House panel to seek changes in Pentagon procurement
Previous attempts at reform, lawmakers say, have not stemmed rising costs and schedule delays.
Members of the House Armed Services Committee vowed Wednesday to continue pushing for major changes in the Pentagon's outdated and bureaucratic weapons-buying procedures as they consider the fiscal 2007 defense authorization bill.
During a hearing, lawmakers acknowledged that the committee's previous attempts at an overhaul had not stemmed the rising costs and schedule delays common to many of the military's most expensive programs. Armed Services Readiness Subcommittee Chairman Joel Hefley, R-Colo., said, "Year after year, we face the same problems: rampant cost growth, an unconstrained requirements process which delays fielding of new systems, and assurances from the Department of Defense that these problems will be corrected."
House Armed Services ranking member Ike Skelton, D-Mo., criticized the Pentagon's failure to recruit and train the "right mix" of acquisition officials, as well as the department's disregard for the "time-honored policies and practices" that led to developing successful programs in the past. "Our acquisition system has gotten seriously off track," he said.
Skelton estimated that the price tag for Pentagon's top five procurement programs grew 46 percent over the last four years. "The budget for procurement grew hardly at all," he added. "As a result, we buy less, and what we have keeps getting older."
The issue has percolated in recent years as Capitol Hill grappled with a major procurement scandal surrounding Air Force plans to lease a fleet of aerial refueling tankers from Boeing. Lawmakers have also become increasingly concerned about the military's ability to respond to emerging equipment needs in the field, as well as significant delays to weapons development programs.
"It is kind of smelling like the early 1980s," when the last comprehensive attempt at acquisition improvement was made, said Pierre Chao, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
The committee heard testimony from Chao and three other acquisition experts during the hearing, receiving recommendations on everything from restructuring the Pentagon's chief acquisition office to providing better training for program managers.
"The existing system, however flawed, has produced the most capable, best equipped and most effective military in the history of the world," said retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Ronald Kadish, who recently chaired a panel that assessed the department's acquisition practices. "We have met the effectiveness test in the past. Now we must adapt to a different security environment."
The Cold War acquisition system, he added, must become more flexible and agile to react to "more dynamic security environments and rapidly changing needs."