The Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee Adam Smith says he will make how the Defense Department spends its money the focus of his committee’s oversight in addition to what the department buys. It’s the latest effort to connect budget and policy in the acquisition process.
- Former Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Industrial Policy Bill Greenwalt said efforts to bring a time-based focus to acquisition in the last five years have not been successful because DoD is too focused on its lengthy linear process (requirements, budgeting, contracting and acquisition).
- The budget drives everything else, Greenwalt explained, and it needs to be more flexible and agile to drive some of the new acquisition changes we have.
- There must be a more systematic review of the process (which is 60 years old and was brought in from the auto industry, according to Greenwalt); in the meantime we can pilot new ideas through mission budgeting and other tools.
