Saturday, April 20, 2024
Saturday, April 20, 2024
Services contracting, a new CRS report, large unmanned undersea vehicles and more highlight this Tuesday INSIDER Daily Digest.
Senate appropriators think the Pentagon "does not deliberately plan for most contracted services":
Senate appropriators still seek transparency in DOD services contracts
The Senate Appropriations Committee remains concerned the Defense Department does not have adequate policies and controls in place to enforce limitations on its annual amount of contracted services and is urging the Pentagon comptroller to review the matter.
A new Congressional Research Service report on how and where DOD spends its contracting dollars is out:
Congressional analysts see 'significant' geographic shift in Pentagon contracting dollars
There appears to be a "significant" geographic shift underway in where the Pentagon obligates its contracting dollars, with spending in the region of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command trending especially upward, according to the Congressional Research Service.
Document: CRS report on DOD contracting
The design of the Large Displacement Unmanned Undersea Vehicle could be getting to industry sooner than expected:
Navy plans to accelerate LDUUV design transition by five years
The Navy intends to accelerate a large unmanned undersea vehicle program by bringing the government's design to industry five years earlier than planned, a plan Senate appropriators are supporting in their version of the fiscal year 2019 defense spending bill.
News on a related large UUV program:
Senate appropriators: Navy will retain both contractors for XLUUV phase 2
The Navy appears to have quietly decided to retain both contractors for the second phase of a large unmanned underwater vehicle program, according to Senate appropriators.
Richard Kidd, deputy assistant secretary of the Army for strategic integration under installations, energy and environment, spoke to reporters this week about his service's installations:
Army exploring the changing role of installations
Domestic military installations are now "part of the battlespace" and should be thought of as weapon systems -- necessitating a drastic change in the institutional perspective, according to an Army official.
Some cyber news from our colleagues at Inside Cybersecurity:
Ex-official: NATO cyber ties still strong, though U.S. dials back high-level role
As President Trump meets this week with fellow NATO leaders in Brussels, former State Department cybersecurity coordinator Christopher Painter says the alliance continues to work well together on cybersecurity amid larger political tensions and a general scaling back of U.S. initiatives on the issue.