Pentagon reprograms funding from Paladin Integrated Management System due to award delay

The Pentagon has cut funding for the Army’s Paladin Integrated Management System due to an award delay and change in acquisition strategy, part of a larger fiscal year 2018 reprogramming action.

The move was made as part of a larger fiscal year 2018 reprogramming action, which was recently made public. The reprogramming shifts $8.1 million in FY-18 funding from the system to the Defense Working Capital Fund’s Army appropriation.

"Funds are available due to a change in acquisition strategy which results in the delay of awarding the Paladin Integrated Management (PIM) Threshold 2 (T2) armor contract until FY 2021," the memo states. "The PM is planning to compete the T2 contract which will increase the timeline for contract award."

The T2 armor contract was originally slated to be awarded in FY-19, but IOT&E testing in 2018 led to "recommendations for configuration updates," an Army spokesman told Inside Defense last week.

"The Army updated the configuration and the acquisition strategy and aligned associated funding to procure in FY-21 [to] 25," the spokesman said. The service is "currently pursuing an FY-21 competitive award for the T2 armor with the updated configuration."

Despite the award delay, the Army said the acquisition strategy remains on schedule.