Georgia Tech Procurement Assistance Center

America’s depleted industrial base is a national security crisis

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President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s farewell address is most famous for its warning against the “unwarranted influence” of the military-industrial complex.  But Eisenhower also stressed the defense industry’s importance to the country’s security: After all, it helped the U.S. maintain superiority over its rivals, forestall great-power conflict and win the Cold War.

Six decades on, America’s military remains the most advanced in the world — but the industrial base supporting it has deteriorated.  Industry consolidation, domestic manufacturing decline, and dysfunctional federal budgeting have combined to reduce competition throughout the defense supply chain, eroding military readiness and potentially jeopardizing national security.

Continue reading at:  Bloomberg

DoD initiates CMMC review

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When the Defense Department confirmed that Deputy Secretary Kathleen Hicks decided to review the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) program, initial reactions were mixed.

Some experts said this is a significant sign that the Biden administration wants to rethink major aspects of CMMC.

Others say it’s a perfunctory review and one any new administration would undertake given the importance of the program.  They say these reviews likely are happening across DoD.

Continue reading at:  Federal News Network

See also this article in FedScoop:  CMMC is under an internal DoD review

DoD OSBP hosting webinar on how small businesses can identify and pursue contracting opportunities on April 21st

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The DoD OSBP welcomes Ms. Vicky Mundt Associate Director, Office of Small Business Programs as the next speaker in the Defense Small Business Webinar Series.

Ms. Mundt will provide insights into how small businesses can identify and pursue contracts with DOD.  This webinar is open to all but geared toward small businesses, small business liaison offices, and PTAC representatives.

You can sign-up to attend the webinar at the: DAU Website

DOD asks industry for new tech ideas

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The Department of Defense‘s rapid reaction technology office is inviting companies to propose technology platforms that could address joint mission capability requirements by 2028 in areas such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, hypersonics, and 5G.  Read the DoD’s posting on beta.sam.gov.

Continue reading at:  GovConWire

How the defense industry survived — and thrived — during the pandemic

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U.S. Air Force leaders faced a dilemma.  The service needed a key raw material from Italy for one of its critical nuclear modernization programs.  But in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, as industrial facilities shut down and transit between nations slowed, it was unclear how the material could reach the United States.

Air Force officials were so worried that they eventually authorized military aircraft to fly to Italy to pick up the remaining supply in person, averting an interruption in one of the nation’s most strategic weapons programs.

According to Will Roper, who led Air Force acquisition efforts under the Trump administration, the ordeal was one example of when the Pentagon had to make a “worst-case scenario call” to protect the U.S. military’s technological edge as COVID-19 threatened the defense-industrial base.  This sense of urgency would prove common over the next year.

As the pandemic spread, the reality of having a global supply chain that featured a number of small, sole-source suppliers, as well as an aging industrial workforce, collided into a calamity — one that threatened to irreparably damage the American defense industry.

Continue reading at:  DefenseNews

The NISPOM is becoming a regulation and contractors have six months to comply

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On December 21, 2020, the Department of Defense (“DoD”) published a final rule in the Federal Register that codifies the National Industrial Security Program Operating Manual (“NISPOM”) in the Code of Federal Regulations (“CFR”) at 32 CFR part 117.  The rule became effective on February 24, 2021, giving contractors six months from the effective date to comply with the changes.  

The NISPOM establishes various requirements and standard procedures for the protection of classified information disclosed to or developed by government contractors.  It was first published in 1995 as DoD Manual 5220.22, and was intermittently updated through the years including (most recently) via Conforming Change 1 on March 28, 2013, and NISPOM Change 2 on May 21, 2016.  In addition to adding the NISPOM to the CFR, the new rule will incorporate the requirements of Security Executive Agent Directive (“SEAD”) 3, “Reporting Requirements for Personnel with Access to Classified Information or Who Hold a Sensitive Position” (available here), and will implement the provisions of Section 842 of the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act (“NDAA”) (Public Law 115-232) (both of which are discussed below).

Continue reading at:  Sheppard Mullin

A small number of states dominate defense spending

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A huge portion of U.S. defense spending is going to contractors and military personnel based in just a handful of states, according to data recently released by the Pentagon.

Defense Department contract obligations and payroll spending in the 50 states and the District of Columbia totaled $550.9 billion in fiscal year 2019.  Of those outlays, 73 percent was spent on contracts for products and services, while the remaining 27 percent paid the salaries of department personnel, according to the Office of Local Defense Community Cooperation’s latest report on defense spending by state.

“California, Virginia and Texas topped the list of recipients for overall defense spending,” said a press release accompanying the study.  They received $181.3 billion, about one-third of the total allotted to all 50 states plus D.C.

The top five, which also included Florida and Maryland, received about 43 percent of the total, while the top 10 received approximately 59 percent, according to the data.

Continue reading at:  National Defense Magazine

Official describes DoD hypersonics development, strategy and opportunities

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Hypersonics is a category of weapons that can travel within the upper atmosphere for sustained periods of time, at velocities greater than about five times the speed of sound.

Mike White, Principal Director for Hypersonics, Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, spoke during Engineers Week.

“Historically, the United States has been a world leader in hypersonics research and development but we have consistently made the decision not to transition to warfighting capability and warfighting systems in hypersonics,” White said.

However, “great power” competitors, Russia and China, in particular, have aggressively pursued hypersonic technologies and capabilities, and they’re aggressively developing hypersonic systems and in fact-fielding weapon systems based on hypersonic capabilities, he noted.  These systems will compound the challenge created by other high-end systems they are fielding to hold our forces at risk in the air, on land, at sea and in space.

Continue reading at:  U.S. Department of Defense News

Lockheed Martin’s Marietta GA facility wins major C-130J contract

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Lockheed Martin has won a $3 billion multiyear contract to deliver up to 50 C-130J Super Hercules to the US Air Force (USAF), US Marine Corps (USMC) and US Coast Guard.

The Department of Defense awarded $1.5 billion for the first tranche of 21 C-130Js on 27 December, the company says on 13 January.

In total, the company is contracted to deliver a mix of 24 HC-130Js and MC-130Js to the USAF, and 20 KC-130s to the USMC, while the US Coast Guard has an option to buy six HC-130Js, as part of the “multiyear III award”.

Continue reading at:  FlightGlobal

The FY 2020 NDAA – What the defense contracting community needs to know

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On December 20, 2019, President Trump signed the fiscal year 2020 (FY20) National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) into law (Pub. L. 116-92).  The NDAA, Congress’ annual defense policy bill, is a critical piece of legislation for the contracting community because it provides the funding authority for programs and activities of the Department of Defense (DoD), the largest procurer of goods and services within the US government.  In addition, the NDAA is a vehicle for encouraging in some cases, and requiring in others, changes to both DoD and government-wide procurement practices.  Therefore, it is critical for the contracting community to understand the provisions of the enacted NDAA.

Budget/Funding

The NDAA provides $738 billion in topline funding for the DoD, defense-related programs of the Department of Energy, and defense-related activities of other federal agencies, with a base budget of nearly $660 billion and an additional $71.5 billion in funding for overseas contingency operations.  In total, the FY20 NDAA authorizes an increase of nearly $25 billion in national defense topline funding in comparison to the FY19 NDAA.

Continue reading at:  Dentons

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