Delivering Capability Through Competition in Defense Contracting: Does Policy Drive Results?

Competition in Defense contracting is a vital component of the acquisition system. Competition encourages research, innovation, and the production of new products and services, while motivating a robust industrial base. Accordingly, legislation, DoD directives, and policy guidance have sought to encourage competition in DoD contracting and enhance methods of tracking competition progress. This article presents the results of a study against the background of previous U.S. Government Accountability Office competition examinations to identify trends in competition, particularly in terms of DoD agencies and purchase categories. Data retrieved from the Federal Procurement Database System–Next Generation, and a sample of Justification and Approvals, retrieved from beta.sam.gov, provide a basis to forecast trends and a foundation for recommendations.

What does consolidation mean for performance? Concentration, competition, and defense contracting outcomes

How does industrial concentration influence performance outcomes in government contracting? This paper hypothesizes that concentration influences contract performance directly, as well as indirectly through reducing competition for contract awards. Tests of these hypotheses on a large dataset of US defense contracts reveal nuanced results. Increasing concentration is directly associated with a higher likelihood of contract terminations, and remains the same even after accounting for levels of competition (suggesting competition does not mediate the influence of concentration on this performance indicator). Contrary to expectations, higher competition is associated with a higher rather than a lower likelihood of terminations. Concentration is not associated with the incidence of cost ceiling breaches, and competition resulting in single (rather than multiple) offers is associated with a lower likelihood of a breach. When a breach has occurred, however, higher concentration is associated with larger breaches sizes, and higher competition with smaller breach sizes. Combined, these results partially support concerns about a connection between concentration, market power, and diminished performance incentives but suggest that the nature of these relationships depends upon the indicator of contract performance being considered.

Impact of contract bundling and consolidation on defense acquisition system and defense industrial base: The case of the u.s. department of the navy

Despite Congressional and Presidential emphasis on reducing bundling and consolidation of defense contracts, recent studies cast doubt on whether such practices are problematic for small contractors or the defense acquisition system. Those studies proposed that bundling and consolidation are generally positive tools to procure best value. This paper tests these propositions by examining relevant U.S. Department of the Navy (DON) contracts for Fiscal Year 2010, when Congress reported record bundling and consolidation in U.S. defense contracting. Specifically, the paper looks to performance of Navy and Marine Corps buying commands in meeting small business goals and other good-government objectives such as competition, performance-based acquisitions, preference for commercial suppliers, and support for the U.S. defense industrial base. The paper recommends improvements in targeted good-government practices as measures to reduce bundling and consolidation.

Effects of Environmental Threat on U.S. Defense Contractors in War Zones from the Social Science and Technology Perspectives

The following article will explore environmental threat as it applies to contractor personnel in combat zones from both the technological and scientific perspectives. A unique aspect of defense contracting is the performance of contracts in war zones, such as Afghanistan. Asymmetric warfare, lacking conventional front lines, dictates that contractors encounter physical threat at any time and in a variety of circumstances. Under these conditions, contracting assumes a new dimension associated with a heightened level of physical environmental threat and the mitigating effects inherent in technological advantage. In addition, social science research into morale factors is an important element in contractor performance. It is interesting to note that the West has been unable to destroy the fundamentalist forces arrayed against it despite remarkable and rapid technological and scientific advances and their application in the theater of war.

Leading Techies

The leadership behavior of the immediate supervisor is found to contribute to subordinate job satisfaction and organizational commitment. The purpose of this study is to assess leadership styles that are significantly correlated with software developer job satisfaction. The participants were software developers from 24 organizations in higher education, consulting, defense contracting, and local government. Correlations were assessed through multiple linear regressions. The results indicate a significant predicting relationship between project manager leadership styles and software developer job satisfaction. Contingent-reward, active management-by-exception, and laissez-faire leadership styles are found to be significantly related to overall job satisfaction when controlling the effects of the other independent variables. Implications of these findings are discussed along with recommendations for IT professionals and researchers.

Linking Issue Labels And Managerial Actions: A Study Of Participation In Crisis Vs. Opportunity Issues

<span>The way in which top level executives frame strategic issues is likely to affect how these e3xecutives go about resolving issues and deciding on a course of action. The particular label given to a strategic issue may alter how much information is processed in resolving the issue. Specifically, differences in the way strategic issues are labeled are believed to affect the amount of top level executive participation in deciding the issues Dutton and Jackson, 1987), although there has been no empirical support of this claim. Data from high ranking executives in 21 defense contracting companies indicate that the participation of top level executives is significantly reduced when responding to issues labeled as crises than when responding to issues labeled as o9pportunities. Further, the absolute extent of these differences is modified by the information processing and participation climate in organizations. The results suggest that top level executives should be aware of the labels given to strategic issues, recognize the implications of such labels, and make special efforts to overcome the tendency to reduce information processing capacity when confronting crisis strategic issues.</span>