State of Texas - North Central Texas Region IR
Abstract
Texas is a critical contributor to the national defense Industrial base. According to the Defense Spending by State report from the Department of Defense’s (DoD) Office of Local Defense Community Cooperation, Texas ranked third in the nation in terms of DoD spending with $43.4 billion spent in the state in 2019. Major defense contractors such as Lockheed, Boeing, Raytheon, and General Dynamics have significant presence in Texas and these companies are supported by thousands of smaller manufacturers in the state. But fluctuations in defense spending going back to 2011, and continuing up to the flat line defense budget in 2021, have created vulnerability in the Texas defense sector. This lack of predictability in the federal defense budget make it difficult to plan and invest at the small and mid-sized company level because these companies do not know if today’s defense contract will be there tomorrow. This disincentive to bidding on defense work serves to weaken the defense industrial base as manufacturers seek more predictability in their business cycle. Exacerbating the problem is a declining number of workers in the industry as well as a lack of a capability to rapidly retrain workers in new processes and technologies as DoD shifts its demands. Under this grant the North Central Texas Council of Governments will focus on increasing the skill level of the Texas defense workforce in aviation, aerospace, and defense manufacturing by developing and institutionalizing a framework for agile curriculum development that meets the needs of industry partners. This will reduce the time required for rapid upskilling and reskilling of existing employees and new hires so that workers are job-ready from day one. The overall goal of the project is to develop the agile curriculum materials that will drive the appropriate degree, certificate, or internship programs within existing educational institutions and industry partners; expedite more workers with job-ready skills needed in the industries; and deliver the training programs to upskill and reskill employees and new hires.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- May 24, 2022
- Source ID
- HQ00052110055
Entities
People
- Dan Kessler
Organizations
- North Central Texas Council of Governments
- Office of Local Defense Community Cooperation
- Office of the Secretary of Defense