* The US GAO’s most recent batch of defense reports is focused on acquisition, starting with their latest assessment of Selected Weapon Programs (the infamous SAR report itself has not been publicly released by the Pentagon yet), while a 2nd report finds some IT programs (known as MAIS) have high management turnover, and a 3rd report notes that the number of contracts competed by DoD has been decreasing, with just 37% of USAF contracts competed in FY12.
* According to the GAO the Pentagon’s portfolio has shrunk to an XXXXL size of $1.6 trillion across 86 programs, a decrease of 10 programs and $109B. R&D costs grew by 0.4% from the previous year, while procurement decreased by 3.8%, mostly because of program cancellations and restructurings. They lament the lack of a proper acquisition baseline for $130B+ of spending on BMDS, because of the way the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) was exempted from the usual constraints set by DFARS legislation. More granular SAR highlights will be featured in our program coverage in the days to come, and the reports are in our Google Drive.
* The Pentagon decreased the amount of furlough days that its civilian employees can face before the end of the fiscal year from 22 to 14, and delayed their start to the second half of June.
* US defense acquisition regulations get a new “proposal adequacy” checklist that offerors will have to fill in case the solicitation requires submission of certified cost or pricing data. Enjoy another layer of cost-cutting, time-saving paperwork.
* France’s Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault told the Senate [in French] what his boss François Hollande then repeated to the whole country on TV: expect flat defense budgets, rather than the drastic cuts lately rumored in the media. Hollande’s imprecise phrasing can be parsed as meaning the budget will remain flat in nominal rather than real terms. Still, if inflation is the worst of it, that beats stopping Rafale purchases short of the expected quantity, selling the Charles de Gaulle carrier, or closing a bunch of Army battalions. This will be settled for sure in the fall.
* But keep in mind that military equipment inflation has been significant in the last couple of decades, in Europe like in the US. The Paris-based IFRI think tank looked at the many drivers [in French] behind these price increases, from booming commodity prices to salary increases – and mostly blames hardware complexity.
* The Tokyo-based National Institute for Defense Studies has an executive summary [PDF] in English of their East Asian strategic review. It’s a relatively quick scan of recent developments and the state of military and diplomatic affairs from India to Australia.
* Iran, North Korea and Syria prevented the United Nations from reaching a consensus on the Arms Trade Treaty [draft PDF]. The US is calling for a vote next week.
* The US Army’s Project Manager, Maneuver Ammunition Systems (OPM-MAS) is seeking potential sources of 40mm ammunition in advance of a Firm Fixed-Price (FFP) production contract to cover FY15-19 needs.
