Industry needs to stop ‘whining’ about supply chain, space acquisition official says

Defense contractors are missing key program schedules because of their own “lack of planning”—not because of supply chain woes or continued fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Space Force’s acquisition chief.

“I have seen a lot of smaller space companies have absolutely no issues with supply chain. I see it more fundamentally in our bigger primes that whine about supply chain, and I think they are the ones that have the resources and the assets to actually do something about it and actually be smarter,” Frank Calvelli said Friday at the Center for Strategic & International Studies. 

And companies still are blaming the COVID-19 pandemic, even though the pandemic has been over for “a couple of years,” Calvelli said. 

“Buy your parts early, get your orders in, be organized, be effective. But yeah—I can't stand when they come in and say supply chain or COVID is why they can't meet their schedule. I think it's a lack of planning why they can't meet their schedule,” he said.  

Calvelli’s comments come as the U.S. defense industrial base is feeling increased pressure to provide munitions and replenish stockpiles quickly amidst wars in Ukraine and the Middle East and rising tensions in the Pacific.  

The space acquisition czar said he can’t speak to other parts of the defense industrial base, but said there is no reason for schedule delays on the space side, if companies plan properly. 

Buying and fielding satellites and other space systems quickly has been a major driver for Calvelli throughout his tenure. He released his space acquisition “tenets” in October 2022 and a formula to move fast when buying platforms in April 2023. In December, he released guidance detailing program management skills for “acquisition professionals.”

But to keep programs on cost and schedule, Calvelli said industry must stop bidding low to win contracts—a practice that hurts the Pentagon down the road. 

“Don't low bid me and think that we're going to award it and then fix it later. I'm at the point now where I can't afford to keep paying for poorly awarded contracts in the past. I'd rather cancel stuff and start over. I need industry to get out of the mode of low bidding. I need the government to get in the mode of awarding realistic proposals that we could actually execute,” Calvelli said. 

He also said he’s concerned about ongoing congressional dysfunction, which has led to continuing resolutions that freeze most spending at 2023 levels and bar the military from starting new programs. The current continuing resolution measure expires March 8.

If Congress passes another CR instead of a budget, Calvelli said the Pentagon’s launch plans will take a major hit. Last year, the Space Force bought three rockets; this year it wants to buy 10.

“We'll be short seven rockets in our purchase this year, which means that seven satellites [are] going to sit on the ground longer than they should, and we can't really afford to do that,” he said. 

For the Air Force department as a whole, Calvelli said fiscal 2024 was supposed to deliver the first slew of funding for the department’s operational imperatives, and a CR would keep the whole slate of new Air Force and Space Force programs grounded.

“They’re new starts and so basically, all of our great ideas that the secretary drove and the team put together in terms of modernizing the department are all on hold without the [20]24 budget, and that would be a shame if we don't get that,” he said.