Hon. Ellen Lord, undersecretary of defense for Acquisition and Sustainment and a 2020 Wash100 Award winner, discussed in an interview posted Monday on Defense News about the Department of Defense’s (DoD) efforts to track the status of the defense industrial base during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Lord said the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) and the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) help track approximately 20,000 contractors that are working with the Pentagon.
“And going back over the last six months, we did have hundreds of companies shut down, but now we’re down to only about 30. So that’s very, very good news,” she said during an interview at the Defense News Conference.
“We monitor them on a daily basis; we look at on-time deliveries, deliveries missed and, most importantly, we listen to what the issues are, really leveraging the industry associations to do a lot of listening,” Lord added.
She talked about DoD’s use of “data-driven” approach in monitoring development programs, the need for appropriations to maintain warfighter readiness and advance modernization and the department’s ongoing talks with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) to extend a waiver that would provide contractors more time to comply with a new rule that seeks to remove certain Chinese telecommunications equipment from the supply chain.
Lord also commented on mergers and acquisitions in the defense sector and her team’s efforts to keep small businesses going during the pandemic.
Join Potomac Officers Club for its 5G Summit on Oct. 27, 2020 to learn about the impact that innovative technologies and 5G integration have on the private and public sectors, the steps the federal agencies have taken to remain up to speed with the rapid advancement of technology, and the future programs, plans and priorities as the nation aligns with emerging technology.
Lord will be featured as the keynote speaker. Don’t miss out on this must see event! Register here for the 5G Summit on October 27th.
