One of yesterday's contracts that may seem noble on its face is yesterday's $10 million award to the Industries for the Blind involving Air Force promotional items. Industries for the Blind has been a contractor for the Defense Logistics Agency since 2014 and is a prominent lobbying force on Capitol Hill, utilizing both K Street firms and its own in-house lobbyists. The issues the group lobbies on focus on federal procurement, federal acquisition regulations, and military funding. Remember that not all groups lobbying for the expansion of the military industrial complex fit the neocon mold. It's likely a venn on this group will follow.
But yesterday's big winner was a company from France, Safran Landing Systems, with a $220 million contract for landing systems remanufacture for the Boeing KC-135 aircraft. This is entirely speculation, but... last year, one of Safran's suppliers, Japan's Kobe Steel, was found to be falsifying data about the quality of its products and shipping products that failed to meet quality standards. At the time, the European Aviation Safety Agency recommended all aviation firms suspend their use of Kobe Steel products, and this may be why the Air Force is requesting a remanufacture from Safran.
Below are the contracts awarded by the Defense Department
October 3, 2018
totaling $736,911,282
Recent record daily spending: $30.1 billion on September 7, 2018
Navy - $348,041,221
Boeing (Jacksonville, FL) $62,719,985
Chugach Federal Solutions (Anchorage, AK) $67,433,703
CDM Constructors (Carlsbad, CA) $49,118,094
Syte Paschen JV (Chicago, IL) $45,000,000
Skookum Educational Programs (Bremerton, WA) $34,403,068
Johnson Controls Government Systems (Gaithersburg, MD) $30,419,226
Industria (Des Plaines, IL) $25,000,000
Environmental Chemical (Burlingame, CA) $15,848,403
BB&E (Northville, MI) $10,090,253
Coastal Enterprises of Jacksonville (Jacksonville, NC) $8,008,489
Air Force - $275,950,501
Safran Landing Systems (Vélizy-Villacoublay, France) $220,154,652
Boeing (St. Louis, MO) $45,000,000
Industries for the Blind (Milwaukee, WI) $10,795,849
Defense Logistics Agency - $104,500,000
H. Brooks & Co (New Brighton, MN) $67,500,000
Allied Tube & Conduit (Harvey, IL) $37,000,000
Defense Health Agency - $8,419,560
M2 Technology (San Antonio, TX) $8,419,560
