Fraud. It’s a regular drumbeat at the DOJ. But this time, two military contractors were indicted by a federal jury for a fraud scheme that totaled over $7 million. Sole-source awards aren’t always easy to get, so two companies allegedly created competitive quotes from sham companies, in order to make their own quotes appear lower. The DOJ has created a task force to combat antitrust crimes and fraudulent schemes that are impacting the federal government’s procurement efforts.
“The indictment of these individuals demonstrates the resolve and dedication of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service and our investigative partners in protecting the integrity of the Department of Defense contracting system,” said Special Agent in Charge Cynthia A. Bruce, Department of Defense Office of Inspector General, Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS), Southeast Field Office. “Contractors who circumvent the contracting process for their own personal gain will be thoroughly investigated and held accountable for their fraudulent actions.”
“Such alleged activity by government contractors who provide services to the Army will not be tolerated,” said Special Agent in Charge L. Scott Moreland of the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division’s (Army CID) Major Procurement Fraud Field Office. “We will continue to investigate allegations of this nature and do everything in our power to see that persons responsible are held accountable and brought to justice.”
Layoffs
Netflix
All the binge-watching during the pandemic has finally slowed down, and Netflix is feeling it. First, they had a major drop in subscribers back in April, then dropping stocks, and then layoffs of 150 workers in May. But once again, the company made more cuts – this time with another 300 employees.
“We are so grateful for everything they have done for Netflix and are working hard to support them through this difficult transition,” the spokesperson said of the laid off employees in a statement.
Hiring
Blue Force Technologies
Aircraft manufacturer, Blue Force Technologies is building a new integration facility in the Wake Forest area. The $3 million investment will create 125 engineering and manufacturing jobs over the next few years. Depending on the position, the average salary for the new jobs is projected to be over $80,000, which is about $15,000 higher than the average for Wake County.
The new facility will help Blue Force support is recent U.S. Air Force contract award for developing the Fury aircraft. The %50 million award to design, build, and test the unmanned aircraft will require Blue Force to have the space and infrastructure to produce up to five aircraft per month.
“Given that the facility is the former home to defense contractor 3 Phoenix, Wake Forest was a perfect match for Blue Force,” said Scott Bledsoe, President of Blue Force Technologies, Inc. “We are thrilled to make this investment in the thriving community of Wake Forest, and we appreciate the partnership with the Town and Wake County to make our expansion possible.”
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Opportunity to Watch
The Missile Defense Agency has selected Raytheon Missiles & Defense to continue to develop a first-of-its-kind counter-hypersonic missile, the Glide Phase Interceptor. GPI is designed to intercept hypersonic weapons in the glide phase of flight, providing the U.S. and allies with an additional layer of defense against regional hypersonic missile threats.
This firm fixed price Other Transaction Agreement modification, valued at $41 million, increases the total value to $62 million and allows Raytheon Missiles & Defense to continue maturing its GPI design using advanced materials and technology required to intercept a hypersonic threat. This phase will also finalize systems requirements and support accelerated development timelines.
“Our GPI is built on proven missile defense technology as its foundation,” said Tay Fitzgerald, president of Strategic Missile Defense at Raytheon Missiles & Defense. “By using digital engineering and leveraging high technology readiness level components and subsystems already in use across Standard Missile and hypersonic programs, we can quickly advance the creation of this new interceptor.”
Raytheon Missiles & Defense is leveraging mature technologies from across the current portfolio to create efficiencies, reduce qualification time and demonstrate the GPI capability as quickly as possible.
Raytheon Technologies‘ missile defense portfolio combines sensors, interceptors and command and control networks to track and defeat a wide range of threats. With more than 50 years of combat proven interceptor development, integration, and production experience, the company is responsible for portions of nearly every air and missile defense system deployed by the U.S. and its allies. By evolving its missile interceptors, directed energy and cyber technologies, Raytheon Technologies is advancing counter-hypersonic solutions.
