Key Issues Optical clocks Prototype funding SPAFORGEN
The Pentagon's acquisition executive and comptroller are directing the Defense Department to comply with a new law requiring full and open competition for earmarks awarded by House members to for-profit entities, a statutory requirement more strict than it is for earmarks sponsored by senators.
The 2010 defense appropriations act -- section 8121, to be exact -- requires the Pentagon to sift through 99 pages of congressional earmarks and sort out which are intended for “for-profit” entities and which are to be directed to non-profits, such as universities.
Aston Carter, the acquisition executive, and Robert Hale, the Pentagon comptroller, lay it out in a June 7 memo:
Effective immediately, comptroller, contracting and program/project management personnel should work collaboratively to identify the applicable “for-profit” earmarks sponsored solely by members of the House of Representatives and ensure . . . compliance (with the new law).