Daily Rapid Fire: 2011-09-19 | Reliability Planning; FPIF Contracting

Sep 19, 2011 09:00 UTC by Defense Industry Daily staff

Did the White House lobby military officials to downplay concerns that the broadband satellite firm Lightsquared, owned by a major campaign donor, would disrupt GPS signals within its coverage? See Daily Beast article, House Strategic Forces Subcommittee hearing video embedded at the bottom of this entry.
Michael Gilmore, Director of DoD’s Operation Test & Evaluation (DOT&E) published his latest presentation [PDF] on the key issues with program delays and reliability growth. His conclusions: testing by itself doesn’t cause program delays, has low relative costs (in most cases 1.5% or less of total costs), and though planning to increase reliability has improved in recent years, this has not translated yet into increased reliability.

Latest DFARS change: case 2011-D010 asks contracting officers to give particular consideration to the use of fixed-price incentive (firm target) contracts (FPIF), especially for acquisitions moving from development to production. Particular attention should be paid to share lines and ceiling prices for fixed-price incentive (firm target) contracts, with a 120 percent ceiling and a 50/50 share ratio as the point of departure for establishing the incentive arrangement. This implements and clarifies language from a November 3rd, 2010 AT&L memo on affordability [PDF]. The Federal Register PDF shows that one respondent, in comments sent to DoD, was not convinced by what might be translated as a mandatory requirement, rather than a preference. That respondent cited the Institute for Defense Analyses which in 2009 stated [PDF] that “changes in fee for performance risk, contract risk, and cost efficiency do not directly influence firms’ management of performance, schedule, and cost.”

Stealth jets aren’t simple. For the F-35, BAE has installed a StarragHeckert machine that can make 3m long titanium components with tolerances to “a third the thickness of a human hair.” Based on common use, that means about 30-35 microns of variance allowed – about the diameter of a mold spore.

AmSafe MoU with Singapore Technologies Kinetics will market its Tarian fabric rocket-protection system on ST Kinetics’ vehicles, and in “areas where it has a strong presence.” Those vehicles include the British Army’s “Warthog” all-terrain APCs.

The Financial Times says ManTech and CACI International are among the victims of cyber-espionage attempts by the Chinese.

On September 15 Congressional Steel Caucus Chairman Tim Murphy (R-PA), Vice Chairman Pete Visclosky (D-IN), and 31 cosigners sent a letter to urge SecDef Leon Panetta to stop using armor steel plates melted in other countries in military vehicles.

Among the House Armed Services Committee hearings coming up this week: defense industry business challenges, future of special operations forces, DOD’s efforts to improve payment and funds control.

BRAC complete at Aberdeen Proving Ground.

Categories: BAE, Daily Rapid Fire, Fighters & Attack, GPS Infrastructure, Issues - Political, Satellites & Sensors, Scandals & Investigations, USA

Daily Rapid Fire: 2011-09-19 | Reliability Planning; FPIF Contracting

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