Mary-Louise Hoffman
Former Defense Secretary William Perry has urged the Defense Department to offer “straightforward” advice to defense companies amid a flurry of merger and acquisition deals that he believes have substantially lessened market competition, National Defense Magazine reported Thursday.
Sandra Erwin writes post-Cold War spending cuts at the department prompted Perry to convene a meeting with industry executives in 1993 to encourage them to consider consolidation strategies.
Perry told reporters Wednesday he initiated that meeting, dubbed as the last supper, with the intent to help establish a leaner defense industry and minimize weapon development cost issues.
“What we got was… few large companies and less effective competition,” he added, the magazine reports.
Colin Clark of Breaking Defense asked Perry during an interview on what he thinks the DoD can do to address the department’s concerns about the impact of increased M&A activity.
“Maybe we should be more explicit in saying we already have enough consolidation,” Perry told the publication.
