Pentagon October Awards
* Last month’s government shutdown contributed to a 66% sequential drop in DoD awards, to $15.7B across 185 awards, vs. 717 awards worth a total $46B. Since the federal government tends to spend significantly more in September at the end of its fiscal year, a fairer comparison is the $37.4B awarded in October 2012. Bloomberg.
Contract Termination Costs
* The US Government Accountability Office (GAO) agrees with DOD that the latter receives estimates of termination liability from contractors, though GAO thinks “ability to predict actual termination costs with these estimates appears limited.”
HAC-D Chair
* As expected since Bill Young died, Congressman Rodney Frelinghuysen [R-NJ-11, since 1995] has been confirmed as the House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee chairman. Frelinghuysen was drafted by the US Army to serve in a construction Battalion in Vietnam from 1969 to 1971.
Tires for US Navy
* The US Naval Supply Systems Command, Weapons Systems Support (NAVSUP WSS) will be hosting an Industry Day on Dec 17 in Philadelphia, PA to discuss the follow-on contract to the current Naval Aviation Tire Performance Based Logistics (PBL) contract. The initial PBL contract was awarded back in 2001 to Michelin Aircraft Tire, with support from Lockheed Martin MS2, and was eventually recognized [PDF] by the Pentagon 2 years ago for its results. This spans 23 types of tires with hundreds of thousands of items delivered over the years.
Procurement Scandal of the Day
* Keith Johnson, a former program manager at a DoD contractor in Afghanistan, and his wife Angela pleaded guilty yesterday of participating in a $9.7M procurement fraud scheme. Johnson worked at a central maintenance facility (CMF) which conveniently ordered vehicle parts from a business operated by his spouse.
Turkey Missile Defense, Take 2
* Raytheon and Lockheed Martin are considering submitting a new offer to Turkey to displace a missile defense system professed to have been awarded to China. Turkish authorities have since September repeatedly signaled they were still open to Western proposals.
British Shipbuilding; Emerging Competition
* Giovanni de Briganti reflects on the aftermath of BAE’s shipyard closure in Portsmouth, England:
“[H]eavy industry in the West struggles to survive in a world where developing countries are increasingly assuming their own naval shipbuilding and armored vehicle production, as was recently shown by Thailand’s decision to develop its own 8×8 armored vehicle instead of buying it from a foreign supplier. […]
The Royal Navy has ordered its next replenishment ships from South Korea because British shipyards were unable to compete on price, and the Royal Navy budget could not stretch to paying British prices.”
* BAE will keep operating in Govan and Scotstoun in Glasgow, but if Scottish voters choose independence in next year’s referendum, Minister for International Security Strategy Andrew Murrison told the House of Commons Scottish Affairs Committee that work on future warships may be performed in Portsmouth.
Space Access, Cheaper by Orders of Magnitude?
* Here is DARPA’s program overview [PDF] as presented at its recent Experimental Spaceplane (XS-1) industry day. They have have a variety of winged and unwinged designs in mind to “break the cycle of escalating space system costs”. They reckon relatively lightweight aircraft-like operations may help.
Wounded: Legacy of War
* Bryan Adams – yes, the Canadian singer – released a photography book on wounded British veterans. Video below:
