Frank Kendall fires a shot across the bow of CMMC
The CMMC [Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification] Accreditation Body’s website shows an estimate that there will need to be 10,000 licensed Assessors trained and working full time […]
Industry
Few defense firms closed due to Covid-19, and more industry impacts
Defense Contract Management Agency data shows that about 106 out of 10,509 primary Pentagon contractors are closed. 68 companies have closed but subsequently reopened. On […]
Space industry proposal for sustaining companies through Covid-19
Safeguarding our national security space industrial base in the face of the economic downturn warrants proactive measures to inject funding and sustain critical commercial space […]
DHS rolls out commercial solutions openings
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS)… will use the Commercial Solutions Opening Pilot Program (CSOP) procedures to acquire innovative, commercial items, technologies and services currently […]
Government pays for inactive contractor labor during Covid-19
Section 3610 of the CARES Act allows agencies to pay contractor labor costs when they are not working due to Covid-19, to to keep the […]
Cost or pricing data updates and challenges
In a February 2019 report finding that a defense contractor, TransDigm Group, Inc. (TransDigm), overcharged DoD for spare parts under sole-source contracts, the [Inspector General] […]
A primer on progress payments: impact of increase from 80% to 90% for COVID-19
Recently, the Pentagon announced that it will increase progress payments to bolster contractor cash flow during the COVID-19 crisis. For small businesses, progress payments increased […]
Raytheon-UTC merger goes forward, but what’s the upside?
“Today’s settlement protects the American taxpayer by preserving competition that leads to lower costs and higher innovation in critical military and defense products,” said Assistant […]
Modeling the impact of COVID-19 on defense contract obligations
We don’t even have to look back as far as the 2008 crisis to predict the scale of potential losses. When sequestration hit in 2013, […]
Evaluating price for Other Transactions contracts: call for ideas
The 2018 DOD OTA Guidebook states: “The Government team shall determine price reasonableness. The Government team may need data to establish price reasonableness, including commercial […]
Using the Defense Production Act to combat COVID-19
The DPA was inspired by laws from 1941 and 1942 that gave the White House the ability to tell private companies what to make for the good […]
The best IP protection is to innovate fast enough
The real way I think you achieve intellectual property protection is by innovating fast enough. If your rate of innovation is high, then you don’t […]
Role of government in the innovative ecosystem
There’s plenty of private money out there and interest rates are very low — the money will flow into where ever there is a good […]
Rickover on profits invisible to government
Suppose it costs the parts supplier $100 to make the parts. To this he adds 10 percent for profit. He then charges the motor manufacturer […]
Why have America’s best technologists and investors turned away from defense?
When the Cold War ended, there were 107 major defense firms. By the end of the 1990s, there were five. And since then, the middle […]