Industrial Strength

It's official. The old website for DOD's industrial policy office has been changed to reflect its new status as the manufacturing and industrial base policy office (http://www.acq.osd.mil/mibp/).

As Inside the Pentagon reported in January:

The Pentagon is facing a slew of new reporting and planning requirements and a call to renew its focus on acquiring services and building up its workforce as part of a recently signed law designed to reform the Defense Department's acquisition system.

Dubbed the "IMPROVE Acquisition Act," the new law calls on the department to periodically assess the performance of the elements of its acquisition systems, strengthen its IT acquisition workforce and review internal acquisition guidelines and federal acquisition regulations. . . .

The law also creates a deputy assistant secretary of defense for manufacturing and industrial base policy to serve as the principal adviser on industrial base issues under the department's acquisition chief, and provides the position with a fund. The congressional source noted that historically there has been an official performing these duties, but the law creates the deputy assistant secretary of defense post.

And a message on the renamed website states:

To encourage industry's innovative response to the needs of our Service members, the 2011 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) has recommended a number of changes that will impact how the Department of Defense’s (DoD) Office of Industrial Policy is organized and funded.

First, the NDAA establishes the position of Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Manufacturing and Industrial Base Policy to reflect the expanded duties of the Industrial Policy office. The inclusion of "manufacturing" in the title ensures the linkage between "industry" and "manufacturing" is firmly established and effectively coordinated.

Reporting to the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics, the Office of Manufacturing and Industrial Base Policy will expand its current mission to include managing a new Industrial Base Fund used to:

*   support the monitoring and assessment of the industrial base

*   address critical issues in the industrial base related to urgent operational needs

*   support efforts to expand the industrial base

*   address supply chain vulnerabilities

Responsibility for the Defense Manufacturing Technology Program (ManTech) is also being moved into our new office. ManTech, whose mission is to develop technologies and processes that ensure the affordable and timely production and sustainment of defense systems, is currently overseen by the Directorate of Research in the office of the Director, Defense Research and Engineering.

To increase the Department's access to innovation and the benefits of competition, the 2011 NDAA also requires the Department to establish a program to expand the industrial base by identifying firms that are non-traditional suppliers. The program will include outreach regarding opportunities to obtain contracts and subcontracts to firms of all sizes in the vicinity of DoD installations. The program will also include an ongoing review of the industrial base, including the identification of markets of importance to the DoD in which firms that are not traditional suppliers can make a significant contribution.

It will be the Manufacturing and Industrial Base Policy Office’s mission to inject a new spirit of innovation into the Department to ensure our Service members are the beneficiaries of the best American industry can provide.