Pentagon Awarded $39B in March Contracts, $300B Planned for FY 2013

The Defense Department awarded $39.4 billion in contracts during March, a sharp increase over the $23.1 billion in awards from February and $12.1 billion from January.

Despite sequestration, the Pentagon plans to award up to $300 billion in contracts for the whole fiscal year ending Sept. 30, more than the amount awarded in 2006, Nick Taborek of Bloomberg Government writes for the Washington Post.

The 284 awards from March add up to a 71 percent increase over February figures but a 15 percent downturn over contract awards reported in March 2012.

As covered on GovCon Wire, one of last month’s largest awards went to shipbuilder Huntington Ingalls, who will take in up to $2.6 billion over three years to refuel reactors on the nuclear-powered USS Abraham Lincoln.

The Lincoln arrived at the company’s Newport News, Va. shipyard on March 28 so Huntington Ingalls could start the refueling and complex overhaul work project, which aims to extend the ship’s service life for another 25 years.

Taborek writes Lockheed Martin won $1.8 billion in contracts during March, including a $697 million award to build two Littoral Combat Ships for the U.S. Navy.

Austal will take in up to $682 million for two other LCS ships under that contract, which could total up to $1.4 billion in value to both awardees.

BAE Systems also was another big winner in March, as the U.K.-based contractor’s U.S. subsidiary won a potential five-year, $781 million contract to build a new type of explosive for the U.S. Army.

The Army hopes the Insensitive Munitions Explosives can act as an alternative to TNT.

Northrop Grumman continued to rake in awards for its Global Hawk drone program, winning $434 million to perform contractor logistics support work for the Air Force‘s Global Hawk fleet.

Services frequently covered under contractor logistics support programs include managing the supply chain, restoring parts and overhauling engines.