Source: Aerospace Industries Association


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.