Looking for More Leonards
* In the wake of the Glenn Defense Marine Asia investigation, US Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus ordered [PDF] a review of the service’s acquisition of all port services contracts worldwide.
* Northrop Grumman paid $11.4M to settle allegations by the US government that the company had charged to its federal contracts costs for deferred compensation awards to senior employees, even though it had promised not to do so as part of an earlier 2002 settlement.
* The US State Department released an online wizard to help contractors complete Part 130 reports mandated by ITAR regulations. Part 130 compliance was part of the issues that led BAE Systems to a $400M fine in March 2010.
Reverse Auction Practices
* It’s not just the Defense Logistics Agency that is using reverse auctions: the Army, Homeland Security, Veterans Affairs, and the Interior do it too. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recommends that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) formalize these practices in the federal acquisition regulations, which OMB agrees to consider.
More X-Plane
* Aurora Flight Sciences joins Sikorsky as a recipient of a contract for DARPA’s Vertical Take-Off and Landing Experimental Plane (VTOL X-Plane) Phase 1. Each company received an award for about $14M, which leaves room in the budget for a 3rd contractor.
Tech Industry Pushes Back Against Surveillance
* Google, Facebook, Apple, Microsoft, Twitter, Yahoo, LinkedIn and AOL have sent an open letter, demanding the reform of NSA surveillance. Compare their demands, which include the end of bulk collection, with the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s prescriptions for reform.
Found in Translation
* Turkey’s TFX: the “ultrasonic” airplane! It defends your airspace! It costs $70 billion! It whitens your teeth!
After Mali, Central African Republic
* France is again relying on foreign logistics support to conduct its operations in Africa: the US is flying French troops with 2 C-17s to the CAR. More than 450 people died in militia clashes during the past few days, on top of reported rapes and looting. Two French soldiers died last night [in French] in a skirmish near Bangui, the capital. The Assemblée Nationale is having a non-binding session on Operation Sangaris today.
The Northern Sea Route
* Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to reopen military infrastructure in the Arctic.
* Bjorn Gunnarsson from the Centre for High North Logistics nonprofit talked at an IISS event about the future of Arctic shipping routes in the video below: