Haiti Recovery Spurred by Smart Contracting

Nine months after a devastating earthquake rocked Haiti, there are signs of recovery and a return to normalcy thanks to USAID-funded projects implemented by PSC member companies.

Denying Development Firms Security in Afghanistan: Not Smart Contracting

Hamid Karzai

Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s decision to deny international development organizations the right to protect their workers could jeopardize the U.S. counterinsurgency strategy and the political and economic stability of Afghanistan.

Why? The firms, many of which hire Afghans to fill more than 90 percent of their positions, are prohibited under the terms of their contracts, insurance policies and other agreements from operating in the combat zone without this protection. Further, development firms simply won’t risk the lives of their employees by sending them outside U.S. compounds without personal security. In short, the decision will throw thousands of Afghans out of work.

I Spy a Smart Contractor Securing Data After Reading This Post

A Chinese-born scientist steals the secrets of the American chemical company that employs him, smuggles chemicals out of the U.S. and delivers them to the Chinese government.

It sounds like the dream of a Hollywood scriptwriter, but it is just one of a growing number of real industrial espionage cases the U.S. Justice Department is investigating and prosecuting, according to an Oct. 17 New York Times article. The Times dubbed these cases of U.S. employees gone rogue to help rival nations make technological leaps the “new front in the battle for a global economic edge.”

PSC’s Soloway Testifies on “Defense Department Budget Initiatives”

Congress is probing the Defense Department’s plans to shutter commands and cut service contracts spending by 10 percent a year for the next three years, seeking the hitherto elusive strategic analysis proving those cuts are necessary because the work is unnecessary or better achieved through other means. PSC President and CEO Stan Soloway testified at a House Budget Committee hearing on Sept. 30 to shed light on the industry and economic impacts of what has so far been an opaque DoD budget exercise, particularly with regards to insourcing.