Hope The Office of Federal Procurement Policy protect
"The Boeing to order a halt in delivery of parts for cargo jet"

Beginning of the end for C-17

According to Seattle pi.com, dated August 18, 2006: Beginning of the end for C-17, Boeing to order a halt in delivery of parts for cargo jet. (1)

The Boeing Co., the second-biggest U.S. military contractor, said Thursday it will soon order a halt in delivery of parts for its C-17 cargo jet barring a major award from the Pentagon that would keep production lines running past 2008.

"Alerting suppliers to stop part shipments is imminent and will happen within days, but we have not sent them a letter to do that yet," Boeing spokesman Gary Lesser said. "We are inching toward a self-imposed deadline, so we'll need to do something."

Boeing, which has delivered 154 of the 180 C-17s ordered by the Air Force, would need a "substantial" commitment to keep the line open beyond 2008, Lesser said. The Defense Department has said it doesn't plan to budget for more C-17s in fiscal 2008 and 2009. Boeing said last month that it would begin shutting down the program today by notifying suppliers to stop parts production.

What about the Long Beach plant 6,500 workers? The C-17 also sustains about 22,000 jobs in 42 states at contractors including Hartford, Conn.-based United Technologies Corp.'s Pratt & Whitney unit, which makes the plane's engines, and Goodrich Corp, which makes landing gear for the C-17.

"Beginning of the end for C-17?" The Boeing to order a halt in delivery of parts for cargo jet. It does not make any sense. What about the "Single Process Initiative—Progress and Prospects" ? Remarks of The Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Technology Dr. Paul G. Kaminski At Aerospace Industries Association Board of Governors Meeting Williamsburg, VA in May 23, 1996. (2).

Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Technology, Dr. Paul G. Kaminski addressed that We are at a point in our acquisition reform program that is not too much different than the situation faced by Winston Churchill during World War II when the US entered the war. He observed that "This is not the end, or even the beginning of the end, but it is, I believe, the end of the beginning." When you think about it, this is exactly where we are in our program of acquisition reform and the reason why I’ve selected "The End of the Beginning" as the acquisition reform day theme.

He mentioned that Our success is real and visible. Many programs are experiencing cost avoidances and savings in the $100s of millions—a few in the billions of dollars. We are stripping away the onerous non-value added documentation and procedures and now have a foundation in place to move to 21st century business practices.

Looks like it is important to referring his statement, The Department should be working with the Office of Federal Procurement Policy to fully implement these groundbreaking statutes. The Congress should be enact landmark statutory reforms. With the passage of the Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act of 1994, the Federal Acquisition Reform Act of 1996, and the Information Technology Act of 1996, the Department has been able to take three huge steps toward becoming a world-class buyer. (3)

We should beginning to see the benefits of acquisition reforms. The evidence is still mostly anecdotal—but we are seeing savings on major programs like the Joint Direct Attack Munition, the C-17 and the SMART-T, and on thousands of small purchases of items like T-shirts and socks.

On May 17th, NASA issued guidance for use of the single process initiative and block modification changes. We still have much to do in order to fully implement the single process initiative, but we have already had a great deal of success.

Dr. Paul G. Kaminski, he also stated that Our policy reporting should normally be no lower than level three of the contract work breakdown structure, except for those lower level elements that the program manager judges to be high risk. For those critical elements, reporting should be required at whatever level they appear in the work breakdown structure (WBS). And because every program is different, reporting must be tailored for each program.

An arbitrary change -- such as level two or three reporting for all contracts in a facility -- would override the program manager’s judgment and could expose the government to unacceptable risk on cost-based contracts.

For this reason, the single process/block change initiative must address program reporting issues program by program, not as a "one size fits all" solution, and future contracts must be treated on their merits.

I am sure he and everyone is looking forward to seeing upcoming acquisition reform day and the single process initiative. (2)

Boeing currently is on a multi-year production contract to design, build and deliver 180 C-17s to the U.S. Air Force through 2008.

Recent news shows that Boeing Signs Contract to Support C-17s in Australia. (3)

ST. LOUIS, Aug. 17, 2006 -- The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] has reached an agreement with the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) to provide logistics support services for Australia's C-17 fleet. Australia is buying four Globe master III aircraft with the first delivery planned for December 2006. Under the $80.7 million contract, Boeing will manage spare parts for the Australian fleet. The RAAF will be responsible for flight line maintenance with Boeing performing heavier, depot-level maintenance. Boeing has similar responsibilities for the U.S. Air Force and the United Kingdom's Royal Air Force C-17 fleets through the Globe master III Sustainment Partnership (GSP). Speaking of the Boeing to order a halt in delivery of parts for cargo jet. I can relate to this to President George Bush discusses Economy During Visit to Pennsylvania in August 16, 2006.

President George Bush made a big point on the statement that "One is to open up markets around the world for products like Harley-Davidsons. Harleys get shut out of certain markets, like other American products. And it makes sense that if you're making something people want around the world, that we ought to work hard to open up those markets."

Harleys are very popular in the United States America, many intelligent people are riding Harley Davison and enjoy their life. I can relate to President George Bush says that There's a direct correlation between exports and jobs. In other words, the more Harleys that are sold in a place like Vietnam or China or India, the more likely it is somebody is going to be able to find work.

President George Bush made a great point on the fact that one reason this company is successful is that they invest a lot in technologies, and that there is a part of our tax code that encourages investment, called the research and development tax credit. And I assured them that when I said I'm for it being permanent, I meant I was for it being permanent. We hope Congress makes the research and development tax credit a permanent part of the tax code. That encourages folks here at Harley to make new investments, it means that the workforce becomes more productive, it means that the product is more likely to be able to compete.

It looks like it should be the same case for the C-17 parts suppliers and 787 Dreamliner parts suppliers as well. It make a lot of sense to see the same on C-17 and 787 Dreamliner parts suppliers to makes the research and development tax credit a permanent part of the tax code by the Congress.

It is positive to see that the tax payers can get support by the congress and they are there to support the citizens and nation. Hope this is in progress and support the C-17 to fully implement these groundbreaking statutes before the Boeing to order a halt in delivery of parts for cargo jet.

Reported by Sandra Englund August 18, 2006.

References:

(1) http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/281695_c17halt18.html

(2) http://www.acq.osd.mil/ousda/speech/spi.doc

(3) http://www.boeing.com/news/releases/2006/q3/060817c_nr.html

(4) http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/08/20060816-5.html