Advisory panel offers Congress new blueprint for acquisition reform

A panel of experts has sent Congress its first draft of recommendations for rewriting federal regulations to streamline defense acquisitions.

The panel, dubbed the "Section 809 Panel" after the subsection in the Fiscal Year 2016 National Defense Authorization Act which mandated its creation, sent Congress its first volume of recommendations Wednesday aimed at facilitating easier acquisition of commercial items at the Pentagon.

To encourage "rapid technology insertion," the panel recommends eliminating 165 contract clauses that act as barriers to the acquisition of commercial items, according to the report.

The panel also recommends the government implement a single definition of "subcontractor" to replace the current 27 separate definitions, which sometimes overlap.

The panel intends to send Congress two more volumes of recommendations, one in June and another in January 2019.

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