The INSIDER - April 5, 2012

Listing.

COCOMS' integrated priority lists, up first:

Consolidated Combatant Commanders' Wish List Set To Influence FY-14 Budget

Top Defense Department officials have hammered out a new ranking of the military's most acute capability shortfalls, a classified list of potential Achilles' heels intended to help drive investment decisions between fiscal years 2014 and 2018.

On March 20, the Joint Requirements Oversight Council convened in the Pentagon to wrap up work on one of its most important annual tasks -- producing a consolidated list of combatant commander priorities, according to military officials.

This year marked the first time combatant commanders have participated in the five-month "capability gap assessment" process as full voting members of the JROC. Combatant commanders, who play only an ancillary role in DOD's budget process, were last year elevated by law to full membership on the JROC and now outnumber the four service vice chiefs of staff, who wield enormous influence over the military's purse strings.

"Combatant commanders were able to participate and get their voices heard on particular issues a lot more than in the past," Air Force Col. Keith Duffy told InsideDefense.com. Duffy, the planning and integration branch chief in the Joint Staff's J-8 Joint Capability Division, played a key role in finalizing the "integrated priority list."

Proposed.

A key document up next:

DOD's Second FY-13 Legislative Proposals Package

On March 28, 2012, the Defense Department submitted its second package of fiscal year 2013 legislative proposals.

Touches on subjects like this:

DOD Asks Congress To Ease Notification Mandates For Cost Increases

The Defense Department is asking Congress to water down statutory notification requirements for major acquisition programs with soaring costs tied to quantity cuts.

In a legislative proposal sent to Capitol Hill last week, the Pentagon proposes further reducing the statutory requirements for critical Nunn-McCurdy breaches caused primarily by quantity changes.

DOD Wants To Narrow Definition Of Commercial Item To Ensure Fair Prices

The Pentagon wants lawmakers to narrow the definition of a commercial item to ensure goods and services are acquired at fair and reasonable prices and to preclude abuse.

Pentagon Seeks To Add Nine Countries To 'High Income' List

The Pentagon wants Congress to designate nine more countries, including four in the Middle East, as "high income," which would enable these governments to pay for military training at an incremental rate as part of the foreign military sales program.

DOD Asks Congress To Exempt DOE Work From Mandated Reviews

To avoid interruptions in critical national security activities, Congress should let Energy Department procurement efforts that support the Defense Department sidestep mandated inspector-general reviews, the Pentagon argues in a recent legislative proposal.

Cyber Concept.

Moving on to the front page of today's Inside the Pentagon:

New Joint Cyber Concept, Blessed By STRATCOM, Nears Dempsey's Desk

U.S. Strategic Command has approved a new joint concept to support major decisions about doctrine and resources for cyberspace operations, a key step toward final approval of the document by the military's top officer.

The Joint Concept for Cyberspace, designed to help military forces grapple with fundamental questions about cyberwarfare in the 2020s, now bears the signature of STRATCOM chief Gen. Robert Kehler and will ultimately land on the desk of Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey for final approval. In the interim, STRATCOM officials must brief the document, roughly 55 pages, to key Joint Staff officials who oversee military requirements.

"The Joint Concept for Cyberspace will form the basis of joint warfighting doctrine and resourcing decisions to provide the joint force commander with the means to achieve and sustain cyberspace superiority," STRATCOM spokesman Rodney Ellison told Inside the Pentagon.

Legal Eagles.

Another front-pager, this one suggesting a need for more help on legal issues at the Pentagon:

Panetta Poised To Stand Up Defense Legal Policy Board

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta plans to create a blue-ribbon panel to advise the Defense Department on an array of complex legal policy matters, according to DOD officials and documents.

A defense official said the spectrum of issues awaiting the new Defense Legal Policy Board could include the targeted killing of individuals abroad; the process of trying terrorism suspects in military courtrooms; and matters related to major crimes committed by deployed service members, including requirements for status-of-forces agreements and the way the department processes major crimes.

On March 30, the Pentagon submitted a draft charter for the new panel to the General Services Administration, which has since approved the document.

DOCUMENT ALERT:

Defense Legal Policy Board Charter

The March 30, 2012, Office of the Secretary of Defense memo lays out the charter of the Defense Legal Policy Board.

Performance Review.

The IG gets busy:

Pentagon IG To Scrutinize DOD's Use Of Performance-Based Payments

The Pentagon's inspector general has launched a broad review of the award and administration of performance-based payments in Defense Department contracts.

The objective of this audit is to determine whether DOD officials negotiated and administered performance-based payment milestones in DOD contracts in accordance with selected Federal Acquisition Regulation requirements, according to a March 22 memo signed by Lorin Venable, the acting assistant inspector general for DOD payments and accounting operations.

"Specifically, we will determine whether DOD properly negotiated, verified, and disbursed performance-based payments," Venable writes. The memo is addressed to acting Pentagon acquisition chief Frank Kendall, DOD Comptroller Robert Hale, service officials and defense agencies.

DOCUMENT ALERT:

DOD IG Memo On Performance-Based Payment Contracts Audit

In a March 22, 2012, memo, the Defense Department inspector general's office announces it would undertake an audit "to determine whether DOD officials negotiated and administered performance-based payment milestones in DOD contracts in accordance with selected Federal Acquisition Regulation requirements."

High Energy.

One more item of note today:

New Charter: Operational Energy Board To Serve As Forum, Review Plans

The Defense Department has released a new charter defining the membership, procedures and functions of the Defense Operational Energy Board, which will serve to review, synchronize and support department-wide operational energy policies, plans and programs.

DOCUMENT ALERT:

Defense Operational Energy Board Charter

On March 22, 2012, the Pentagon issued a charter establishing the Defense Operational Energy Board.

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