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Source: Aerospace Industries Association
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Acquisition Reform: The Never-Ending Story
When President Obama and his team came in to office, one of the first areas of emphasis by
the new Administration was acquisition reform. The President issued a “Memorandum on
Government Contracting,” calling on federal agencies to improve the effectiveness of their
acquisition practices and the results achieved from their contracts.
In the first months of 2009, Congress passed the Weapon Systems Acquisition Reform Act
that primarily focused on upfront planning so that programs would be based on a better
understanding of cost, schedule and performance. Many of the ideas in WSARA were
proposed by AIA in its report U.S. Defense Acquisition: An Agenda for Positive Reform. That
report described, for example, the need for better cost estimating and stability in
requirements.
The release of the Quadrennial Defense Review at the end of January demonstrated that we
are not done yet with acquisition reform. The QDR includes a section that discusses
reforming how DOD buys. That section indicates that DOD will turn its focus from the front
end of the acquisition process addressed in WSARA to improving program execution and
performance.
The acquisition report includes several recommendations for improving program execution.
Among these are broader use of multi-year procurements, stable government funding for
programs and use of contract types based on program risk.
The House Armed Services Committee Panel on Acquisition Reform held a series of hearings
in 2009 to gain a better understanding of the root causes of DOD’s acquisition challenges in
order to generate suggestions to effect real reform. We are expecting additional legislation
to emerge from the House panel as a complement to WSARA. AIA joined with associations
who participate in the Acquisition Reform Working Group to propose actions that the panel
could take on issues such as maintaining a healthy industrial base, government access to
commercial technologies, products and practices, and fixed-price development contracting.
AIA is actively reaching out to government officials to advocate for sensible acquisition
reform by arranging meetings for our members with DOD officials at all levels.
AIA has set for itself a target in 2010 to achieve a streamlined and efficient acquisition
process that does not impose unnecessary administrative burdens on contractors or
government contracting officers. Working through the Procurement and Finance Council
and its committees, we will aggressively pursue not just acquisition reform, but the kind of
reforms that promote competitiveness and efficiency in the aerospace and defense industry
while providing reasonable returns for good performance.