William LaPlante: Pentagon Prepares New Contract Pricing Guidance

The Department of Defense is working to finalize guidance meant to provide its contracting officials more flexibility when it comes to reimbursing companies facing the effects of higher prices, Federal News Network reported Thursday.

William LaPlante, undersecretary for acquisition and sustainment at DOD, said the updated policy document could be available within the next week and would focus on providing relief to vendors that secured firm-fixed-price contracts from federal agencies prior to inflation.

“If you’re in an FFP contract that was signed in 2020, it’s gotta suck when it’s 2022 with an inflation rate of 10%. That’s what I’m worried about,” LaPlante, a 2022 Wash100 Award winner, said at a conference Thursday.

“We want to keep our industrial base whole, we want to keep them solvent. We need them. That’s what we’re after,” he added.

LaPlante said he wants industry to provide Congress and DOD with additional data to show how inflation impacts companies.

“What I’ve been asking of industry, though, is data. I need data about companies that are either potentially going under or not bidding that are affected by inflation. Because we need to inform the Congress, we need to inform the Pentagon. I’m convinced there’s real-world examples of people being hurt — how can you not read the news and not see that? But we need to show the data,” he noted.

POC - Defense Technology Summit: FY2023 Budget and Priorities

William LaPlante will be one of the keynote speakers at the Potomac Officers Club’s Defense Technology Summit: FY2023 Budget and Priorities on Oct. 25. Visit our POC Events page to register for this summit and to view our full calendar.

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