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Guest article by Ian Cookson & Grant Thornton Corporate Finance LLC

Aerospace component M&A activity remained strong in 2008, and was one of the best performing sectors, with the same number of transactions as the record set in 2007. Activity was again weighted toward the first half of the year (in a 60/40 split), with a similar number of transactions in the second half of 2008 as 2007. Although 40% of transactions were led by private equity groups, this masks a shift in the second half where strategic buyers proved more successful in winning bids (by a factor of 3:1). Private equity buyers found it harder to raise the levels of debt that supported prices of previous acquisitions.

The strong level of aerospace component activity is in stark contrast to U.S. M&A activity as a whole, which declined by a third in volume terms from the prior year (and substantially more by value). However, the number of smaller deals across all industries (under $50 million) remained remarkably constant. It is this category of smaller deals that is more reflective of aerospace component transactions.

USS Osprey,
shock test

During the Cold War, NATO countries had a strong incentive to invest in minesweeper fleets, in order to keep their ports open to American reinforcements and cover key chokepoints that might be mined by Soviet submarines. With the demise of the Soviet Union, and the rise of remote-controlled UUVs and USVs that can be mounted on any ship, the perceived need for minesweeper ships has declined. The US Navy, for instance, will decommission all 12 of its 893 ton, fiberglass MHC-51 Osprey Class minesweepers by the end of FY 2008. So far, 8 of them have been sold to the Egyptian (MHC 60 & 61), Greek (MHC 52 & 53), Lithuanian (MHC 56 & 57), and Turkish (MHC 58 & 62) navies, even though the first ship was only christened in 1991.

With piracy rising sharply in the early 21st century, however, and land mines showing themselves to be the preferred tactic of islamists and other terrorists on land, some countries are connecting the dots and reassessing their post Cold War needs…

A proper send-off

On Dec 25th, UK servicemen and women posted overseas in countries such as Iraq, Afghanistan, the Balkans and the Falkland Islands receive a Christmas box filled with gifts. Inspired by a tradition that dates back to the First World War, the Christmas box program was established 3 years ago by charity UK4U; this year, they distributed gifts to more than 25,000 British troops. The final send off for the items took place on Dec 22/07 this year, and the UK MoD has a feature describing their receipt.

What a fine idea. This worthy program is made possible by industry sponsors, including:

Angliss
BAE Systems
Cooneen Watts & Stone
DBC Foodservice
Deloitte
EADS (UK)
Farside Marketing
Finmeccanica (UK)
Fleet Air Arm Association
Fra Angelico
Fretwell Downing Hospitality
Gifts by Design
J C Bamford Excavators
KBR Halliburton
Lockheed Martin Corporation
Marks and Spencer
Northrup Grumman
NP Aerospace (England)

Afghanistan, 2007

Nuffield Trust for Forces of the Crown
PA Consulting Group
PRA Architects
Purple Food Service Solutions
QinetiQ Group
Right Management
Rolls Royce
Royal Photographic Society
Sodexho Defence Service
Supreme FoodService
Thistle Garments
Twinings of London
Web-Tex
Wilkinson Sword
Yellow Ribbon Foundation

MTTC

Innovative Productivity Incorporated (IPI) in Louisville, KY received a $28.7 million cost-plus-fixed-fee, level of effort contract for the operation and management of the McConnell Technology and Training Center (MTTC). The focus of the work will be to identify and/or develop innovative technologies, processes and concepts, with a focus on reducing operating costs and increasing product quality. MTTC will enhance selected technologies and technology transfers between DOD and private industry, and/or develop them where appropriate.

IPI is a partner in the US Navy’s Fleet Maintenance Reduction Program (FMRP), which helps the Navy resolve nagging and costly shipboard problems by inserting innovative products and technologies; the US Navy estimates that the MTTC projects will save approximately $1 Billion over the next 15 years. IPI also runs the National Surface Treatment Center which works with the Navy on corrosion issues, and the firm offers Quality Management and Business & Industrial Skills Programs that include Six Sigma, Lean strategies, and ISO certification.

Work will be performed in Louisville, KY and is expected to be completed by September 2012. Contract funds in the amount of $10.4 million will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The contract was not competitively procured by the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division in Carderock, MD (N00167-07-C-0008)

Back in March 2005, DID noted that the US Army had narrowed the field for its $20 billion ITES-2 IT contract to 17 potential prime contractors. At the time, we also noted the Army’s plan to issue the formal RFP in May 2005. Later, in April 2005, DID covered Kevin Carroll, “the $36 billion man” who leads the office in charge of ITES and ITES-2 as the Army pursued its vision of a major long-term contract vehicle for a wide range of information technology and computing services.

In September 2005, the U.S. Army released its RFP for its $20 billion Information Technology Enterprise Solutions-2 Services program via the Army Small Computer Program, the Army Contracting Agency, and the Information Technology, E-Commerce, and Commercial Contracting Center. After that, things didn’t go as well. A major kerfuffle and 2 rounds of GAO protests followed the award, which led to a revised list of winners in November 2006.

DE&S HQ

As anyone who has ever dealt with them knows, national defense organizations aren’t exactly paperless. Over in Britain,
Ministry of Defense officials in Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S) realized that several MoD office supplies contracts were due to end in September 2007. They decided to combine all the planned purchases to maximize leverage with suppliers, whereupon the Office of Government Commerce saw an opportunity for wider collaboration. While other departments were added, the DE&S team commissioned Group Supplies Ltd. to help structure a commercial tender process; the company advised MoD to split the contract and undertake 4 auctions on sequential days, with the GBP 110 million stationery supplies requirement held the 1st day.

The result was a reverse auction contract involving 9 government departments, with winning bids totalling GBP 132 million in an outcome expected to save the MoD GBP 50 million over 4 years, and save all participants GBP 100 million overall. As of October 1/07, stationery will be supplied by Lyreco Uk Ltd, paper will be supplied by Office Depot UK Ltd., and Westcoast Ltd DBA Orion Media Marketing will supply magnetic media and electronic office supplies. Deliveries will take place to the UK MoD, and to Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, Home Office, Dept. of Constitutional Affairs, Metropolitan Police, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Treasury, Office of Government Commerce, and Prison Service. MoD release.

Seaport-Enhanced (Seaport-e) is a $5.3 billion multiple-award umbrella contract that lets the US Navy use an integrated approach to contracting for support services. Most requests involve engineering, financial, and program management support. Receiving an award makes a firm eligible to big on jobs under a pre-set contract vehicle, and the SeaPort-e portal provides a standardized means of soliciting bids and awarding task orders.

In 2005, the US Navy issued 503 Seaport-e contracts. In 2006, another 251 were issued. In 2007, there were 391 winners, adding to the existing 892 contracts previously awarded under this program…

Bearing Point in Alexandria, VA received a $99 million firm-fixed-price contract for Advisory and Assistance Services for Air Force Smart Operations 21 (AFSO 21), which is based on both Lean and Six Sigma business process improvement tools. AFSO 21 is the centerpiece of the Air Force strategy to understand and optimize the basic processes round which it organizes. The Headquarters Air Force District of Washington in Washington, DC issued the contract (FA7014-07-A-0026).

Accenture (formerly Andersen Consulting) recently received a 5-year, $155 million contract for Enterprise Business System (EBS) integration and sustainment from the US Defense Logistics Agency (DLA). the contract contains options that could raise its total term to 10 years and its total value to $253 million. Work will be performed in in Columbus, OH; Philadelphia, PA; Richmond, VA; and Battle Creek, MI.

Accenture won the DLA Business Systems Modernization (BSM) contract in 2000 and delivered a new SAP-based system that transformed DLA’s supply chain operations. The new EBS integration and sustainment capability will build upon that base to enhance the DLA’s supply chain, attempting to modernize logistics and replace legacy IT systems while providing support for the existing application.

The Enterprise Business System (EBS) integration and sustainment contract continues DLA’s modernization efforts, works to meet DLA’s expanded responsibilities for specific procurements under the USA’s BRAC responsibilities, provides application management support for the agency’s existing SAP enterprise systems, and assists in planning DLA’s overall modernization roadmap. Early stage DBS initiatives will include upgrade of SAP to the latest software version, and implementation of a new SAP-based eProcurement system. Accenture release.

The US Navy has issued a set of consulting firm contracts to help the Director of Material Readiness and Logistics (OPNAV N4) with business process improvements. These are cost-plus-fixed-fee, indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity contracts with options. Contract funds associated with the contract guaranteed minimum amounts will expire Sept. 2007, while work is expected to be complete Mar. 2008. Work will be performed in Washington, DC (95%); and other Department of Navy CONUS locations (5%). These contracts were competitively procured and solicited through Navy Electronic Commerce Online, with 15 offers received by the Fleet and Industrial Supply Center Norfolk, Contracting Department, Philadelphia Division. Winners included:

• Accenture National Security Services LLC in Reston, VA. $11.6 million, $57.5 million if all options are exercised (N00189-07-R-Z018).
• AMSEC LLC in Virginia Beach, VA. $8.9 million, $44 million if all options are exercised (N00189-07-R-Z019).
• Booz Allen Hamilton Inc. in McLean, VA. $9.5 million, $47 million if all options are exercised (N00189-07-R-Z020).
• IBM in Fairfax, VA. $9.3 million, $47 million if all options are exercised (N00189-07-R-Z021).
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