanitarian Situation in the Rio Grande Valley Areas of Our Nation’s Southwest Border

Dear Mr. Speaker:    (Senator Reid:)  (Senator McConnell:)   
(Representative Pelosi:)
 
I am writing to update you on my Administration's efforts to address the urgent humanitarian situation in the Río Grande Valley areas of our Nation's Southwest border, and to request that the Congress support the new tools and resources we need to implement a unified, comprehensive Federal Government response.
 
While overall apprehensions across our entire border have only slightly increased during this time period and remain at near historic lows, we have seen a significant rise in apprehensions and processing of children and individuals from Central America who are crossing into the United States in the Río Grande Valley areas of the Southwest border.  The individuals who embark upon this perilous journey are subject to violent crime, abuse, and extortion as they rely on dangerous human smuggling networks to transport them through Central America and Mexico.
 
My Administration continues to address this urgent humanitarian situation with an aggressive, unified, and coordinated Federal response on both sides of the border.  Earlier this month, I directed the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate this Government-wide response.  This includes fulfilling our legal and moral obligation to make sure we appropriately care for unaccompanied children who are apprehended, while taking aggressive steps to surge resources to our Southwest border to deter both adults and children from this dangerous journey, increase capacity for enforcement and removal proceedings, and quickly return unlawful migrants to their home countries. 
 
Specifically, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and DHS are deploying additional enforcement resources -- including immigration judges, Immigration and Customs Enforcement  attorneys, and asylum officers -- to focus on individuals and adults traveling with children from Central America and entering without authorization across the Southwest border.  Part of this surge will include detention of adults traveling with children, as well as expanded use of the Alternatives to Detention program, to avoid a more significant humanitarian situation.  The DHS is working to secure additional space that satisfies applicable legal and humanitarian standards for detention of adults with children.  This surge of resources will mean that cases are processed fairly and as quickly as possible, ensuring the protection of asylum seekers and refugees while enabling the prompt removal of individuals who do not qualify for asylum or other forms of relief from removal.  Finally, to attack the criminal organizations and smuggling rings that are exploiting these individuals, we are surging law enforcement task forces in cooperation with our international partners, with a focus on stepped-up interdiction and prosecution.
 
To address the root causes of migration and stem the flow of adults and unaccompanied children into the United States, we are also working closely with our Mexican and Central American partners.  Two weeks ago, at my direction, the Vice President convened leaders from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, as well as Mexico, to discuss our shared responsibility for promoting security, and agree on concrete ways that we can work together to stem the flow of migrants taking the dangerous trip to the United States.  These countries committed to working together and with the United States to address the immediate humanitarian crisis as well as the long-term challenges.  On Tuesday, Secretary Kerry will meet with the leaders of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras to follow up on the items agreed to in the Vice President's trip, and next week, Secretary Johnson will travel to Guatemala.  I also spoke with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto about our shared responsibility to promote security in both our countries and the region.  As part of this effort, the United States committed foreign assistance resources to improve capacity of these countries to receive and reintegrate returned individuals and address the underlying security and economic issues that cause migration.  This funding will enable El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras to improve their existing repatriation processes and increase the capacity of these governments and nongovernmental organizations to provide expanded services to returned migrants.  Additional resources will support community policing and law enforcement efforts to combat gang violence and strengthen citizen security in some of the most violent communities in these countries.
 
Finally, we are working with our Central American partners, nongovernmental organizations, and other influential voices to send a clear message to potential migrants so that they understand the significant dangers of this journey and what they will experience in the United States.  These public information campaigns make clear that recently arriving individuals and children will be placed into removal proceedings, and are not eligible for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals process and earned citizenship provisions that are part of comprehensive immigration reform currently under consideration in the Congress.  The Vice President made this clear in his public and private events on June 20, I addressed this last week in an interview, and we will continue to use multiple channels to counteract the misinformation that is being spread by smugglers.
 
While we are working across all of these channels, to execute a fully effective Government-wide strategy as the influx of migrants continues, we are eager to work with the Congress to ensure that we have the legal authorities to maximize the impact of our efforts.  Initially, we believe this may include: 
 
• providing the DHS Secretary additional authority to exercise discretion in processing the return and removal of unaccompanied minor children from non-contiguous countries like Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador; and
 
• increasing penalties for those who smuggle vulnerable migrants, like children.
 
In addition, we will request congressional action on emergency supplemental appropriations legislation to support:
 
• an aggressive deterrence strategy focused on the removal and repatriation of recent border crossers;
 
• a sustained border security surge through enhanced domestic enforcement, including interdiction and prosecution of criminal networks; 
 
• a significant increase in immigration judges, reassigning them to adjudicate cases of recent border crossers, and establishing corresponding facilities to expedite the processing of cases involving those who crossed the border in recent weeks;
 
• a stepped up effort to work with our Central American partners to repatriate and reintegrate migrants returned to their countries, address the root causes of migration, and communicate the realities of these dangerous journeys; and 
 
• the resources necessary to appropriately detain, process, and care for children and adults.
 
My Administration will be submitting a formal detailed request when the Congress returns from recess, and I look forward to working with you to address this urgent situation as expeditiously as possible.

Sincerely,

BARACK OBAMA

U.S. SENDS BEST WISHES TO PEOPLE OF RWANDA ON THEIR INDEPENDENCE DAY

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT 

Rwanda National Day

Press Statement

John Kerry

Secretary of State

Washington, DC

June 30, 2014

---

On behalf of President Obama and the people of the United States, I am delighted to send best wishes to the people of Rwanda on the 52nd anniversary of your independence on July 1.
Rwanda and its neighbors are turning adversity into prosperity, and I commend all Rwandans for their commitment to a brighter and more hopeful future.

Over the last 20 years, Rwanda has emerged as a regional leader, borne by a deep commitment to strengthen economic growth for all Rwandans. It has improved health institutions across the country. And it provides wider access to healthcare and universal primary school education to all Rwandan children. By investing in its people, Rwanda is building a strong foundation for peace and prosperity in the years to come.

I congratulate the people of Rwanda on all you have achieved, and wish you a joyous Independence Day celebration.

U.S. CONGRATULATES PEOPLE OF THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO ON THEIR INDEPENDENCE DAY

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT 

Democratic Republic of the Congo's National Day

Press Statement

John Kerry

Secretary of State

Washington, DC

June 30, 2014

---

On behalf of President Obama and the American people, I congratulate the people of Democratic Republic of the Congo as they celebrate their Independence Day.

I was inspired during my visit to Congo this spring. In Kinshasa, I met Patricia Nzolantima, who led me on a tour of a medical supply company helping people access lifesaving pharmaceuticals. She also publishes a magazine so thousands of Congolese could access a free press. In addition, I met young people, teeming with energy and ability, ready to make their mark in a stable DRC.

The United States is committed to helping the Congolese people achieve a peaceful, just, and prosperous future. We congratulate you on your recent economic progress. But most of all, we commend your progress in restoring stability in the eastern DRC by defeating the M23 rebels and pursuing other armed groups that have terrorized your country for too long.
The United States look forward to working with you to ensure that the future of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and its citizens is bright and hopeful.

U.S. CONGRATULATES PEOPLE OF SOMALIA ON THEIR INDEPENDENCE DAY

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT 

Somalia's National Day

Press Statement

John Kerry

Secretary of State

Washington, DC

June 30, 2014

---

On behalf of President Obama and the people of the United States, I congratulate the people and government of Somalia on your 54th Independence Day on July 1.

The United States is proud to support Somalia as it continues on the path to becoming a stable, federal democracy and a strong international partner. We remain determined to help rebuild the political, economic, and security institutions that will provide lasting stability and meet the aspirations of the Somali people.

Today, Somalia’s outlook is improving because Somalis themselves have taken on the responsibility for reclaiming what was lost and rebuilding what was destroyed. They are the ones who have assumed the lead, and they are the ones who can be proud of the precious nature of the opportunity now before us.

The United States sends its best wishes on this Independence Day. I look forward to strengthening our partnership with a democratic, peaceful, and prosperous Somalia.

WHITE HOUSE STATEMENT ON SUPREME COURT RULING AGAINST COLLECTIVE BARGAINING

FROM:  THE WHITE HOUSE Statement by the Press Secretary on Harris v. Quinn

Collective bargaining is a fundamental right that helped build America’s middle class. The ability of public servants to collectively bargain is crucial to ensuring both a fair day’s pay for a hard day’s work and the high quality service citizens expect and deserve from their government.

For almost 40 years, the Supreme Court has held that the First Amendment allows state and local governments to require employees to pay a fair share of a union’s expenses for representing that worker. We are disappointed that the Supreme Court has carved out a group of workers – homecare workers who provide critical support to the elderly and people with disabilities in their own homes. 

The collective bargaining model in Illinois resulted in fairer pay and benefits for hardworking caregivers as well as improved training, safety and health protections, and tools to help those who need care to find it.  The Court’s decision will not only make it significantly harder for these dedicated employees to get a fair shake in exchange for their hard work, but will make it harder for states and cities to ensure the elderly and Americans with disabilities get the care they need and deserve.

The Administration remains committed to defending collective bargaining rights.

NASA | NEUTRON STARS RIP EACH OTHER APART TO FORM A BLACK HOLE

ASSOCIATE AG WEST'S REMARKS ON ACCESS TO LEGAL AID FOR CRIMINALS

FROM:  U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT 

Associate Attorney General West Delivers Remarks at the International Conference on Access to Legal Aid in Criminal Justice Systems

~ Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Thank you, Jennifer [Smith of the International Legal Foundation] for your kind words.  On behalf of the United States, it is a privilege to be here with all of you today at this historic international convening on criminal legal aid.  I want to thank Minister [of Justice and Correctional Services Michael] Masutha, Judge President Mlambo, the Government of the Republic of South Africa, Legal Aid South Africa, the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime, the United Nations Development Programme, and the International Legal Foundation, for coordinating this important gathering so that we may, together, explore how to strengthen and improve access to criminal legal aid around the world.

And equally important, I want to thank all of you -- the gathered Ministers, Deputy Ministers, Attorneys General, Supreme Court Justices, and criminal legal aid providers and experts -- for participating in this conference.  Your presence here epitomizes the dual truths that all free people, wherever they may live, lay valid claim to equality in the eyes of the law, and that the majesty of the law finds its best and highest use in the service of justice.

Two years ago, I had the privilege of being in New York, during the opening of the 67th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, to participate in a side-event to the High-Level Meeting on the Rule of Law hosted by the Permanent Mission to the U.N. of the Republic of South Africa.  And during that event, I was honored to express the United States' strong support for the U.N. Principles and Guidelines on Access to Legal Aid in Criminal Justice Systems.  The principles articulated in that document affirm that criminal legal aid “is an essential element of a fair, humane and efficient criminal justice system that is based on the rule of law.”

And now we have come here, to the land of Madiba and in the spirit of Ubuntu, to rededicate ourselves to the urgent task of making real the principle at the core of the U.N. Principles, articulated in the Lilongwe Declaration a decade ago, and reiterated in so many of your national constitutions, as well as mine: a criminal justice system is not just if it fails to guarantee a right to competent counsel through legal aid.

For the United States, that constitutional right to counsel is a cornerstone of the U.S. criminal justice system.  And my country's best articulation of this fundamental principle originated not with an august conference of learned judges and justice ministers, or by a declaration of universal rights and aspirations; its origins were much more humble than that.  It started with the arrest of a man once described as a drifter and petty thief.

His name was Clarence Gideon.  And in 1961, he was arrested for breaking into a pool hall and stealing about five U.S. dollars in change from a cigarette vending machine.  At his trial, Gideon asked the judge for a lawyer, saying he was too poor to hire one himself.  The presiding judge denied Gideon’s request, and, after representing himself at trial, Gideon lost and was convicted and sentenced to five years.

From the confines of his jail cell, Gideon wrote a simple, five-page plea asking the United States Supreme Court to grant him a new trial with appointed counsel.  “It makes no difference how old I am or what color I am or what church I belong to if any,” Gideon wrote.  “The question,” he said, “is very simple.  I did not get a fair trial.”

The U.S. Supreme Court ultimately heard Gideon's plea and, in a milestone judicial opinion that bears his name, the justices established the principle that our Constitution guarantees defendants in criminal cases the right to a lawyer whether that person can afford one or not.  Gideon received a new trial – this time with the assistance of a court-appointed lawyer – and this time, he was acquitted.

I think it speaks volumes that if you visit Washington D.C. today -- and I know that many of your countries will be represented in Washington soon for the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit that President Obama is hosting in August -- you will find Gideon’s humble, handwritten five-page petition to the U.S. Supreme Court, penciled on prison stationary, sitting in our National Archives, alongside our Nation's most treasured documents: the Declaration of Independence that created our country; the Bill of Rights which protected our liberty; and the Emancipation Proclamation that eradicated the scourge of slavery from our land.

And in the five decades since the Gideon case was decided, the U.S. Supreme Court has continued to refine this important and basic right -- expanding the right to counsel to juveniles and in certain misdemeanor cases.

So for the United States, the right to counsel is a principle that represents the most basic notions of fundamental fairness.  But it also reflects the aspirations of a Nation that is still very much a work in progress.

Because the challenge of effective criminal legal aid and fairness in the criminal justice system are issues that the United States has been grappling with since its founding.  At times, we have made great strides, committing resources, energy and ideas to the task.  At times, we have fallen short of our own ideals.  And with each triumph and setback, we are reminded that justice is as much a journey as it is a destination -- as much a process as it is an outcome -- and that the fairest criminal justice system gives equal attention to both.

Addressing this challenge is something that our nation's Attorney General, Eric Holder, has made a priority of his tenure in office.  In his first year, he launched the Access to Justice Initiative -- an effort that I oversee at the U.S. Department of Justice and which seeks to ensure basic legal services are available, affordable and accessible to everyone in the United States regardless of wealth or status.   Much of the work of this initiative is directed at strengthening criminal defense for the poor by focusing on many of the same values outlined in the U.N. Principles and Guidelines.

Our work through the Access to Justice Initiative has helped to raise awareness about the urgent need that exists in indigent criminal defense in the United States.  The lawyers who provide legal aid to criminal defendants -- we call them public defenders -- too often they are overworked, underpaid, and overwhelmed by the need for criminal defense services among the poor.

In response, the Access to Justice Initiative -- which is fortunate to have the leadership of Maha Jweied, the Acting Deputy Counselor of Access to Justice and a participant in this week's conference -- has supported piloting programs that test innovative indigent criminal defender services throughout our country and identified best practices that can improve the way we serve indigent clients who need legal representation.

There are other steps we've taken to make real our commitment to legal aid in the criminal justice system.  One of the most comprehensive is an effort launched by our Attorney General aimed at reforming and improving our criminal justice system in ways that not only improve access to justice and public safety, but also saves money and more effectively deploys our limited criminal justice resources.

We call it the "Smart on Crime" initiative.  It's a reform effort based on the premise that while aggressive enforcement of our criminal statutes remains our Justice Department's central law enforcement mission, experience teaches us that we cannot arrest, prosecute, and incarcerate our way to becoming a safer nation.  Over the last three decades, the United States has enjoyed great success -- for a variety of reasons -- in bringing down violent crime rates.  Yet over that same time period, our prison populations have exploded by more than 800 percent, requiring the commitment of greater and greater resources.

And for those offenders who are non-violent and low-level, it's not clear that spending increasing amounts of our nation's treasure to incarcerate them is a sound investment in public safety; indeed, there may be better, less expensive ways of keeping our communities safe while at the same time holding offenders like these accountable and reducing the likelihood they will return to prison after they've been released.

So to truly be effective, our Smart on Crime initiative encourages our law enforcement officials at both the federal and state levels to focus on other aspects of criminal justice, like crime prevention, reducing over-incarceration and facilitating the successful reentry of individuals back into their communities after release.

Because if our experience in the United States teaches us anything, it is that building a better criminal justice system is always unfinished business.  Like our nation itself, our criminal justice system is in a state of constant self-evaluation, constant self-improvement, constant reform.  And our participation in this important conference is but one part of that infinite process.

So let me close where I began: by thanking all of you for your participation in this conference.  Because at the end of the day, after all of the keynote speeches are forgotten and resolutions adopted; after the outcome document is written and this conference center is empty, what will be left is the hard work of engaging in what I call "doing justice":  building criminal and civil legal systems that deliver the promise of dignity and equality before the law for every individual, regardless of who they are, their color or class, the god they worship or the person they love.

"Doing justice" means embracing the aspirations expressed in the U.N. Principles and Guidelines while at the same time being honest with ourselves about addressing those areas where we fall short, where we can learn from one another, and where we can do better.  It's about becoming, to paraphrase an American statesman,  a society whose greatness is measured not by how it treats those at the top, but how it treats those who dance in the dawn of life, those who rest in the sunset of life, and those who struggle in the shadows of life; those who often work the hardest but have the least; those who know not the mainstream but life's margins.

And honorable guests, our hands -- yours and mine -- we must do that work.  We come here from the perches of privilege -- the privilege of being servants of the people we represent, and whose dreams and aspirations we strive to realize.  We must make the persuasive arguments in the halls of power for those who find no voice there.  We must take the bold steps, make the hard choices and, yes, even at times accept the political risks, because that is what building the future of fair and effective justice systems requires.

And I am thankful to you because I know you are up to the task, or you would not be here today.  And I am grateful for the opportunity to be your partner in this endeavor, for there is much we can learn from you, much we can share with you, and so much we can achieve working with you; as we, in the writer's words, float "as riders on the earth together, brothers on that bright loveliness in the eternal cold -- brothers who know now that they are truly brothers,"  bound together by a shared commitment to the majesty that is the law and the justice that it must always serve.

HHS TOUTS ACA FOR EXPANDED COVERAGE IN PRIVATE HEALTH INSURANCE PLANS

FROM:  U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES 

Affordable Care Act helps 76 million Americans with private coverage access free preventive services

Women save nearly $500 million on oral contraception out-of-pocket costs

Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Sylvia Burwell announced today that about 76 million Americans in private health insurance plans are newly eligible to receive expanded coverage for one or more recommended preventive health care services, such as a mammogram or flu shot, with cost sharing, because of the Affordable Care Act. The new data were released in a report from HHS today.

Under the Affordable Care Act most health plans must cover a set of recommended preventive services like screening tests and immunizations at no out-of-pocket cost to consumers. This includes Marketplace private insurance plans.

“Today’s findings are just one more indicator that the Affordable Care Act is delivering impact for millions of people nationwide,” said Secretary Burwell. “Seventy-six million is more than just a number.  For millions of Americans, it means no longer having to put off a mammogram for an extra year. Or it means catching a problem early enough that it’s treatable.”

Today’s data are broken down across states, age, race and ethnic group.  For example, the report finds that approximately 30 million more women are now eligible to receive coverage for the recommended preventive services with no out-of-pocket costs.  Altogether, a total of 48.5 million women are estimated to benefit from free preventive services.  Covered preventive services for women include well-woman visits, screening for gestational diabetes, domestic violence screening and counseling, and FDA-approved prescription contraception with no cost-sharing.

Recent evidence from the IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics (IMS) shows that an additional 24.4 million prescriptions for oral contraceptives were dispensed with no co-pays in 2013 compared to 2012, translating to an estimated $483.3 million reduction in out-of-pocket spending by women.

Of the 76 million Americans with expanded access to free preventive services:

18.6 million are children receiving expanded preventive services coverage for immunization vaccines for children from birth to age 18; vision screening; hearing screening for newborns; behavioral assessments; obesity screening; and height, weight, and body mass index measurements.

29.7 million are women receiving expanded preventive services coverage for cervical cancer screening, mammograms for women over 40, recommended immunizations, healthy diet counseling for women at higher risk for chronic disease and obesity screening and counseling; cholesterol and blood pressure screening; screening for HIV; depression screening; and tobacco-use screening; well-woman visits, screening for gestational diabetes, domestic violence screening and counseling, and FDA-approved contraception with no cost sharing.
28.1 million are men receiving expanded preventive services coverage for recommended immunizations such as flu shots, colorectal cancer screening for adults over 50, healthy diet counseling for those at higher risk for chronic disease, obesity screening and counseling, cholesterol and blood pressure screening, screening for HIV, depression screening, and tobacco-use screening.

LARGEST U.S. NURSING HOME PHARMACY COMPANY SETTLES FALSE BILLINGS ALLEGATIONS FOR $124 MILLION

FROM:  U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT 

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Nation’s Largest Nursing Home Pharmacy Company to Pay $124 Million to Settle Allegations Involving False Billings to Federal Health Care Programs

Omnicare Inc., the nation’s largest provider of pharmaceuticals and pharmacy services to nursing homes, has agreed to pay $124.24 million for allegedly offering improper financial incentives to skilled nursing facilities in return for their continued selection of Omnicare to supply drugs to elderly Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, the Justice Department announced today .   Omnicare is headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio.


“Health care providers who seek to profit from providing illegal financial benefits will be held accountable,” said Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Civil Division Stuart F. Delery.  “Schemes such as this one undermine the health care system and take advantage of elderly nursing home residents.”

“Omnicare provided improper discounts in return for the opportunity to provide medication to Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries,” said Steven M. Dettelbach, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio. “Nursing homes should select their pharmacy provider based on the best quality, service and cost to the residents, not based on improper discounts to the nursing facility.”

The settlement resolves allegations that Omnicare submitted false claims by entering into below-cost contracts to supply prescription medication and other pharmaceutical drugs to skilled nursing facilities and their resident patients to induce the facilities to select Omnicare as their pharmacy provider.  The facilities were participating providers under agreements with Medicare and Medicaid.   In addition to the facilities’ own claims for reimbursement from Medicare for short-term rehabilitation treatment rendered to patients, Omnicare submitted additional claims for reimbursement to Medicare and Medicaid for drugs Omnicare supplied.   Of the $124.24 million to be paid by Omnicare, $8.24 million will go to various states which jointly funded the Medicaid programs impacted by Omnicare’s conduct.

The Anti-Kickback Statute prohibits offering, paying, soliciting or receiving remuneration to induce referrals of items or services covered by Medicare, Medicaid and other federally funded programs.  The Anti-Kickback Statute is intended to ensure that the selection of health care providers and suppliers is not compromised by improper financial incentives and is instead based on the best interests of the patient.

The settlement resolves allegations brought in two lawsuits filed by whistleblowers under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act, which allow private parties to bring suit on behalf of the government and to share in any recovery.  The first whistleblower, Donald Gale, a former Omnicare employee, will receive $ 17.24 million.

The settlement with Omnicare was the result of a coordinated effort by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Ohio, the Commercial Litigation Branch of the Justice Department’s Civil Division, the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, and the National Association of Medicaid Fraud Control Units.

This settlement illustrates the government’s emphasis on combating health care fraud and marks another achievement for the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT) initiative, which was announced in May 2009 by Attorney General Eric Holder and Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius.  The partnership between the two departments has focused efforts to reduce and prevent Medicare and Medicaid financial fraud through enhanced cooperation.  One of the most powerful tools in this effort is the False Claims Act.  Since January 2009, the Justice Department has recovered a total of more than $19.5 billion through False Claims Act cases, with more than $13.9 billion of that amount recovered in cases involving fraud against federal health care programs.

The claims resolved by this settlement are allegations only, and there has been no determination of liability.

RECENT U.S. NAVY PHOTOS

FROM:  U.S. NAVY 

Boatswain's Mate 2nd Class Robert Pucel, from Beachmaster Unit (BMU) 1, signals Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC) 58, assigned to Assault Craft Unit (ACU) 5, to hold it's position after landing during an equipment transfer between the amphibious dock landing ship USS Rushmore (LSD 47) and Marine Corps Base Kaneohe Bay. The equipment will be used to support Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2014, the world's largest international maritime exercise. Twenty-two nations, more than 40 ships and submarines, more than 200 aircraft and 25,000 personnel are participating in RIMPAC from June 26 to Aug. 1. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Dustin Knight (Released) 140625-N-HU377-137.

The guided-missile destroyers USS Mustin (DDG 89) and USS Wayne E. Meyer (DDG 108) and the submarine tender USS Frank Cable (AS 40), center, test maritime obscurants south of Guam to assess their tactical effectiveness for anti-ship missile defense. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Timothy Wilson (Released) 140625-N-EF657-340.

NSF-FUNDED SUPERCOMPUTER DOES WHAT LAB EXPERIMENTS CAN'T

FROM:  NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION SCIENCE 

A high-performance first year for Stampede

NSF-funded supercomputer enables discoveries throughout science and engineering

Sometimes, the laboratory just won't cut it.

After all, you can't recreate an exploding star, manipulate quarks or forecast the climate in the lab. In cases like these, scientists rely on supercomputing simulations to capture the physical reality of these phenomena--minus the extraordinary cost, dangerous temperatures or millennium-long wait times.

When faced with an unsolvable problem, researchers at universities and labs across the United States set up virtual models, determine the initial conditions for their simulations--the weather in advance of an impending storm, the configurations of a drug molecule binding to an HIV virus, the dynamics of a distant dying star--and press compute.

And then they wait as the Stampede supercomputer in Austin, Texas, crunches the complex mathematics that underlies the problems they are trying to solve.

By harnessing thousands of computer processors, Stampede returns results within minutes, hours or just a few days (compared to the months and years without the use of supercomputers), helping to answer science's--and society's--toughest questions.

Stampede is one of the most powerful supercomputers in the U.S. for open research, and currently ranks as the seventh most powerful in the world, according to the November 2013 TOP500 List. Able to perform nearly 10 trillion operations per second, Stampede is the most capable of the high-performance computing, visualization and data analysis resources within the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment (XSEDE).

Stampede went into operation at the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) in January 2013. The system is a cornerstone of NSF's investment in an integrated advanced cyberinfrastructure, which allows America's scientists and engineers to access cutting-edge computational resources, data and expertise to further their research across scientific disciplines.

At any given moment, Stampede is running hundreds of separate applications simultaneously. Approximately 3,400 researchers computed on the system in its first year, working on 1,700 distinct projects. The researchers came from 350 different institutions and their work spanned a range of scientific disciplines from chemistry to economics to artificial intelligence.

These researchers apply to use Stampede through the XSEDE project. Their intended use of Stampede is assessed by a peer review committee that allocates time on the system. Once approved, researchers are provided access to Stampede free of charge and tap into an ecosystem of experts, software, storage, visualization and data analysis resources that make Stampede one of the most productive, comprehensive research environments in the world. Training and educational opportunities are also available to help scientists use Stampede effectively.

"It was a fantastic first year for Stampede and we're really proud of what the system has accomplished," said Dan Stanzione, acting director of TACC. "When we put Stampede together, we were looking for a general purpose architecture that would support everyone in the scientific community. With the achievements of its first year, we showed that was possible."

Helping today, preparing for tomorrow

When the National Science Foundation (NSF) released their solicitation for proposals for a new supercomputer to be deployed in 2013, they were looking for a system that could support the day-to-day needs of a growing community of computational scientists, but also one that would push the field forward by incorporating new, emerging technologies.

"The model that TACC used, incorporating an experimental component embedded in a state-of-the-art usable system, is a very innovative choice and just right for the NSF community of researchers who are focused on both today's and tomorrow's scientific discoveries," said Irene Qualters, division director for Advanced Cyberinfrastructure at NSF. "The results that researchers have achieved in Stampede's first year are a testimony to the system design and its appropriateness for the community."

"We wanted to put an innovative twist on our system and look at the next generation of capabilities," said TACC's Dan Stanzione. "What we came up with is a hybrid system that includes traditional Intel Xeon E5 processors and also has an Intel Xeon Phi card on every node on the system, and a few of them with two.

The Intel Xeon Phi [aka the 'many integrated core (MIC) coprocessor'] squeezes 60 or more processors onto a single card. In that respect, it is similar to GPUs (graphics processing units), which have been used for several years to aid parallel processing in high-performance computing systems, as well as to speed up graphics and gaming capabilities in home computers. The advantage of the Xeon Phi is its ability to perform calculations quickly while consuming less energy.

"The Xeon Phi is Intel's approach to changing these power and performance curves by giving us simpler cores with a simpler architecture but a lot more of them in the same size package," Stanzione said

As advanced computing systems grow more powerful, they also consume more energy--a situation that can be addressed by simpler, multicore chips. The Xeon Phi and other comparable technologies are believed to be critical to the effort to advance the field and develop future large-scale supercomputers.

"The exciting part is that MIC and GPU foreshadow what will be on the CPU in the future," Stanzione said. "The work that scientists are putting in now to optimize codes for these processors will pay off. It's not whether you should adopt them; it's whether you want to get a jump on the future. "

Though Xeon Phi adoption on Stampede started slowly, it now represents 10-20 percent of the usage of the system. Among the projects that have taken advantage of the Xeon Phi co-processor are efforts to develop new flu vaccines, simulations of the nucleus of the atom relevant to particle physics and a growing amount of weather forecasting.

Built to handle to big data

The power of Stampede reaches beyond its ability to gain insight into our world through computational modeling and simulation. The system's diverse resources can be used to explore research in fields too complex to describe with equations, such as genomics, neuroscience and the humanities. Stampede's extreme scale and unique technologies enable researchers to process massive quantities of data and use modern techniques to analyze measured data to reach previously unachievable conclusions.

Stampede provides four capabilities that most data problems take advantage of. Leveraging 14 petabytes of high speed internal storage, users can process massive amounts of independent data on multiple processers at once, thus reducing the time needed for the data analysis or computation.

Researchers can use many data analysis packages optimized to run on Stampede by TACC staff to statistically or visually analyze their results. Staff also collaborates with researchers to improve their software and make it run more efficiently in a high-performance environment.

Data is rich and complex. When the individual data computations become so large that Stampede's primary computing resources cannot handle the load, the system provides users with 16 compute nodes with one terabyte of memory each. This enables researchers to perform complex data analyses using Stampede's diverse and highly flexible computing engine.

Once data has been parsed and analyzed, GPUs can be used remotely to explore data interactively without having to move large amounts of information to less-powerful research computers.

"The Stampede environment provides data researchers with a single system that can easily overcome most of the technological hurdles they face today, allowing them to focus purely on discovering results from their data-driven research," said Niall Gaffney, TACC director of Data Intensive Computing.

Since it was deployed, Stampede has been in high demand. Ninety percent of the compute time on the system goes to researchers with grants from NSF or other federal agencies; the other 10 percent goes to industry partners and discretionary programs.

"The system is utilized all the time--24/7/365," Stanzione said. "We're getting proposals requesting 500 percent of our time. The demand exceeds time allocated by 5-1. The community is hungry to compute."

Stampede will operate through 2017 and will be infused with second generation Intel Xeon Phi cards in 2015.

With a resource like Stampede in the community's hands, great discoveries await.

"Stampede's performance really helped push our simulations to the limit," said Caltech astrophysicist Christian Ott who used the system to study supernovae. "Our research would have been practically impossible without Stampede."

-- Aaron Dubrow, NSF
Investigators
Daniel Stanzione
William Barth
Tommy Minyard
Niall Gaffney
Fuqing Zhang
Roseanna Zia
Christian Ott
Edward Marcotte