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Rapid Fire Oct. 3, 2013: DCMA, GAO Furloughs Affect Regular Order of Business

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* United Technologies announced that they “will be forced to furlough thousands of workers due to the absence of Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) inspectors who audit and approve operations throughout the manufacturing process for military products.” This will start with 2,000 Sikorsky workers working on Black Hawks, effective next Monday. * Financial firm Moody’s […]

* United Technologies announced that they “will be forced to furlough thousands of workers due to the absence of Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) inspectors who audit and approve operations throughout the manufacturing process for military products.” This will start with 2,000 Sikorsky workers working on Black Hawks, effective next Monday.

* Financial firm Moody’s ranked defense contractor liquidity based on their relative exposure to a complete shutdown in government spending. This is a short-term cash flow assessment, not a longer term revenue risk analysis.

* The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is not going to process bid protests during the government shutdown, while the DoD’s Inspector General has suspended updates to their website.

* The DoD and General Services Administration (GSA) had planned a joint industry day on plug-in electric vehicles which is now postponed until further notice.

* With the fight over Obamacare “taking all the oxygen out of the room”, defense industry lobbyists fear that the odds are very slim to put a sequester fix back on the congressional agenda, let alone come to an agreement that would roll back some of the BCA’s defense budget cuts.

* The US House of Representatives approved a bill to extend a visa programs for Iraqis who helped the US. A similar law was already passed by the Senate a few days ago so this should turned into a signed bill very soon.

* Deputy US Secretary of Defense Ash Carter sounds very serious about supporting defense exports to India:

“With respect to requests for proposals advanced by the Indian government, we’re taking aggressive, concrete actions to curb the kind of delays that impede timely responses by U.S. bidders. For example, I’ve directed the department to conduct expedited, anticipatory reviews of complicated projects in anticipation of upcoming Indian RFPs. […] If you can’t respond to an RFP, in India, if you miss the deadline, you’re out of the game. You can’t respond to an RFP under our law unless you can release technology associated with your response. To release that technology, you need to get action from the U.S. government, a catch-22 […]

We are vetting now offers even before an RFP is released, when we know that an RFP is coming. We’re also making standard operating procedure out of those innovations I discussed earlier, so as trying to better anticipate Indian requirements and streamlining our licensing processes. These changes not only lay the groundwork for more sophisticated cooperation, but make us competitive for every sale.”

* Jean-Bernard Lévy, Thales’ CEO since the end of last year, has set very ambitious growth goals [in French] for the company. He wants to grow revenue by an extra 10 billion euros (about $13.6B) in 10 years, to 24 billion euros/year. These extra sales are expected to come from emerging markets such as India and Brazil.

* This could come handy: 6 lessons from blowing $30 billion in Brazil.

* The Enhanced Medium Altitude Reconnaissance and Surveillance System (EMARSS) has been transferred from PEO IEW&S to PEO Aviation within the US Army.

* British troops have handed over control of Forward Operating Base Ouellette to the Afghans. Video below:

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