The National Reconnaissance Office took umbrage at a recent Government Accountability Office report (see above) in which the GAO claims NRO priority in hiring personnel has deprived Air Force Space Command’s Space and Missile Systems Center of personnel with the highest space acquisition certification level. (About 50 percent of the NRO workforce comes from the Air Force.) NRO responded that the “shortage of appropriately qualified individuals at the right levels is a result of workforce management decisions made in the 1990s.” It maintains that NRO’s hiring policies “are not the causal agent,” instead the “current problem is there are not enough qualified people to meet all requirements.”
The F-35 Joint Program Office has officially announced plans to issue multiple sole-source contracts to Pratt & Whitney to upgrade the fighter’s F135 engine—a widely expected move after Pentagon officials indicated they would do so earlier this year instead of developing an entirely new engine.