Defense procurement

Former Pentagon Official Offers Insight and Warnings to Defense Contractors The atmosphere is tense in the defense sector. Industry CEOs are caught between the demands of Pentagon buyers and Wall Street investors. Defense officials frown on industry behaviors such as cuts to corporate research and a push to consolidate into fewer, bigger players.  The charged climate is not surprising in these times of tight federal spending, says Mary Margaret Evans, vice president of business development for the defense sector at LMI, a consulting firm in Tysons, Virginia. Before Evans joined the company in November, she was principal director of the manufacturing and industrial base policy office at the Defense Department. “You’re seeing fewer and fewer acquisition programs,” and that is having ripple effects across the defense industrial base, Evans says in an interview. At the same time, the Defense Department is putting pressure on contractors to lower prices and to invest in next-generation technologies, she says. “Companies are being challenged to stay competitive for the next big procurement whenever it comes down the road.”