Local Briefing

Thursday, August 21, 2008

CONTRACTING

GAO Denies Lockheed's Protest of Navy Deal

Government auditors denied Lockheed Martin's protest of a $1.16 billion Navy contract to develop unmanned aircraft that can patrol coastlines and open ocean because its proposal was deemed riskier than the other bids, according to released details.

Northrop Grumman, of Los Angeles, beat out Lockheed Martin and Chicago-based Boeing in April to develop a plane for the Navy's Broad Area Maritime Surveillance -- or BAMS -- program. The contract could be worth billions based on the Navy's plans to buy 68 planes.

General Dynamics to Supply Cannons to Army

Military contractor General Dynamics said the U.S. Army ordered 62 cannons for use on its eight-wheel Stryker combat vehicles in a deal potentially worth $326.5 million.

The contract for the Mobile Gun System, which features a vehicle-mounted "shoot-on-the-move" cannon, carries an initial payment of $145 million.

CACI Wins $26 Million Army Deal

CACI International, which provides information technology to the U.S. military, said it received an Army contract worth an estimated $26 million to support the modernization of software that documents and authorizes personnel and equipment.

The contract mostly entails new work and could last five years.

ManTech Wins $820 Million Army Contract

ManTech International, the Fairfax maker of terrorist-tracking databases, said it won a two-year U.S. Army contract worth up to $820 million to help clear roadside bombs in Iraq and Afghanistan.

MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS

Allied Defense to Sell Digital Unit

Cobham, the world's biggest maker of airborne-refueling gear, agreed to buy GMS, a designer and manufacturer of digital equipment, from Allied Defense Group of Vienna for $26 million in cash.

REGULATORS

Fund Manager Cleared in Insider-Trading Case

A hedge-fund manager didn't engage in insider trading when his order to short a stock was executed before the announcement of the company's private placement, which he knew about, a federal judge ruled.

John F. Mangan Jr., a former Friedman, Billings, Ramsey Group registered representative who also ran a hedge-fund company, argued that he expected CompuDyne to announce its October 2001 private offering before the market opened and before his order was placed to short the shares.

The stock change wasn't big enough to be legally significant, said U.S. District Judge Graham C. Mullen in Charlotte.

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE

Sunrise Adds Two Directors

Sunrise Senior Living added two independent directors to its board this week.

Glyn Aeppel, 49, executive vice president of acquisitions and development of Loews Hotels, and David Fuente, 62, former chairman and chief executive of Office Depot, assumed their new positions Monday for the McLean-based nursing-home company.

Compiled from reports by Washington Post staff writers, the Associated Press and Bloomberg News.