Strategies for R&D contracting
Parenthetically we may note that CPFF contracts might be used more effectively than they have been in R&D work. Rather than concentrating on the final […]
Industry
Views on the defense industrial report
First, were you aware that the Pentagon even had an Office of Defense Industrial Policy? It sounds suspiciously like the kind of government organization that engages in economic planning, a practice anathema not just to Republicans but to many Democrats as well.
Microsoft reaffirms support for DOD
Other tech industry executives pushed back against the idea that Silicon Valley workers are less inclined to work with the Defense Department solely because of cultural differences or qualms about the moral implications. “It’s much more an economics issue,” said Rachel Olney, “Dealing with the U.S. government is extremely time consuming.”
Amazon’s HQ2 courting the Pentagon?
This is the strange, slightly surreal world in which Amazon has decided to land. “They definitely moved to Crystal City to be closer to the Pentagon,” says William D. Hartung, security expert at the Center for International Policy and author of “Prophets of War: Lockheed Martin and the Making of the Military-Industrial Complex.”
$22.7 billion F-35 production deal before Operational Testing
One might think that for such a big order to be placed, the F-35 worked out all the development kinks. But it looks like a ploy to get a big contract, claim economy of scale savings, and fix the planes later. The contract was 40% of Lockheed’s total ordinary revenue, and the US’s end of the bill looks to be nearly one-third of the entire aircraft procurement budget for Navy and Air Force, which came in at about $36 billion in the FY 2019 request.
The astronomical cost of winning contracts
It’s hard to believe that Boeing was a long-shot to win an aircraft program, but it appears that there were 6 other competitors at some level. What I find interesting is the coincidence of Boeing having both the lowest price and the only clean-sheet design. Optimism, perhaps?
Broad Considerations for Entering the Defense Market
A few days ago I discussed the saga of the JEDI cloud computing contract, which engaged tech firms like Amazon, Oracle, Microsoft, IBM, and Google. […]
DOD throws money at capital to plug defense supplier gaps
A recent study by the Center for Strategic and International Studies estimates that from 2001 to 2015, 17,000 companies ceased to be prime vendors for […]
Oracle protest upheld and implications for reform
REAN Cloud LLC (REAN) entered into an Other Transaction (OT) Agreement with the Army (facilitated by DIUx) to provide prototype cloud migration services. While the prototype […]
Overpriced coffee mugs, DOD scandal of the week
A Fox News report alleges that the Air Force spent an exorbitant amount of money on specialty coffee mugs for the 60th Aerial Port Squadron at Travis […]
Explanations for defense CEO pay jumps after 9-11
CEO pay for defense contractors skyrocketed after 9-11 but before the invasion of Iraq. Lockheed Martin: $5.8M in 2000 increased to $25.3M in 2002 General […]
Euro Shipbuilding Consolidation?
DefenseNews asks of the European shipbuilding industry: “Is there enough drive to reach a unified shipbuilding enterprise?… “As European shipbuilders prepare to transform their nations’ […]
The JEDI Contract: A Layered Story
For the DOD, getting the right work on contract is a difficult task. Acquisition chief Ellen Lord wanted to get time from Request for Proposal […]