Defense Business Briefing -- Jan. 8, 2019

Welcome to today's Defense Business Briefing, your weekly roundup of the latest defense industry news.

This week's top story

Looking to technology, Serco CEO pursues new acquisitions, avoids LPTA work

Serco's chief executive, on the job for about a year and a half, is seeking to convince the Pentagon to turn to technology in its services contracts rather than just focus on price.

News & notes

Parsons buys OGSystems

Parsons said it has acquired OGSystems, which specializes in geospatial intelligence, big data analytics and threat mitigation.

SAIC: Shutdown has so far cost $20 million in revenue

Science Applications International Corp. said the partial government shutdown has cost it $10 million per week in revenue during its first two weeks.

Maxar completes U.S. domestication

Maxar Technologies said it has completed the U.S. domestication process, meaning the Canadian parent company has been incorporated in Delaware.

M&A experts say they expect an active start to 2019, but potentially a more 'tactical year'

After a busy 2018, industry experts say they expect continued mergers and acquisitions in 2019 -- but the pace may slow as the year goes on.

Looking to 2019: Contracting advocates and experts lay out key issues in the year ahead

Contractors should expect a more uncertain year, given that the country will now have divided government, industry advocates and experts told Inside Defense.

Appointments & promotions

HII hires former Navy sub boss Tofalo

Huntington Ingalls Industries has hired retired Vice Adm. Joseph Tofalo as its corporate vice president of program integration and assessment.

Raytheon hires Weiner

Raytheon said it has named Scott Weiner vice president for corporate development.

Serco hires Reed

Serco said it has named Craig Reed chief growth officer, overseeing corporate strategy and business development.

MITRE names Wang CFO

The MITRE Corp. said it has named Wilson Wang chief financial officer.

What's happening

The week ahead

A newly minted Congress comes to work this week needing to address a partial government shutdown, while the Pentagon hosts a public meeting on contractor payments and performance incentives.

For Inside Defense subscribers

Federal agencies move to implement 'complicated' ban on Huawei, ZTE

An interagency working group is seeking a "rational approach" to implement what officials concede is a "complicated," wide-reaching federal ban on procuring or otherwise using technology made by Huawei, ZTE and other Chinese firms, according to officials speaking at a MITRE Corp. event.

Warner, Rubio offer bill creating new White House office focused on Chinese, other supply-chain threats

Sens. Mark Warner (D-VA) and Marco Rubio (R-FL) have announced a new bill that would establish an office within the White House aimed at galvanizing stakeholders to stem the threat of intellectual property theft from China through forced technology transfers, and to secure the supply chain for critical technologies.