Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, January 13, 1994 TAG: 9401130037
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B8 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: Orlando Sentinel
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Online services, computer bulletin boards, electronic mail and other types of information technologies are finding their way into the process of defense contract bidding.
Defense contractors, who once saw themselves as pawns of the Pentagon procurement process, are instead becoming active players in shaping the nation's defense technology.
The military has launched a new era of openness with companies that was unheard of before the advent of info-technologies.
These agencies, which award and manage defense technology contracts for the Pentagon, are using interactive technology such as electronic mail to usher in this new openness.
The interaction with contractors through e-mail is turning simulation contract bidding into a joint venture between the military and the private sector, said David Manning, director of information management for STRICOM, the Army simulation command.
"In a sense, the government thought it knew everything in the past," Manning said. "Now, we realize we don't know everything about these technologies, so we are a lot more open with the contractors."
Until recently, when the Pentagon developed specifications for a defense contract, companies would know only scant information about it until a formal request-for-proposal was released.
Sometimes companies would spend hundreds of thousands of dollars preparing a bid, only to learn when the proposal came out that they didn't have the resources or expertise to build the project.
"In the past, the government wouldn't say much or let you know what they were thinking. We were sort of left in the dark," said Bob Edge, business development manager for Lockheed Sanders Inc.'s Orlando office. "Then, when the [proposal request] came out, you'd often find you'd wasted a lot of money pursuing the bid."
Overall, the openness by some military agencies is making life easier and more cost-efficient for defense contractors.
"Now we can make a decision more than a year ahead of time whether or not to bid on a contract," Edge said. "With money as tight as it is, you want to go after only the programs that you're qualified to handle and have a chance of winning."
Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.