• The U.S. Agency for International Development has signed a $73.5 million contract with Development Alternatives Inc. to help the agency with its Strong Hubs for Afghan Hope and Resilience program “to create well-governed, fiscally sustainable Afghan municipalities capable of meeting the needs of a growing urban population,” according to award documents. While the contractor’s responsibilities are not clear, the program will provide “targeted support” to local governments within the country.
• The Defense Finance and Accounting Services, within the Defense Department, has awarded two contracts worth a total of more than $27.4 million to audit the budget activity within the Pentagon. Ernst & Young will assist the department’s inspector general in auditing the Air Force General Fund Schedule of Budgetary Activity, with the work scheduled to be completed in December 2019. KPMG, meanwhile, will audit the U.S. Army General Fund Schedule of Budgetary Activity, and is expected to complete its work in December 2015.
• The Transportation Security Administration is buying an estimated 2,100 new boarding pass scanners for roughly 250 airports nationwide. “It is intended to scan airline electronic and paper Boarding Passes, and validate and display vetting results and flight and passenger information,” the award says. A $4 million contract with tech company DESKO aims to make airline security checks more efficient, contract documents say, “reducing dependency on the TSO [transportation security officer] to visually inspect boarding passes to verify passenger vetting status.” The scanners also come with reusable batteries and a charger for the replacements.
• Summit-TLI Joint Venture LLC, a small business in Arvada, Colo., won a $70 million contract from the Defense Department to help it dispose of decades-old chemical weapons. The site, the Pueblo Chemical Depot, has about 7 percent of the nation’s chemical weapons stockpile, holding more than 2,600 tons of mustard gas in 780,000 munitions. Summit-TLI Joint Venture will be helping the Army carry out “the environmental remediation with military munitions response program.” The work should be completed in November 2019, as estimated by the Defense Department.
Contract information compiled from General Services Administration data and government press releases. Send announcements about government contracts to mwilson@digital-staging.thehill.com.