The Ides of March is past. The end of the month approaches. On the Department of Defense's fiscal calendar, the third quarter starts in only a week.
That means we're one week away from another mysterious delay on the US Navy's schedule to award a small tactical unmanned aircraft system (STUAS)/Tier II contract.
In December, the Navy postponed contract award from the first quarter of Fiscal 2010 to the second quarter. That was after delaying contract award from the fourth quarter of FY2009. And that was after postponing the original plan to award the US Marine Corps Tier II contract in August 2007, which allowed the USN to join the program and dramatically change the requirements.
Barring some programmatic miracle, I anticipate the USN will announce a further delay or something even more dramatic within the next few days.
For such a relatively small contract (sub-$500 million -- peanuts in DOD acquisition terms), STUAS/Tier II is a strangely huge headache to decide.
Given so many unexplained delays, you have to wonder if any of the four bidders are considering options for protesting the decision (if there ever is one) to the Government Accountability Office.
That means we're one week away from another mysterious delay on the US Navy's schedule to award a small tactical unmanned aircraft system (STUAS)/Tier II contract.
In December, the Navy postponed contract award from the first quarter of Fiscal 2010 to the second quarter. That was after delaying contract award from the fourth quarter of FY2009. And that was after postponing the original plan to award the US Marine Corps Tier II contract in August 2007, which allowed the USN to join the program and dramatically change the requirements.
Barring some programmatic miracle, I anticipate the USN will announce a further delay or something even more dramatic within the next few days.
For such a relatively small contract (sub-$500 million -- peanuts in DOD acquisition terms), STUAS/Tier II is a strangely huge headache to decide.
Given so many unexplained delays, you have to wonder if any of the four bidders are considering options for protesting the decision (if there ever is one) to the Government Accountability Office.
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