Jack McGinn, Veteran
Posted by
Jack McGinn
|
June 05, 2012
VIRGINIA BEACH, VA I am Jack McGinn, the Chairman of the Industry Board of Advisors for the Virginia Modeling, Analysis, and Simulation Center (VMASC). My comments will focus on the impacts of current and projected budget cuts on the DoD Modeling and Simulation (M&S) industry in the Hampton Roads region. As I meet with the leaders of our member companies, the recurring theme I hear from them regarding doing business with DoD and the government can be summed up in one word: uncertainty. That uncertainty has postponed hiring since many procurements are on hold or unfunded and has also stifled investment in Internal Research and Development (IRAD) because they do not know the direction the DoD will be taking in the future nor the funding levels to expect. Additionally, for those companies in this region that have already suffered significant personnel losses due to the closure of the Joint Forces Command, they have had to relocate many of these personnel in other regions of the country or risk losing them. For our region, this represents a “brain drain” of experienced M&S talent that will be extremely difficult to overcome. For the preservation of our country’s warfighting capabilities and our regional M&S industrial capability, we implore our leaders on Capitol Hill to remove this uncertainty so we can get back to investing in our future and providing jobs for our talented labor base.
