Defense acquisition reform panel issues final recommendations

The congressional Defense Acquisition Reform Panel on Tuesday approved final recommendations for improving deficiencies in the military's procurement system.

The group passed by a voice vote its final report, which is similar to an interim document issued earlier in March. Once the report is delivered to leadership of the House Armed Services Committee later this week, the panel's work will be complete.

"The panel began with the question of how well the defense acquisition system is doing in delivering value to the warfighter and the taxpayer," said chairman Rep. Robert Andrews, D-N.J. "For most categories of acquisition, only anecdotal information exists about instances where the system either performed well or poorly."

The report calls for improvements to the process for developing contract requirements, incentivizing better performance from the acquisition workforce, reforming the Pentagon's financial management and getting better value from the industrial base.

The panel, appointed in March 2009 by the House Armed Services Committee, recommended the expansion of the newly created Office of Performance Assessment and Root Cause Analysis to track organizations throughout the defense acquisition system in meeting prenegotiated goals for acquisition performance.

"These assessments would not simply be material to fill reports to Congress," Andrews said. "These performance assessments would be linked directly with the things that matter most to the people working in the system: pay, promotion and the scope of their authority. A similar effort is needed for the requirements process."

Pentagon officials also should develop new regulations that include fair, credible and transparent methods for hiring and assigning civilian acquisition staff, and for appraising and rewarding employee performance, the report stated. In addition, the lawmakers recommended extending the Acquisition Workforce Demonstration Program, which focuses on improving personnel management policies and procedures. The five-year program is set to expire in 2012.

Defense also should develop meaningful incentives for the military services to achieve unqualified audits well before the current mandate of Sept. 30, 2017, the panel said. Defense entities that fail to meet this mandate, however, would face consequences such as the loss of some congressional funds, the group said.

In a move heavily favored by industry, the lawmakers called for the repeal of a rule that allows agencies to withhold 3 percent of contract payments in anticipation of taxes owed to the Treasury Department.

The final document incorporates some relatively minor technical changes Defense Department officials suggested during the panel's final hearing on March 11.

Many of the recommendations will be addressed in the House Armed Services Committee's version of the fiscal 2011 National Defense Authorization Act later this year.