The Navy has awarded a $1.9 billion order for more aerial reconnaissance and sub-hunting aircraft to Boeing, the agency announced Friday. The low-rate initial production award for 11 P-8A Poseidon aircraft is a modification to a previously awarded fixed-price-incentive-firm contract and follows two orders last year for 13 aircraft. The fleet will ” bolster the service’s anti-submarine, anti-surface warfare and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities,” Boeing said in a news release today. Boeing has delivered three of the P-8As, which are based on the company’s 737-800 commercial airplane, the company said. The Navy plans to purchase 117 to replace its P-3 fleet. Most of…
Browsing: Procurement
Members of Congress are calling for a federal investigators to look into a defense contractor’s use of animals in training exercises. The group asked the Government Accountability Office to investigate Tier 1 Group for “live tissue training,” which uses animals to train service members on the treatment of combat-related injuries. The Agriculture Department issued a warning to Tier 1 last month after previously citing the company for violating the federal Animal Welfare Act during training exercises in May and last August. The company did not use the right type of anesthesia on live animals during a training exercise and did not properly…
Defense contractor Paragon Dynamics Inc. has agreed to pay $1.15 million to settle allegations that it improperly obtained bid and proposal information for National Reconnaissance Office contracts, federal prosecutors announced Tuesday. Paragon Dynamics, a software research and development firm based in Aurora, Colo., allegedly obtained bid and proposal information from competitor Raytheon Corp. in fiscal 2009, while Raytheon was competing on National Reconnaissance Office contracts, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Colorado said in the news release. The NRO is in charge of designing, launching and maintaining America’s intelligence satellites. A Paragon Dynamics employee with access to a Raytheon facility in Aurora allegedly used…
Deltek Inc., a leading market research and business management company, announced today that it has been bought by private equity firm Thoma Bravo for roughly $1.1 billion. Deltek, which is now publicly traded, will be privately held under the deal. Deltek’s stockholders will receive $13 in cash for each share when the transaction closes, the company said in a news release. Deltek’s board of directors and its largest shareholder, New Mountain Capital, approved the acquisition. Deltek, which earned $341 million last year and has more than 1,600 employees, provides services to 98 of the top 100 federal contractors. The company’s revenues increased more than 20 percent between 2010…
The average compensation package of the chief executive officer for one of the top five Pentagon contractors is roughly $21.5 million, according to an analysis by the Project on Government Oversight. Ben Freeman, an investigator for the government watchdog group, looked at the compensation packages of CEOs at Lockheed Martin, Boeing, General Dynamics, Northrup Grumman, and Raytheon reported in the firms’ Securities and Exchange Commission filings. The Defense Department — and therefore, taxpayers — pay for part of contractors’ executive compensation, which is billed as part of the indirect overhead rates on contracts. Some lawmakers are pushing measures to reduce how much contractors can receive for executive…
After pushing the Air Force last year to recoup $4.3 million spent on repairs caused by poor contractor work, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen is now proposing that all agencies explain why they decide not to take action against poorly performing contractors in Afghanistan. The bill, S. 3505, would require agencies to explain to Congress why they do not act on recommendations by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) to recoup money from poorly performing contractors, when the SIGAR’s recommendations would result in at least $500,000 in savings. The bill would cover instances when the agency fails to respond, disagrees with the SIGAR or only accepts part of the SIGAR’s…
The President will nominate the Defense Department’s procurement policy director to lead a board that promotes transparency in government spending, the White House announced last week. Richard Ginman, who became director of defense procurement and acquisition policy (DPAP) last June, will be asked to chair the Government Accountability and Transparency (GAT) Board. The 11-member panel — made up of agency inspectors general, agency chief financial officers and a senior Office of Management and Budget official — is mirrored after a board that oversaw efforts to root out waste, fraud and abuse in stimulus spending. The GAT Board is focused on improving transparency and…
A proposed contracting rule that requires new service contract winners to hire the outgoing firm’s employees is not consistent with other federal rules, a trade association said this week. The Labor Department issued a similar rule in August, which was required by a 2009 executive order that seeks to reduce disruption during contract transitions and retain experienced workers. The rule being proposed by the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council would require agencies to add the rule as a clause in contracts. However, the proposed rule does not include some of the requirements in the Labor Department’s rule, the Professional Services Council…
Federal officials unveiled details of a new public-private partnership aimed at speeding industry’s development of secure information technology products. The new National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE) launched in February is a project of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). It aims to bring companies together to create and discuss security management solutions that can be used by agencies and private companies. Acting Executive Director Donna Dodson on Tuesday said NCCoE’s vision is to provide a world-class collaborative environment for integrating cybersecurity solutions that stimulate economies and national economic groups. Initially, the center will focus on adopting secure…
Baldor Electric Co., which once produced batteries and generators for the Army and other federal agencies, has agreed to pay $2 million and offer 50 people jobs to settle allegations of discrimination, federal contract oversight officials said this week. The company’s applicant screening process for its facility in Fort Smith, Ark. allegedly discriminated against women and minorities, the Labor Department’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) said in a news release. The OFCCP found the company’s process of evaluating applicants was based on subjective standards, not an objective analysis of a person’s qualifications, an OFCCP spokesman said. As a result, 795 qualified…