Weapon system sustainment would receive more attention early in the Department of Defense acquisition process under a reform package (H.R. 2511) introduced May 18 by the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee (HASC).
Rep. William “Mac” Thornberry (R-Texas) said that sustainment accounts for more than 70 percent of a weapon system’s life-cycle costs but receives little attention when a system is being conceived and designed.
“Sustainment has to be considered upfront, even before the acquisition decision is made,” Thornberry told reporters.
His bill also calls for more developmental testing to find problems before weapon systems become expensive to fix. For technical data needed to support weapon systems, the bill would spur DoD to determine prices early in the acquisition process, while competition among contractors still exists.
Another provision would allow the department to buy commercial-off-the-shelf items from online stores, such as Amazon [AMZN], instead of having to use the “expensive” General Services Administration (GSA) schedule or the “onerous” DoD contracting process.
“I just had a company tell me this morning that they decided that being on the GSA schedule wasn’t worth it,” Thornberry said. “The hassles were too much.”
Citing recent congressional testimony about long delays in buying handguns for the military, Thornberry suggested that “maybe it’s okay to get our handguns in a commercially available way in the future.”
Yet another provision is aimed at improving information about, and oversight of, contracted services, which accounted for 53 percent of the $274 billion that the Pentagon spent through contracts in fiscal year 2015.
“It’s a message to the Department of Defense that we need to understand how we are spending taxpayer dollars and on what,” he said. “I can tell you how much we’re spending on fighters or submarines. I can’t tell you what we’re spending” on a particular service.
The legislation is the latest in a series of efforts by the HASC to make defense acquisition more agile and less expensive. Previous efforts included splitting the undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics into two positions — an undersecretary for research and engineering and an undersecretary for acquisition and sustainment — to promote innovation.
“This year, we’re not as much going for the bright, shiny objects,” Thornberry said. “We’re going for the other things that may not be as glamorous but are tremendously important, tremendously costly for the Department of Defense.”
Thornberry plans to seek feedback on his “discussion draft” over the next month or so. His proposal will ultimately be included in his committee’s FY 2018 defense authorization bill.