I chose this article as have been saying for years that short term contracting is cheaper despite the elevated salaries for the service.  Yet, all this is OBE now as the austerity measures are kicking in and the sole screening criteria for award is Price.  Gov’t has hit on a acquisition strategy of Multiple Award IDIQ (MAIDIQ) awards for vehicles, thus taking care of meeting past performance and technical competency requirements.  As the TORFP drop, it is all about the lowest price from there, as again, all awardees are consider by default to be technically competent.  The industry is going through a bit of a sticker shock as salaries are literally being cut in half for recompetes, let alone the government’s desire for companies to foot the R&D build, in … Read entire article »

Originally posted in Small Wars Journal: http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/back-to-the-future-for-dod Hope you all have a prosperous New Year. After reading today’s Strategic Guidance released by the President and SECDEF, my thoughts: Not a Strategy but there is guidance, so that is a good thing. Definitely calls for a leaner military, taking advantage of our technological edge (ironic in that was what Mr Rumsfeld intended as well). It does seem that there is a great desire to return to the Pre 9/11 world, except now China is the boogie man versus Russia. The Air/Sea Battle concept is prevalent throughout, while not specifically mentioned it is prominent between the lines in multiple places, which will protect and replenish the Air Force and Navy that have been neglected (in their minds) this last decade. This will come primarily at … Read entire article »