The ‘Shrinking’ Defense Industrial Base
prompted their decision to become only subcontractors. Some examples of such comments include the following: “We could do just as well as a subcontractor, and the larger prime contractors seemed to do better with bidding on RFPs [Requests for Proposal].” (Survey ID: 231) “Ease of contracting.” (Survey ID: 708) “The onerous paperwork required for each prime contract. We found the weight of the paperwork often outweighed the equipment being sold. We cannot support that level of effort for a limited return.” (Survey ID: 34) “The current climate of only IDIQ [Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity] opportunities prevents prime contract opportunities for a small company.” (Survey ID: 448) Therefore, most of the subcontractor-only respondents appear to have shifted away from being prime contractors due to an unfavorable characteristic of working with DoD.
Most of the subcontractor-only respondents appear to have shifted away from being prime contractors due to an unfavorable characteristic of working with DoD.
One of the newly created categories is also worth touching on for purposes of discussion. An additional 14 respondents (2% of the sample) indicated that while they continue participating in the DIB, unfavorable characteristics have forced them to change how they approach working with DoD. For example, “The customer did not pay in time and your service was horrible. Now we deliver only by payment in advance if it is issued with SAM [SAM. gov] or DoD.” (Survey ID: 724) “We still supply the DoD with products but only through direct negotiations with DoD purchasing representatives or third-party vendors to avoid the administrative issues that we normally run into
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Defense ARJ, Summer 2025, Vol. 32 No. 2: 194—223
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