Daily Business Report-March 17, 2021
Northrop Grumman receives $82 million Navy Triton UAS contract
GovCon Wire
Northrop Grumman has received a one-year, $81.9 million contract to sustain, test and engineer MQ-4C Triton unmanned aircraft systems for the U.S. Navy.
The company will also provide technical and field support under the cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to ensure the company-built UAS’ readiness for military intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions, the Department of Defense said.
DOD added the award includes logistics, mission control and operator training equipment support and reach-back engineering services to the MQ-4C assets of the Navy and the Australian government.
Northrop is set to receive $61.1 million in initial contract funds consisting of the Navy’s fiscal 2021 aircraft procurement and operation and maintenance funds, plus foreign cooperative project funds.
The MQ-4C prime contractor will perform work through March 2022 at various locations within and outside the continental U.S. Naval Air Systems Command is the contracting activity.
Carlos O. Cortez named chancellor at San Diego Community College District
Carlos O. Cortez, a nationally recognized educational leader who has been President of the San Diego College of Continuing Education (SDCCE) since 2015, will be the next Chancellor of the San Diego Community College District (SDCCD).
As Chancellor, Cortez will be responsible for all operations in a district that is the largest provider of workforce training and education in the region with a $780-million annual budget. The Chancellor oversees San Diego City, Mesa, and Miramar colleges, and the San Diego College of Continuing Education.
Cortez will replace Chancellor Constance M. Carroll, who is retiring after serving 17 years, making her the longest-serving chancellor in the district’s history.
Prior to leading SDCCE, Dr. Cortez most recently worked as the acting vice president of instruction at Berkeley City College (BCC). Before BCC, he served as director of education extension at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). He began his career in education as a Teach for America Corps member. His experience spans the public, private, and charter school sectors in Washington D.C., Houston, New York City, Los Angeles, Berkeley, and San Diego. Cortez served as principal of New Village Charter School in Los Angeles, and as assistant principal of special education services at Grape Street Elementary School.
Viasat awarded $50.8 million contract for satellite integration
Viasat has been awarded a seven-year $50.8 million contract by the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) to research integration between government and commercial satellite networks. The contract is designed to help the Department of Defense (DOD) actualize its goal of a unified communication network between military and commercial satellites.
“The goal we are trying to get to is to create a sort of flexible system that can use all the available transport resources whether it’s ours, commercial or somebody else’s,” said Craig Miller, Viasat’s chief technology officer for government systems.
Viasat will work with AFRL’s Space Vehicles Directorate to discover ways to integrate commercial satcom with government-owned satellites, so they all operate as a seamless network.
Incompatibilities between commercial and government satellites have been a problem for the DOD for years. In 2016, the Air Force began a three-year study on replacing government-owned Wideband Global Satcom (WGS) satellites with updated technology from commercial projects. However, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) wrote in a 2019 report that no solution has been satisfactory and remains unsolved.
Gen. John Raymond is a major proponent of an integrated system that Viasat and AFRL hope to create. He believes that the current fragmented WGS systems are not resilient enough for global U.S. military operations.
San Diego awarded state grant to develop cannabis equity program
The City of San Diego plans to develop a program to promote ownership and employment opportunities in the legal cannabis industry. This week, the city was awarded a $75,000 grant that will help fund a cannabis equity assessment and support the development of a first-ever cannabis equity program.
The cannabis equity assessment will provide a data-informed look at the historical impacts of cannabis criminalization on San Diego, evaluate potential opportunities and constraints in the current regulatory framework and provide policy recommendations to assure equity and diversity in the emerging cannabis industry. Information gathered from the assessment will serve as a blueprint for a future equity program to support pathways to cannabis business development.
“The assessment to be conducted under this grant will be foundational in the development of regulatory framework changes that may be needed for San Diego’s cannabis program,” said Cannabis Business Division Deputy Director PJ Fitzgerald. “Viewed through an equity lens, we will ensure all our communities have access to participate in the legalized cannabis marketplace.”
ChromaCode a winner of XPRIZE Rapid COVID testing competition
Carlsbad-based ChromaCode Inc. announced that the company has been selected as a Main Track Winning Team in the XPRIZE Rapid COVID Testing competition, which aims to increase COVID-19 testing capabilities 100-times past the current standard. XPRIZE is the world’s leader in designing and implementing innovative competition models to solve the world’s grandest challenges. After making through multiple selection gates from an original pool of about 700 applicants, 219 semi-finalists and 20 finalists, ChromaCode was one of 5 companies selected as an XPRIZE winner.
“We’re honored to be recognized by the XPRIZE committee after several rounds of review and testing. It’s not often one’s technology platform is put through such a rigorous, independent side-by-side analysis versus competitors. Our unique platform, powered by a combination of chemistry and cloud analytics, performed extraordinarily well and demonstrated our ability to scale and deploy accurate, rapid, and affordable COVID-19 testing,” said Greg Gosch, ChromaCode’s co-founder, president and CEO.
Community College District students offered more options to transfer to SDSU
Students in the San Diego Community College District (SDCCD) are being offered expanded transfer opportunities to San Diego State University through a partnership offering new online bachelor’s degree programs.
Students transferring from San Diego City College have the option of earning a bachelor of science degree in child development or a bachelor of applied arts degree in communication from SDSU. Mesa College students can transfer to SDSU for a bachelor of science degree in business administration or a bachelor of applied arts in communication without having to leave their home.
The online degree programs include access to SDSU student success teams and other support services that are housed at City and Mesa colleges. Students also have access to SDSU-campus centered activities and facilities.
Admissions applications for the fall semester are due April 30. To apply, students must also complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form.
Homegrown Fun event to replace 2021 San Diego County Fair
A scaled-back event called “Homegrown Fun” is being planned for June 11 through July 4th to replace the annual San Diego County Fair, which was canceled last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Approximately 3,000 parking spaces will be available for the recreational event, which will be separated from the vaccination area by a fence and will have a daily capacity of about 10,000 people. Alternative transportation will be encouraged, as it always is for the fair.
Homegrown Fun would take place in a “reduced footprint” area separate from the vaccination superstation that opened in February using the Wyland Center building and much of the main parking lot. Tickets will be sold only online.
Sony Electronics brings STEAM training to youth in summer camp
Sony Electronics Inc. is set to launch a virtual Summer Camp program to support kids ages 8-12 by kick-starting their future in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math). The program will focus on foundational principles of design, coding and robotics.
Sony recognizes the importance of STEAM education, and expects this program will encourage more youth to get involved in these fields. The Summer Camp program will utilize KOOV – Sony’s all-in-one coding, robotics and design kit that combines digital coding with physical building to teach the next generation of innovators.
The Summer Camp program bundle will offer sessions from June through August, consisting of daily, one-hour sessions with live instruction. Camp participants will have access to instructors trained in Computer Science, and ongoing interaction with other participants in small class sizes. They will each receive a KOOV kit (model EKV100U) 1,2,3 as part of their registration, for use during the program and beyond.
Sony is offering an early bird promotion of $100 off from March 8-31, 2021.
Click here to learn more about the program and register now.
Qualcomm completes acquisition of NUVIA
Qualcomm Inc. announced that its subsidiary, Qualcomm Technologies Inc., has completed its acquisition of the world-class CPU and technology design company, NUVIA for $1.4 billion before working capital and other adjustments.
“The world-class NUVIA team enhances our CPU roadmap, extending Qualcomm’s leading technology position with the Windows, Android and Chrome ecosystems,” said Cristiano Amon, president and CEO-elect, Qualcomm Incorporated. “The broad support of this acquisition from across industries validates the opportunity we have to provide differentiated products with leading CPU performance and power efficiency, as on-demand computing increases in the 5G era.”
Qualcomm Technologies expects to integrate next generation CPUs across a wide portfolio of products, including powering flagship smartphones, laptops, and digital cockpits, as well as Advanced Driver Assistance Systems, extended reality, and infrastructure networking solutions. The first Qualcomm Snapdragon platforms to feature Qualcomm Technologies’ new internally designed CPUs are expected to sample in the second half of 2022 and will be designed for high performance ultraportable laptops.
GALT awarded $23.9 million by U.S. Marine Corps
Global Air Logistics and Training Inc. (GALT) announced that it was awarded a prime contract valued at almost $23.9 million to deliver and support advanced networking and communication payloads to the United States Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory (MCWL). The Fused Integrated Naval Network (FINN) Communications Gateway is a robust communications system prototype intended to be integrated aboard an Unmanned Airborne System (UAS) in order to experiment with concepts involving means to share information between widely distributed forces.
This contract is intended to: mature designs, develop emerging communication technologies, and integrate the aforementioned designs and technologies on to hosting platforms. The contract scope includes development and delivery of four prototype airborne systems. The prototypes will be certified for flight for use during DoD Live Force Experimentation.
UC San Diego to host stage director Ariane Mnouchkine at Kyoto Prize Symposium
University of California San Diego will virtually host world-renowned stage director Ariane Mnouchkine on March 24, 3:30-5 p.m.-PDT, during the annual Kyoto Prize Symposium, which is free and open to the public via livestreaming. The unique occasion will be the third time in the past 50 years for the iconic artist to share her personal life experience and performative work to a U.S. audience. Mnouchkine joins the program from Paris.
Mnouchkine is founder and director of the Théâtre du Soleil in Paris. Since 1964, she has produced masterpieces with historical and political themes referring to traditional performances of both the East and the West. She started her theater in a transformed factory outside of Paris, where it embodies the ideal of “public theater.” Theatre du Soleil often uses physicality, inspired by Japanese Noh, Kabuki and Bunraku, Indian Kathakali and Western works, including Shakespeare
