President Donald Trump has signed an executive order directing the secretary of defense to submit within 60 days a plan to reform the Department of Defense’s acquisition process as part of efforts to drive innovation in the defense industrial base and strengthen the country’s military edge.
Acquisition Reform Plan
In a fact sheet published Wednesday, the White House said the acquisition reform plan should use existing authorities to speed up the acquisition process across DOD; eliminate unnecessary tasks, reduce duplicative approvals and centralize decision-making; and manage risk while promoting innovation.
Commercial solutions, other transactions authority, and use of Rapid Capabilities Office policies are some of the existing authorities cited in the EO. According to the EO, the DOD secretary should prioritize using such authorities in contracting actions.
Regulations Review
The new policy directs the secretary of defense to review DOD implementation guides, manuals and regulations to eliminate any unnecessary regulations and foster streamlined acquisition processes.
Advancing Workforce Reform
Within 120 days, the defense secretary should work with component acquisition executives and secretaries of military branches to come up with a plan to right-size, reform and train the acquisition workforce.
The plan should include the restructuring of performance evaluation metrics for members of the acquisition workforce; an analysis of the workforce staff levels needed to build, deliver and sustain warfighting capabilities; establishment of field training teams by the under secretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment; and implementation of procedures, policies and tools to incentivize acquisition officials to use innovative procurement authorities and take measured risks.
Review of Major Defense Acquisitions Programs
The EO also requires DOD to conduct a comprehensive assessment of all major defense acquisition programs, or MDAPs, within 90 days.
Any program more than 15 percent behind schedule or 15 percent over cost based on the current Acquisition Program Baseline will be considered for cancellation.
The DOD secretary should submit to the director of the Office of Management and Budget a list of programs for potential cancellation to help determine future budgets.
