A former contract employee of the U.S. Defense Department (DoD) was sentenced today to serve 35 months in prison for his participation in a bribery and money laundering scheme arising from corruption in the award of defense contracts at Camp Arifjan, an Army base in Kuwait, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.

Wajdi Birjas, 41, of Evansville, Ind., was sentenced today by Chief U.S. District Judge Richard L. Young in the Southern District of Indiana. In addition to his prison term, Birjas was sentenced to serve three years of supervised release and ordered to forfeit $650,000. (read more…)

The Louis Berger Group has won a $100 million contract to design and engineer construction projects at embassies and consulate sites for the U.S. State Department.

LBG signed the five-year task-order-based contract with the department’s bureau of overseas buildings operations in March, the company said Thursday.

The company has worked with the bureau and its predecessor foreign buildings operations organization since the early 1990s.
“We’re excited to be working with OBO as a prime contractor again,” said Jeffery Willis, senior vice president of LBG’s regional program and construction management business unit. (read more…)

There’s a widely held misconception that federal security clearance investigations cost several thousands of dollars or more and that federal contractors must pay for these investigations. Some reputable websites perpetuate this myth by stating:

“The average cost to process a TOP SECRET clearance is between $3,000 and about $15,000, depending upon individual factors. . . . The law requires that contractors pay most of the costs of obtaining clearances for their employees.”

“. . . civilian companies who do classified work for the Dept. of Defense (DoD), or a national security related contract, must bear the cost of security clearances for their employees and clearance investigations can cost several thousands of dollars.” (read more…)

DynCorp International is consolidating its business units and starting a new group in an effort to expand into more international work. The shift is only the latest in the defense contracting industry, which is rapidly reshaping to adapt to a slowdown in federal spending.

That adaptation is taking different forms. Some, such as Bethesda-based Lockheed Martin, are splitting their business units , while others, such as Hanover-based cyber security firm KEYW, are setting up separate commercially focused units.

Waltham, Mass.-based Raytheon Company last month announced it would consolidate its business units, including combining its intelligence and information systems business with its technical services unit. Last week, the contractor said the resulting intelligence, information and services business will have its headquarters at the company’s Sterling office. (read more…)

Department of Defense awarded six contractors a combined $75,000,000 for design-build construction of a new telecommunication facility to replace existing building and construction of an aircraft maintenance hangar at Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti. The on-going project is expected to last for the next 60 months with an not to go beyond 2018. This contract was competitively procured by 28 companies with 6 companies coming out on top:

1. ITSI Gilbane Co. of Walnut Creek, Calif. 
2. ECC-MEZZ, Joint Venture of Burlingame, Calif. 
3. P&S Construction Inc. of North Chelmsford, Mass.
4. Joint Venture SKE Djibouti of Karlstadt, Germany 
5. Lakeshore TolTest Corp. of Detroit, Mich. 
6. AMEC Environment and Infrastructure Inc. of Plymouth Meeting, Pa.  (read more…)

Defense contractors warned the automatic spending cuts known as sequestration would cause layoffs and facility closures, but nearly two months in, the biggest companies are reporting only a slight drop in sales.

Contracting giant General Dynamics saw its profit hit $571 million in the first quarter of the year, up 1.2 percent from the same period last year. Revenue dropped 2.3 percent to $7.4 billion.

Phebe N. Novakovic, the company’s chairman and chief executive, said the contractor is seeing a small effect in its combat systems business — which manufactures tanks and armor, among other items. But the company is mostly working on contracts based on previously placed orders. (read more…)