THE PEACOCK REPORT (TPR)

State Dept. Creating Private 'Quick Reaction Force'

The U.S. State Dept. intends to create a on-call soldier-for-hire team capable of swiftly locating, seizing, and destroying weapons on behalf of the U.S. government, The Peacock Report has discovered. A Quick Reaction Force, or QRF, capability would enable State to deploy private military contractors, on an as-needed basis, to conflict zones across the globe, according to a departmental sources-sought document dated March 3. Such a group of "weapons removal and abatement" (WRA) experts would be tasked with removing landmines as well as conventional weapons, the document said.

In short, the QRF must be:

capable of deploying world wide to implement conventional weapons destruction and mitigation solutions that minimize or eliminate the threat posed by conventional weapons and/or explosive hazards to civilian populations, protect victims of conflict, and restore access to land and infrastructures.

It should be noted that State only provided a five-day window of opportunity for vendors to submit "capability statements" if they wished to be considered for potential contracts. No further information is available.

Navy Cracking Down on Steroid Use

The U.S. Navy is stepping up efforts to clamp down on steroid use by agency personnel, recent contracting documents show. The Naval Logistics Medical Command, through its Ft. Detrick, Md.-based Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, is assessing the availability of qualified labs capable of conducting about 400 steroid-specific urine-specimen analyses annually over the next five years. According to a sources-sought notice dated Dec. 12 and located via a routine search of the FedBizOpps database, the endeavor aims to detect the use of performance-enhancing drugs listed in the Anabolic Steroid Act of 2004, such as 19-nor-androsterone, Boldenone, Nandrolone, Stanozolol, Methandienone, Drostanonlone, Trenbolone, Methenolone, as well as other compounds. Though unconnected to the recent spate of high-profile cases in the media, the stepped-up testing coincides with the release of a Major League Baseball report revealing pervasive steroid use among professional ball players (see Steroid Report Names Star Players; Washington Post, 12/14/2007; free registration required).

Iraqi Time in a Bottle

In addition to depleted uranium shells and civil war, the Iraqi people can add one other legacy that the U.S. government ultimately will leave behind: more than a billion plastic bottles. According to a procurement document that The Peacock Report has located, the U.S. Army is coordinating the delivery of 348,000,000 to 492,000,000 liters of bottled water for distribution in 2008 within the Iraqi "theater of operations," where the Multinational Forces-Iraq will consume the products via half- and one-liter plastic containers, the document says.

Hundreds of Millions in Contracts Expected for Pentagon Project

The Dept. of Defense (DoD) over a 60-month period will award up to $200 million in construction contracts primarily for ongoing renovations at the Pentagon, according to a presolicitation notice dated Oct. 5. The document, which The Peacock Report located via routine search of the FedBizOpps contracting database, reveals that among the first proposed orders of business for DoD's Washington Headquarters Services (WHS) will be a $250,000-$500,000 endeavor involving the reconfiguration of furniture, the building and demolishing of walls, and the construction of a small kitchenette somewhere within the sprawling complex. The estimated range of future contract will be between $500,000-$10 million, with a guaranteed minimum contract value of $25,000, it says.

Blackwater, Other Defense Behemoths, Get $15 Billion Narco-Military Contract

Despite intensive scrutiny of embattled military contractor Blackwater for killing Iraqi civilians, the Moyock, N.C.-based company will still share a chunk of an unrelated $15 billion U.S. Army Space & Missile Defense Command contract awarded last month. Blackwater, Lockheed Martin, ARINC Engineering Services, Raytheon, and Northrup Grumman/TASC, Inc. were jointly awarded the multi-billion contract Aug. 24, The Peacock Report belatedly discovered through a routine search of the FedBizOpps database. According to a related solicitation document, the companies will, among other tasks, conduct research & development for the Dept. of Defense (DoD) Counter-Narcoterrorism Technology Program Office (CNTPO). Services provided under this contract, which will be awarded in estimated annual disbursements of $100 million-$300 million for the life of the contract, fall into the general categories of Technology Development and Application; Training, Operations, and Logistics Support; and Professional and Executive Support.

The Technology Development and Application Support category primarily involves intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaisance-related counter-drug and counter-narcoterrorism technology. Examples of Training, Operations and Logistics Support include "security force training for border police in Afghanistan; air crew training for Columbia [sic]; leasing armored vehicles for security forces training in Afghanistan; and building a firing range for training in Afghanistan," according to the document. Professional and Executive Support includes the provision of administrative support for DoD-wide Combatant Commands; "strategic public relations support to senior government officials in Afghanistan and Columbia [sic]; geographic information system support in Columbia[sic]; and the purchase of boots for counter narcoterrorist police in Afghanistan," it said.

Links to U.S.-Romanian Military Base Story Restored

To all visitors and researchers whom have accessed the Oct. 11, 2005, story New U.S. Base in Romania To Be Larger Than Previously Estimated, please be advised that The Peacock Report (TPR) as of Aug. 15 has updated the contracting-document link embedded in that story. FedBizOpps, the federal government's primary procurement-opportunities database, generally archives such documents at some point as a matter of routine database maintenance, thereby changing the original links it previously generated for those documents (although, as TPR reported in the unrelated story U.S. Commerce Dept. Hires Consultant for Iraq Energy Project -- Then Covers Tracks of Contracting Action, sometimes the government archives documents immediately, consequently making such information more difficult to locate).

TPR attempts to update document-links as frequently as possible. We therefore apologize to the hundreds of visitors whom have located this web site through Google Romania in search of verifiable data on the growing U.S. presence at Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base. Stay tuned for further updates on that $100 million Forward Operating Base project of Joint Task Force-Europe (JTF-E).

Cheney Clip Reveals VP's Original Rejection of Iraq Occupation

A video interview of Vice President Dick Cheney has emerged in which the former Defense Secretary wholeheartedly rejected the notion of the U.S. military invading Baghdad and overthrowing Saddam Hussein. Such an action is not worth losing American lives, he said. Such an action only would lead to a "quagmire," he added. A must-see clip.

Army to Outsource 'Wounded Soldier' Call-Center Ops

The U.S. Army Contracting Agency intends to partially outsource call-center operations for its Wounded Soldier and Family Hotline project, an initiative that it launched earlier this year in the aftermath of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center scandal.

It should be noted that the Army officially unveiled the call center initiative in March -- around the same time the Pentagon hired a Beltway public relations firm following revelations of substandard health care provided to soldiers returning home from combat in Iraq and Afghanistan (see TPR, March 24, Pentagon Hires P.R. Firm to Put Spin on Soldier Healthcare Debacle).

According to a presolicitation notice dated Aug. 10, the goal of creating the call center was to:

[P]rovide a toll free call line for Army families, Soldiers, Retirees, Veterans, and Disabled Soldiers (beneficiaries) who are seeking information, submitting suggestions, registering complaints, or raising issues about their outpatient medical care. The Call Center is aimed at instilling confidence in our Army and the American people that the Army Medical Department delivers exceptional service and care.

The extent of the outsourcing has not been disclosed; the notice only says that this latest contracting action is being undertaken "in support" of the Wounded Soldier and Family Hotline endeavor. Eligibility to compete for the new contract will be"limited to Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) Concerns only," the document emphasizes. Further details will become available when the Army releases a formal Request for Proposals "on or around Aug. 24."

U.S. Commerce Dept. Hires Consultant for Iraq Energy Project -- Then Covers Tracks of Contracting Action

A private contractor tasked with training Iraqi oil- and gas-sector officials on matters pertaining to international trade agreements and law is being hired by the U.S. Dept. of Commerce. Lex Mercatoria, a London-based publishing house and consultancy, will be responsible under the contract to provide "technical assistance to Iraq to ensure that laws and regulations pertaining directly or indirectly to the Iraqi oil and gas sector are compliant with international trade law, with international trade agreements to which Iraq is, or may become, a party...", according to a recently obtained contracting document.

In an unusual move within the FedBizOpps database, which is where the Commerce document was located, the Aug. 5 presolicitation notice was archived the same day it was uploaded to the federal contract-opportunities system; in other words, the document was immediately removed from the daily listing of business dealings made public by the government. Only a word-specific search by The Peacock Report of the FedBizOpps archives produced evidence of this contracting action.

A more detailed solicitation (zip file) also is available.

U.S. Special Ops Finds New Tool in GWOT: Al Jazeera

U.S. Special Forces are arming themselves with an additional tool in the so-called Global War on Terror (GWOT): a subscription to the Al Jazeera news network. The Peacock Report (TPR) has learned that the U.S. Special Operations Command Central (SOCCENT) "requires access to the Al Jazeeran Network, local, regional, and international news" and intends to award a sole-source, no-bid contract for the service to Echostar Communications, parent company of Dish Network.

"Dish Network is the only satellite television provider that provides the Al Jazeera Network in the Continental United States as part of its Arabic channel pack," according to a Special Notice dated Aug. 3 that TPR located via a routine serach of the FedBizzOpps database. "These channels are vital due to the sensitive nature of our mission. They provide SOCCENT situational awareness as well as cultural sensitivity to our war fighters in the global war on terror."

Editor's Note: FedBizOpps plans to archive the Special Notice on Aug. 30 as part its regular database maintenance, thereby rendering the above link inoperable. TPR attempts to update links provided via this site as soon as possible; however, if you find that this link at some point does not work, please contact us at stevepeacock@yahoo.com.