Steve Peacock's U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor

Hillary Goes to Hollywood, Hollywood Comes to Hillary

Equipping U.S. embassies  with the unlimited ability to show movies to residents and visitors over the next five years could cost taxpayers more than $1.5 million. The U.S. Department of State claims the expenditure is necessary since the U.S. uses "feature films as programming tools to support foreign policy objectives."

State's Educational and Cultural Affairs Bureau awarded the sole-source contract to the Motion Picture Licensing Corp. (MPLC) , which it says is the only source that can provide a worldwide blanket-viewing license for 800 facilities. According to a Statement of Work that U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor located via routine database research,  those sites include U.S. embassies and consulates plus "off-site screenings at venues under U.S. embassy sponsorship, operation and direct control such as  Binational Centers, American Corners and American Centers."

State consulted with the Motion Picture Association of America and other sources, which recommended MPLC since all other major providers solely offer "title-by-title licenses on a daily rental basis," according to an accompanying Justification for Other Than Full and Open Competition, or JOFOC, document.

"The Whistleblower" (movie trailer)

 

Though a fictional account,The Whistleblower appears to be critically relevant to some of the global contracting issues that U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor attempts to address; hence, I offer this movie trailer for consideration by my readers. Likewise, Foreign Affairs magazine offers an excellent backgrounder on the film, which opens in theaters today. The opening line in that review says it all:

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon traveled to Hollywood last year to cajole filmmakers and movie stars into making pictures that portray the U.N.'s good works. The Whistleblower, a scathing full-length account of the U.N. peacekeeping effort in Bosnia during the late 1990s, is not what he had in mind.

Army Seeks Industry Advice on Missile Technology Strategic Plan

The development of advanced missile technology and related munitions -- and the deployment of those airborne weapons of mass destruction nearly two decades from now -- is in the early planning stages at the U.S. Army, TPR has discovered. This summer the Army Aviation & Missile Command will not be presenting industry and academia with a list of anticipated military technology needs for that time frame, however. On the contrary, the Army is inviting private- and public-sector manufacturers and researchers to advise the Dept. of Defense on how to possibly incorporate those projects into its Strategic Plan for 2025-2030.

According to a sources-sought notice posted to the FedBizOpps contracting database July 6, the Army is soliciting "expressions of interest" from potential participants, and has tentatively scheduled a strategic planning workshop in Huntsville, Alabama sometime in August.

"This workshop will contribute to the development of a missile science and technology strategic plan and establish a foundation for further planning for potential research and development projects," the notice says. "Due to space constraints and the need to ensure a balance of industry and government perspectives, participation in the workshop will be by invitation only.

"To assist us in selecting the appropriate team to help shape this science and technology strategy, we are asking interested parties to respond to the following questions:

1) Is your company or organization currently researching, developing or producing missile technologies for a DoD system or program? If so, please identify and briefly describe your program(s) or application(s).

2) In your opinion, what technical issues present the greatest barrier to providing your technology to current and future DoD Systems?

3) What technical topics might benefit most from creation of a strategic plan to guide collaborative, industry/government research and development of missile technologies?

4) What new or future missile technologies should the DoD pursue?

5) What missile technologies will be critical circa 2025-2030?

6) What skills and/or capabilities will be critical to develop those technologies and integrate them into defense solutions circa 2025-2030?

7) What technical area(s) do you represent? Please provide any technology roadmaps with submittal of the questionnaire."

The Command's R&D and Engineering Center will accept questionnaires that address these topics until July 21.