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Month: October 2019

Navy found $126 million in parts it didn’t know existed, and what that says about oversight

October 31, 2019 Eric Lofgren 0

Navy aircraft were sidelined as they awaited parts last year that the service actually had in a warehouse. The problem? They didn’t even know the warehouse […]

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Time to award a defense contract and the growth of regulation

October 30, 2019 Eric Lofgren 0

In 1947, the “Bible” of the nation’s military contractors—Armed Forces Procurement Regulation—was a slim volume of about 100 to 125 pages long. Today, the A.F.P.R., […]

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A small business view of FedRAMP; over 100 DevOps reqts involved

October 29, 2019 Eric Lofgren 0

In the system where EverLaw tracks the features and whatever the engineers were working on, there were over 100 tickets in there — or feature […]

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Podcast: Don Vandergriff on dropping Taylorism and adopting mission command

October 28, 2019 Eric Lofgren 0

I was pleased to have Don Vandergriff on the Acquistion Talk podcast. Don is a prolific educator of military training and strategy, and he has […]

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Acquisition headlines

October 27, 2019 Eric Lofgren 0

Microsoft Wins Pentagon’s $10 Billion JEDI Contract, Thwarting Amazon. “In 20 years of covering tech, I’ve never seen a battle for any type of contract […]

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Was there a defect cover up on the Virginia Class submarine?

October 26, 2019 Eric Lofgren 0

A Sept. 26 whistleblower complaint accuses shipbuilder Huntington Ingalls of falsifying quality tests on the stealth coating of Virginia Class attack submarines, thus “knowingly and/or […]

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Small business graduation and the investment conundrum

October 25, 2019 Eric Lofgren 0

The survival rates show that around 40 percent of new entrants exit the market for federal contracts after three years, around 60 percent after five […]

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Some data on how fast costs are rising for the US Air Force

October 24, 2019 Eric Lofgren 0

Last year I discussed whether defense acquisition was a cost disease sector, just like healthcare, education, and some areas of construction. I evaluated three methods […]

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Providing two or more sources of production doesn’t always lead to higher costs

October 23, 2019 Eric Lofgren 0

The second argument usually used against setting up a second source is that the efficiencies of the first source would have to be scaled back […]

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Shay Assad, progress payments, pricing scandals, and a re-run of acquisition history

October 22, 2019 Eric Lofgren 0

In January 2018, [USD(AT&L) Ellen] Lord called [DPAP Shay] Assad to her office to vent her frustration with the inconsistent performance of major defense firms. […]

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Making the FAR sing isn’t enough — no one can be expert in all applicable laws, regs

October 21, 2019 Eric Lofgren 3

The cost to the taxpayer of attempting to eliminate all risk is prohibitive. The Executive Branch will accept and manage the risk associated with empowering […]

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Acquisition headline

October 20, 2019 Eric Lofgren 0

Pentagon says decision on full-rate F-35 jet production possibly delayed until 2021. Not clear what the FRP decision really means in this context, more than […]

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The stifling rigidity of the Total Package Procurement (TPP) concept for contracting

October 19, 2019 Eric Lofgren 0

In the mid-1960 successful development contracts were generally followed by production contracts with little or no likelihood that the contracts would have to face competition. […]

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Businesses run from high costs like gazelle from a lion

October 18, 2019 Eric Lofgren 0

Businesses will run from increased costs like gazelle run when they smell a lion. It’s amazing how quickly they change their behavior. That was Andrew […]

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Staffs set up a hierarchy within a hierarchy, creating built-in resistance from line officers

October 17, 2019 Eric Lofgren 0

… there seems to be an inherent conflict between line and staff activities. In the first place, their functions largely overlap. The only way “doing” […]

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