For Those More Knowledgeable Than I, any guidance would be appreciated. From what I can tell after doing a little digging, Implant was expecting to receive a portion of a 550 unit ETD purchase by the TSA in September. That didn’t occur, and now the hope is the purchase will take place in October, but from due diligence I’ve learned that in the last two fiscal years, the approved DHS budgets did not allow for any year to year carryover of unused funds. The FY 2015 TSA budget calls for the purchase of 250 new ETD units but makes no mention of the 550 units that were to be purchased in September.
So, if October passes without an IDIQ/sales announcement, I’d say chances are high the purchase of the 550 ETD units just won’t happen, and Implant will be left fighting for its share of the 250 ETD units budgeted to be purchased in 2015 (for an aggregate purchase price of $8 million).
Implant has the best product, hands down, and the TSA, after delaying as long as it could, was forced to admit it by certifying the B-220. But while the nominal purpose of the TSA is to protect the American people, it seems like the primary motivating factor of their behavior is to prove to Congress they have spent money efficiently. So they are motivated to retrofit old units rather than buy new “state of the art” units, and if they do buy new units, they want a competitive bidding process to show they are not overpaying. Since no one else can compete with Implant, the TSA is motivated to sit back and wait for the competition to catch up.
So if no TSA purchase occurs in October, it is unlikely we will see any ETD purchase until the TSA has an “apples vs apples” competitive bidding situation.
Please point out where I’m wrong. If it makes you feel better to call me a bad name when you do so, feel free, but I’m really just trying to figure out an objective measure on when its time to sell.
AI
