Defense Business Briefing -- April 3, 2018

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

This week's top story:

Boeing restructures defense business, closes development division

Boeing is reorganizing its defense business, creating new divisions for commercial derivative aircraft and missile and weapon systems, while eliminating its development division.

News & Notes:

Boeing creates joint venture with Saudi defense ministry

Boeing and Saudi Arabia's defense ministry have signed an agreement to set up a joint venture that would provide sustainment services for the kingdom's fixed- and rotary-wing military aircraft.

Protest spotlight

The Government Accountability Office has denied a protest filed by Booz Allen Hamilton and Altamira Technologies Corp. over an Army analytical support services contract.

Orbital ATK to expand operations in Mesa, AZ

Orbital ATK announced plans to expand the company's production facility in Mesa, AZ.

CACI withdraws CSRA purchase offer

CACI International announced it was withdrawing its offer to buy CSRA, giving General Dynamics a clear path to purchase the latter company.

Contractors wonder how DOD will enforce supply chain security requirements

Senior Defense Department officials are calling on industry to better protect their supply chains from cyber threats, but uncertainty surrounding DOD's implementation of stringent network security requirements has companies wondering how the department will enforce compliance moving forward.

Appointments & Promotions

Ernst & Young hires retired Army colonel

Ernst & Young LLP has hired retired Army Col. Cleo Thomas to take a senior manager position in the company's Government & Public Sector team.

What's happening

The week ahead

Congress is out this week, but senior defense officials are scheduled to make a variety of appearances at industry conferences and think-tank events.

For Inside Defense subscribers:

Watchdog cites MDA for failing to monitor contractors' protection of classified info

Several private contractors working for the Missile Defense Agency did not properly implement security processes to protect classified information, according to a new report from the Defense Department inspector general.

NASSCO will begin oiler replacement construction in September

SAN DIEGO -- General Dynamics NASSCO is gearing up to build the John Lewis-class fleet oiler lead ship in September and the company is spending $62 million of internal funding for a new facility to support the effort.

Pentagon seeks 'governance' model for increasingly popular OTAs

The Pentagon wants to govern the use of other transaction agreements so they're not misused without stymieing the speed and flexibility of the increasingly popular contracting method, according to a Defense Department official.

Pentagon says 'open' cloud competition is 'the first of many'

The Pentagon is stressing that its enterprise cloud initiative is a full and open competition with the single award contract planned with multiple off ramps, trying to dispel the notion the Defense Department is planning a decade-long award for one contractor.

Jette details policy changes, new initiative intended to spur innovation

HUNTSVILLE, AL -- The Army has launched a new initiative to bolster its efforts "to span the chasm between critical Army modernization challenges and the vast community of non-traditional innovators," according to the service's assistant secretary for acquisition, logistics and technology.