Contracts In Process

3 Months Ended

Apr. 01, 2012

Contracts In Process [Abstract]

Contracts In Process

E. CONTRACTS IN PROCESS

Contracts in process represent recoverable costs and, where applicable, accrued profit related to long-term contracts that have been inventoried until the customer is billed, and consisted of the following:

	December 31, 2011			April 1, 2012
Contract costs and estimated profits	$	18,807		$	19,010
Other contract costs		959			990
		19,766			20,000
Advances and progress payments		(14,598	)		(15,071	)
Total contracts in process	$	5,168		$	4,929

Contract costs consist primarily of labor, material, overhead and general and administrative (G&A) expenses. Contract costs also may include estimated contract recoveries for matters such as contract changes, negotiated settlements and claims for unanticipated contract costs. We record revenue associated with these matters only when the amount of recovery can be estimated reliably and realization is probable. Assumed recoveries for these items were not material on December 31, 2011, or April 1, 2012.

Other contract costs represent amounts that are not currently allocable to government contracts, such as a portion of our estimated workers' compensation obligations, other insurance-related assessments, pension and other post-retirement benefits and environmental expenses. These costs will become allocable to contracts generally after they are paid. We expect to recover these costs through ongoing business, including existing backlog and probable follow-on contracts. If the backlog in the future does not support the continued deferral of these costs, the profitability of our remaining contracts could be adversely affected. We expect to bill substantially all of our contracts-in-process balance as of April 1, 2012, during the next 12 months, with the exception of these other contract costs.