Military Minefields:

1
Military Minefields Coping with Contracts

• 2012 NICAR National Conference
• St. Louis, Missouri, Feb. 24, 2012
• Michael Fabey, naval editor
• Aviation Week Intelligence Network
• mike_fabey_at_aviationweek.com fabeyships_at_aol.com
• 202-383-2397 (Washington office) 202-997-0262
  (cell)
• www.aviationweek.com www.frankfordelstop.com

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From the Shadows, The Ultimate Insider's View of
Five Presidents and How they Won the Cold War

• Asking questions quarreling with conclusions
  sending the researchers back for more data, more
  evidence seeking out new and different sources
  of information probing and listening o obscure
  and not-so-obscure outside experts quizzing
  anyone who seemed to have a good idea reaching
  out to businessmen with international experience.
  ...looking for new information and insights,
  being willing to question... own assumptions
  ...and always challenging conventional
  wisdom...information and analysis that informed
  or provoked action ... not ... assessments that
  simply were 'interesting' or educational

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DOD DAILY BROADCASTS

• Every day, on www.fedbizzops.com the military and
  other government agencies broadcast such feelers
  as broad agency announcements (BAAs), requests
  for information (RFIs) and requests for proposals
  (RFPs).

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You never know where
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For example

• Another place to find what the government plans
  to acquire, especially from a technology
  standpoint, is to try the U.S. Patent Office
  site http//www1.uspto.gov/index.html

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Contracts portal

• U.S. Department of DefenseOffice of the
  Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public
  Affairs)Contracts On the Web http//www.defense
  link.mil/contracts/Media contact 1 (703)
  697-5131Public contacthttp//www.dod.mil/faq/com
  ment.htmlor 1 [phone]Contracts valued at
  5 million or more are announced each business
  day at 5 p.m. Contract announcements issued
  within the past 30 days are listed below. Older
  contract announcements are available from the
  contract archive page. Contract announcements are
  also available by e-mail subscription. Go to DoD
  News for more information and for links to other
  news items.

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Contract basics

• Thales-Raytheon Systems, Fullerton, Calif., is
  being awarded a 22,272,000 firm-fixed-price
  contract to provide the Battle Control
  System-Fixed Spiral 1 System. This will provide
  North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD)
  and Pacific Command commanders with an
  interoperable, open-architecture air defense
  command and control platform in support of
  NORAD's homeland defense mission. Total funds
  have been obligated. This work will be completed
  by January 2005. Solicitation began in January
  2003, and negotiations were completed in April
  2003. The Electronic Systems Center, Hanscom Air
  Force Base, Mass., is the contracting activity
  (F19628-03-C-0046)

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The real deal

• 45 Contract modifications
• 60 million
• Modifications started right after contract was
  awarded

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Thats classified!
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The real cost
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Ground operations costs taking toll on other DOD
accounts, analysis shows Funding ground wars in
Iraq and Afghanistan is starting to take its toll
on other Pentagon weapons expenses -
particularly for aircraft accounts - according to
an analysis of recent Defense Department contracts
by Aerospace Daily. The Pentagon has
concentrated its funding more recently on
equipment and operations that support combat
troops - such as logistics, trucks and
telecommunications, the analysis shows. A year
ago, the Defense Department spent more money on
aircraft and related expenses. But a common theme
for 2005 and up to August, 2006, is the need for
logistics and related costs, according to the
analysis of about 1.5 million contracts and
related modifications identified as DOD
work. Aerospace Daily gleaned the
Pentagon purchasing records
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Warbucks
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The 69 billion contractor not

• -- about 69 billion of those 70 billion went to
  a small Pittsburgh-based company called Earth
  Savers Inc., the records showed.
• And the total all really centered on one contract
  worth about 99 percent of the total, the records
  showed.
• Turns out the records were wrong.
• Apparently someone at DOD inadvertently moved a
  decimal point over a few places, making a
  contract with tens of billions instead of
  single-digit millions.

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The Navy said it had only cost about 19 million
to set up the Wallops testing facility An AWIN
analysis and analysts suggested the price tag was
more than 1 billion to prep the site and operate
it. The Navy has since corrected its cost
estimate to include radars and other site
preparation work, totaling about 171.1
million. By AWINs analysis, the contracts cited
by the Navy that encompass the work as well as
other Zumwalt-related jobs total about 4.5
billion, dating back to 2002.
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Parting thoughts

• Even a rock will crumble if you sack it night
  and day
• Good reporting aids public understanding.
• Babe Ruth struck out nearly twice as many times
  as he knocked one out of the park.

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The higher vantage point