Jane Edwards
Hawk Carlisle, president and CEO of the National Defense Industrial Association, wrote in an article published Monday in National Defense magazine that NDIA gives the defense industrial base a score of 75 and a C rating in the “Vital Signs 2021" report set to be released in December.
Carlisle said the score indicates that the defense industrial base continues to face a challenging environment amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
He said the Vital Signs report looks at the defense industrial base’s health and readiness and is based on data provided by Govini and other unclassified data sets available on an annual basis.
NDIA asked contractors a set of questions focused on their experiences with regard to the health crisis and their resulting expectations and found that over 70 percent of respondents said the pandemic “has had a moderate to large negative effect on their company’s business."
“Regarding business recovery, over 50 percent believe it will take a minimum of six months to return to normal while an additional 13 percent believe the sector will never fully recover,†Carlisle added.
He noted that one of the good things that has emerged from year 2020 and the pandemic crisis is that the Department of Defense and companies now have a deeper understanding of the supply chain.
“With supply chains already identified as vulnerable by the Executive Order 13806 Report, the collective headwinds have demonstrated that supply chain visibility and resiliency are vital going forward and worthy of increased attention and investment,†added Carlisle, a retired U.S. Air Force general.
