We are happy to report that LockMart’s Fort Worth, Texas, operation has regained the official designation that its Earned Value Management System is adequate and approved. It was reported that the company will be allowed to collect the millions of dollars of payments that have been withheld by the Dept. of Defense.

We were interested to read that a key process improvement was the “automation” of accounting data, “so that actual costs could be entered into the EVMS system within one to two days, instead of the seven to eight days it had taken earlier.” Another improvement “involved automating data from the factory floor and the manufacturing process so it could be entered into the F-35 integrated master schedule.”

It was not reported as to exactly how the company will collect those withheld payments. Will the company submit an adjustment voucher covering only payment withholds? Will the withholds be a line item on the next SF 1034 or DD 250? We don’t know.

But we do know that this issue, which has persisted for many years, finally has been put to rest. Good for LockMart!