http://worldcat.org/entity/work/id/1902492995

Defense acquisition reform : background, analysis, and issues for Congress

Congress and the executive branch have long been frustrated with waste, mismanagement, and fraud in defense acquisitions and have spent significant resources attempting to reform and improve the process. These frustrations have led to numerous efforts to improve defense acquisitions. In recent years, DOD has taken a number of steps to improve the process by which it buys goods and services, including: rewriting the regulatory structure that governs defense acquisitions; launching the Better Buying Power and Better Buying Power II Initiatives aimed at improving the productivity of the acquisition system and the industrial base; improving the use of data to support decision making; and establishing a team to develop a legislative proposal aimed at simplifying the laws and regulations governing defense acquisitions. Many analysts believe that what DOD can do on its own to improve acquisitions can only go so far -- that significant, effective, and lasting acquisition reform will occur only with the active participation of Congress. Congress has been critical to advancing acquisition reform; such efforts as establishing the Federal Acquisition Regulation, creating Defense Acquisition University, streamlining acquisition regulations, and enacting the Goldwater-Nichols Act were the result of congressional action. Oversight issues for Congress include the extent to which the Weapon System Acquisition Reform Act of 2009 (P.L. 111-23) and the various DOD initiatives are having a positive effect on acquisitions, whether current reform efforts are sufficient to address concerns related to the acquisition workforce, and what additional steps, if any, Congress can take to further the effort to improve defense acquisitions.

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