U.S. Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-TX) released draft legislation designed to modernize the nation’s defense acquisition system, including allowing the Pentagon to use e-commerce to buy commercial products and reforming the defense contract audit process.
The Defense Acquisition Streamlining and Transparency Act, H.R. 2511, would allow the Department of Defense (DOD) to purchase off-the-shelf-items from online marketplaces that provide a wide selection of products from a range of suppliers, helping to ensure competitive prices.
“These reforms will streamline the bureaucracy, drive greater efficiency through competition and give the Pentagon the tools it needs to make better business decisions,” Thornberry, the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said. “They also promote greater transparency and accountability. While these reforms will save money over the long term, they will also help improve support for the warfighters right away.”
The bill would strive to improve the defense contract audit process, which Thornberry said was slow and generated little value to taxpayers. By 2016, incurred cost audits took an average of 885 days to complete.
Furthermore, the legislation would improve the consideration of operating and support costs of weapon systems, developmental testing of weapon programs and strategic planning for the acquisition of services.
The DOD’s business systems would have to be readily available to the Office of Secretary of Defense under the bill to eliminate current barriers to data sharing and to foster data management and analysis across services and agencies.
The draft legislation represents the third installment of the committee’s acquisition reform initiative that will be incorporated into the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2018. The latest discussion draft would streamline bureaucracy, drive efficiency through competition, and give the Pentagon the tools it needs to make better business decisions, Thornberry said.
“Rebuilding America’s military is a national priority and has been a priority of the Armed Service Committee for the past two years,” Thornberry wrote in a memo to committee members. “… It is incumbent that we reform programs and processes to ensure defense funds are not squandered by inefficient practices or ill-informed decisions.”