DOD focused on lower costs, not profit margins, Assad asserts

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Shay Assad says he isn't too concerned about defense contractors' profit margins, as long as DOD's costs go down.

The Defense Department isn’t concerned with contractors’ profit margins, but is focused on reducing its own costs, Federal Times reported on Nov. 30.

Shay Assad, director of defense pricing and adviser to the undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, went so far as to say he didn’t expect profit margins to fall even in these times of budget tightening.

“It wouldn’t bother us at all if operating margins go up, so long as we’re paying less,” he said, according to the report.