The inability of the Defense Department to accurately predict the costs of its major acquisition programs is the dominant factor in rising defense modernization costs, far outpacing cost growth resulting from factors such as schedule and engineering changes, defense budget documents show. According to an expanded version of the Selected Acquisition Reports DOD sent to Congress in April, the major acquisition programs covered by the SARs have experienced $95 billion in cost growth attributable to "estimating." This represents 58 percent...