The SIGNAL Blog

CHICAGO - The first National Conference on Emergency Communications opened today with the goal of creating a national forum for emergency responders. In addition, the conference has been designed to clarify roles and initiatives the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of Emergency Communications (OEC) and its partner programs are leading.

The U.S. Air Force is redoubling its efforts to reach out to small businesses. David Van Buren, principal deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition, and Ronald Poussard, director of the service's small business programs, explain that this effort seeks to remove the "check-the-box" mentality often associated with small business outreach. Innovation, agility, responsiveness and efficiency are some of the attributes small companies offer, but Van Buren also says, "We don't have enough competition now. Growing these innovative small businesses will help us rectify that by increasing the industrial base." The service plans to enhance its relationship with small businesses by helping them move into the more mature states of development and production.

The U.S. Air Force is awarding a cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to the Battelle Memorial Institute for an estimated $22.5 million. The objective of this task is to develop chemical/biological defense exercises for the Center for Asymmetric Warfare, Naval Postgraduate School.

James G. Davis Construction Corporation has been awarded a $75 million firm-fixed-price contract for the Command Control/Communication Network Transport (C2/CNT) Facility East, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland.