On the Trail of the Elusive ‘Contractor Sustainment Re-vector’

On Monday, June 30, the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center awarded Lockheed Martin a $38.8 increase to its Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) contract for something dubbed “System Interim Contractor Sustainment Re-vector.”

Huh?

I have covered the Defense Department for more than 25 years and have never encountered a Contractor Sustainment Re-vector in the field or the Pentagon and have no idea what it means. So I fired an email off to Space and Missile Systems Center on Tuesday July 2 and asked for a plain English explanation, in the next day or two.

Turns out that the Space and Missile Systems Center has cumbersome processes which would not allow it to answer this query in less than five business days – which with the long holiday weekend, meant I would hear back from them Wednesday.

Still no answer to what seems like a simple question. I would appreciate help from any reader who has any idea what a Contractor Sustainment Re-vector means.