By Alyssa Aquino

Law360 (September 30, 2020, 8:43 PM EDT) -- The U.S. government continued to spend billions in September to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic, California is pushing forward with $2.3 billion in airport renovations despite a steep drop in international travel, and Northrop Grumman scored a $13.3 billion deal to upgrade the country's nuclear stockpile.

Here are Law360's top picks for government deal-making from September:

U.S. Doles Out Billions in Virus Response

On Sept. 14, the U.S. Department of Defense inked a series of agreements with a collective $1.2 billion ceiling to obtain 275 million disposable isolation gowns. Over a dozen businesses were awarded the deals, with $436 million going to several Unifire Inc. entities and $323 million heading to the Florida-based JL Kaya Inc.

The DOD signed the contracts to replenish the Strategic National Stockpile, which was left depleted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The orders must be fulfilled by Sept. 30, 2021, according to the DOD.

The gown purchases came one week before the U.S. Government Accountability Office called on the federal government to strengthen its COVID-19 response, noting that the country is grappling with shortages of personal protective equipment and vaccine testing supplies.

On Aug. 26, California Governor Gavin Newsom announced a $1.7 billion partnership with diagnostics company PerkinElmer Inc. to more than double the state's testing capacity. The "groundbreaking" contract will allow California to process an extra 150,000 COVID-19 tests a day, on a one- to two-day turnaround period, according to the governor.

Vaccine Makers Find Success Across the Atlantic

On the other side of the Atlantic, the European Commission on Sept. 18 agreed to purchase 300 million doses of Sanofi SA and GlaxoSmithKline PLC's COVID-19 vaccine. The purchase price wasn't made public.

The commission also entered final contract negotiations with Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE on Sept. 9. The proposed purchase order — 200 million vaccine doses, with an optional 100 million add-on — represents "the largest initial order of vaccine doses for Pfizer and BioNTech to date," according to Pfizer and BioNTech, trumping the companies' $1.95 billion contract to provide 100 million vaccine doses to the U.S. government.

The European Commission's decision to back these candidate vaccines came right after AstraZeneca PLC halted late-stage testing for its proposed treatment, citing a trial participant's "potentially unexplained illness."

Currently, four vaccine candidates are in final-stage testing.

Northrop Cinches $13.3B Nuclear Modernization Deal

On Sept. 8, Northrop Grumman nabbed a $13.3 billion deal to aid the country's campaign to replace its aging nuclear stockpile, according to an announcement by the U.S. Department of the Air Force.

Under the contract, Northrop Grumman will provide engineering and development services for the Air Force's Ground Based Strategic Deterrent intercontinental ballistic missile program, the successor to the aging LGM-30G Minuteman III ICBM. Northrop was the sole bidder on the contract, the Air Force said.

Boeing Co. had initially eyed the award, but dropped out of the race in July 2019, saying the competitive field was tilted in Northrop's favor following its acquisition of Orbital ATK. Orbital, now known as Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems, is one of two U.S. manufacturers of solid rocket engines.

"Boeing supports the U.S. Air Force and its efforts to modernize the nation's ICBM force," Boeing said in a statement to Law360. "We remain ready and willing to assist in the modernization of our land-based strategic deterrent."

The DOD's Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation estimates that it'll cost $85 billion to develop the next-generation ICBM.

Calif. Agency Pushes Forward With $2.3B Airport Renovations

The San Diego County Regional Airport Authority struck a $2.3 billion deal with a joint venture between Turner Construction Co. and Flatiron Corp., both of which are subsidiaries of German construction company HOCHTIEF, to build a new airport terminal at the San Diego International Airport.

The facility — which will be 1.2 million square feet with 30 gates — will replace a San Diego Airport terminal built in the 1960s, according to the companies' Sept. 21 announcement.

Construction will be carried out in two stages, with the first round set to wrap up during the first quarter of fiscal year 2025, and the second stage in early 2027, the companies said.

Plans to renovate the San Diego International Airport have been in the works for years. However, the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority pushed the project forward by certifying the proposal's final environmental impact report during a January hearing, according to the airport authority's website.

The certification came right as COVID-19 outbreaks were beginning to be reported around the world. The virus has since shut down borders and brought international travel virtually to a standstill.

General Atomics Lands $7.4B Air Force Deal for Exportable Aircraft

On Sept. 17, the Air Force tapped General Atomics for the $7.4 billion Agile Reaper Enterprise Solution deal. The contract will see General Atomics building MQ-9 drones.

According to the Air Force, General Atomics will produce up to 36 of the MQ-9 — a popular weapons system within the Air Force — per year, for all five years of the contract period.

The ARES contract contains a prenegotiated $3.3 billion price-quantity curve that'll allow the Air Force and foreign entities to order between four and 36 drones per year, the Air Force said.

Foreign military partners' ability to snap up the MQ-9 drone follows the Trump administration's July decision to ease export controls for drones. Previously, the U.S. would presumptively deny requests to export certain drones covered by arms control treaties.

Christopher Ford, the assistant secretary of state for international security and nonproliferation, called the relaxed controls a "modest adjustment," noting that exporters would still have to obtain the government green light to export the drones.

The ARES contract covers prepriced Mobile Ground Control Stations, Ground Data Terminal, spares and support equipment, allowing the Air Force to go through the complete contract clearance process only once, the Air Force said.

"Prior to ARES, the standard contract award timeline was roughly 380 days," said Alicia Morales, aircraft production manager with the Medium Altitude Unmanned Aerial System Program Office. "Now, once we have a budget, and it's in our account, we can award in just a couple of days and field the aircraft in 26 months."

--Editing by Bruce Goldman.

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