The Pentagon's number two official said last week that he is "not impressed" by the Government Performance and Results Act, which requires agencies to develop strategic plans, set goals and meaure their performance.
"This is not new to the Department of Defense to think about where you want to be in five years, lay out measurable goals and then keep track of yourself," said Deputy Defense Secretary John Hamre in a speech to the National Contract Management Association.
Hamre said he was annoyed that Republican congressional leaders gave the department a failing grade for its strategic plan in an evaluation of agencies' planning efforts this fall.
"I chafe a little bit that committees that are not our committees of jurisdiction come in and say we're bums. Give us a C-minus," Hamre said.
While civilian agencies developed strategic plans to comply with the Results Act, the Defense Department is using its Quadrennial Defense Review as its strategic plan.
"I don't think we have to invent anything new in the Department of Defense to comply with," Hamre said. "And I'm not 'dissing' the GPRA process. Frankly, I'm saying: 'You finally are starting to catch up with us; we're there; we've been doing it.' "
Hamre also chided Congress for criticizing the Defense Department's acquisition management while not giving DoD the money it needs to have a sound acquisition infrastructure. Hamre served as the department's comptroller before becoming deputy secretary.
"Two things are very clear to me from watching what has unfolded the last several years in Congress, and that is simultaneously we want no mistakes in the acquisition process, and we don't want to pay for the infrastructure it takes to provide no mistakes. Have I got it right?" Hamre said. "Obviously that's an impossibility in this world."
In his speech before an audience of government and private sector contract specialists, Hamre also called for more cooperation between contractors and the department. He said a better working relationship will be necessary as DoD moves to a paperless procurement process by the turn of the century. He said the department would use imaging technology to eliminate paper, suggesting that contractors install DoD-owned servers in their billing offices so the process is paperless on both ends.
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