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The Army has awarded its five-year, $5 billion Worldwide Satellite Systems contract to six vendors. The award winners include two large businesses—Boeing Co. and General Dynamics Corp.—and four small businesses: DataPath of Duluth, Ga.; D&SCI of Eatontown, N.J.; Globecomm Systems of Hauppauge, N.Y.; and TeleCommunications Systems of Annapolis, Md. Under the indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract, each vendor is required to bring turnkey commercial satellite systems and associated support services for satellite terminals, including all hardware, software, services and data to operate the terminals. Both Defense and non-DOD agencies can order from the contract. Army officials say WWSS products and services will support...

The pending Boeing/Lockheed "United Launch Alliance" (ULA) to provide the Air Force with expendable rockets would unfairly strand taxpayers with a half-billion-dollar-a-year subsidy: that's the message the 350,000-member National Taxpayers Union (NTU) delivered to Congress today, in an open letter urging lawmakers to end subsidies for the companies' current and proposed space-booster schemes. Federal policymakers are expected to consider the merger deal as early as this week. "Launch platforms for satellites can be expendable, but tax dollars never are," said NTU Director of Government Affairs Paul Gessing. "Over the past decade, the Air Force's Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) initiative...

Monday August 22, 3:43 PM S.Korea's Doosan Heavy may bid for WestinghouseSEOUL, Aug 22 (Reuters) - South Korea's Doosan Heavy Industries said on Monday it was considering bidding in a consortium to buy U.S. nuclear power plant builder Westinghouse Electric Co. from British nuclear energy company BNFL. South Korea's largest manufacturer of power generation equipment would be able to reduce costs and acquire nuclear technology and know-how from the U.S. firm if a bid was successful, analysts said. Westinghouse provides nuclear fuel services, technology, plant design and equipment for nuclear power producers. State-owned BNFL bought the business, which employs about...

LONDON (Reuters) - Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq:CSCO - news) is considering buying the world's top mobile handset maker Nokia (NOK1V.HE) in a bid to gain its wireless infrastructure technology, the Business newspaper reported on Sunday. The paper, which did not reveal the source of its information, said U.S.-based Cisco had traditionally concentrated on acquisitions of niche technology players, but its Chief Executive John Chambers is believed to be interested in merging with a wireless infrastructure company. "Nokia has been identified as the most likely target," the paper said. Cisco, the largest maker of Internet equipment, is worth around $123 billion,...

Saturday July 2, 6:33 AM Reuters Summit-Chinese may soon park money in U.S. buildingsNEW YORK, July 1 (Reuters) - Today, it's oil and washing machines, but tomorrow, they may take Manhattan. That's how U.S. real estate experts view the bids by Chinese companies to buy Unocal Corp. , the U.S. oil company, and Maytag Corp. , the iconic American maker of washing machines and other appliances. This aggressive interest in buying U.S. companies could signal broader investment from China in the United States that would include land and buildings in major American cities, real estate experts said this week at...

Defense Daily May 11, 2005 Pg. 4 Defense Science Board Finds No Barrier To New Druyun Scandal By Sharon Weinberger A senior defense advisory body has concluded there are still no safeguards in the Pentagon’s acquisition system to prevent problems similar to those brought on by Darleen Druyun, the former Air Force weapons buyer currently serving time in prison for violating federal conflict of interest laws. After Druyun admitted last year to breaking federal procurement regulations, Michael Wynne, the acting undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, asked the DSB to review the Pentagon’s management structures. The final report...

Misstatements by the Army’s top acquisition chief on a $14.8 billion agreement with Boeing could spur another round of congressional hearings, forcing the Army once again to defend its decision to use a nontraditional contract for its key transformation program. During congressional testimony March 16, Claude Bolton assured the Senate Armed Services Airland Subcommittee that the Future Combat Systems contract contained a provision requiring Boeing to certify its cost and pricing figures with government contracting agencies. The next day, Bolton wrote Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), chairman of the powerful subcommittee, to correct the record to show that the contract did...

Defense Department officials may cancel a contract with Boeing for the Joint Tactical Radio System Cluster 1 program. The Pentagon sent Boeing officials a "show cause" letter to notify them that the JTRS Cluster 1 deal may be terminated because of an anticipated failure to meet cost, schedule and performance requirements, said Army Lt. Col. Chris Conway, spokesman for the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Networks and Information Integration and Chief Information Officer. Boeing officials must send a letter within 30 days to Army officials managing the program at Fort Monmouth, N.J., to explain how they can...

http://netwmd.com/articles/article890.html After a first term marked by schizophrenic Iran policy initiatives, the Bush White House will soon develop a coordinated policy to promote peaceful regime change in Iran. The Bush administration is heartened by the apparent success of the Iraqi election and believes that Iranians are ready to exert their democratic rights. Bush policy is motivated by the grave and growing threat from the Islamic Republic's nuclear weapons program, and the realization that neither Iran nor the European Union are sincere in preventing Iran's acquisition of nuclear weaponry. The Islamic Republic's potential threat to American security emanates from Tehran's determination...

Congress's Paperwork HumveesFirst, fix the military's failed acquisition system.When an Army reservist in Kuwait gave Donald Rumsfeld an earful Wednesday about inadequate armor for Iraq-bound Humvees, the Defense Secretary responded by paying the soldier the compliment of candor. "You go to war with the army you have. They're not the army you might want or wish to have," he said.That's at least an honest answer, and the Secretary's forthrightness seems to have been appreciated by the troops at the town hall meeting, who gave him a standing ovation. But back in Washington, candor has gotten more than one official...

Oracle prevails in PeopleSoft tender Stage set for potential proxy battle in the spring LOS ANGELES (CBS.MW) -- Oracle Corp. cleared a crucial hurdle Friday night in its $9.2 billion bid to take over PeopleSoft Inc., winning a clear majority of shares in its smaller rival following a direct appeal to investors. More than 60 percent of PeopleSoft (PSFT: news, chart, profile) shares were tendered in favor of the $24-per-share offer, Oracle (ORCL: news, chart, profile) said in a statement released less than an hour after the deadline for accepting the bid expired. In a letter to PeopleSoft seeking to...

<p>WASHINGTON — The Comanche (search) is out. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (search) and nuclear-tipped bunker busters (search) are in.</p> <p>The weapons are just three of the armaments affected by the Pentagon's plan to transform the military from one designed to fight Soviet armies in Europe to one that can target terrorists worldwide.</p>

J.D. Edwards, PeopleSoft deal came in fits and starts By Jennifer Beauprez Denver Post Business Writer Sunday, June 08, 2003 - Robert Dutkowsky flew out to his son's high school graduation in Boston on Thursday thinking that after eight months of cloak-and- dagger negotiations with PeopleSoft Inc., his work was done. It wasn't. The next day, just four days after the chief executive of J.D. Edwards & Co. inked a $1.7 billion deal to sell the Denver software firm to competitor PeopleSoft, Oracle Corp. swooped in. Redwood City, Calif.-based Oracle made an unsolicited $5.1 billion bid to take over PeopleSoft...