Pentagon's No. 2 touts reform savings

Pentagon reform efforts in the areas of information technology and logistics have led to savings of roughly $300 million in fiscal year 2018, while consolidation efforts at the Defense Health Administration are slated to save $2 billion annually by 2023, according to Deputy Defense Secretary Pat Shanahan.

"In addition to directly supporting our lethality, these reforms generate savings that can be spent on modernization," he wrote in a message to the Pentagon workforce.

"This year, IT reform saved over $200 million, roughly equivalent to the cost of operating two F-16 squadrons for one year; logistics reform saved over $100 million, the price of purchasing over 100 [Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile Extended Range systems]; and DHA consolidation is slated to save over $2 billion . . . each year by 2023, equal to the cost of buying 20 Joint Strike Fighters," Shanahan wrote.

Pentagon Chief Management Office Jay Gibson recently detailed some of the Defense Department's IT saving initiatives in an interview with Inside Defense.

"Granted that they may not in themselves be big money, what you get is you start to establish quick wins," he told Inside Defense. "The value to the overall effort is really significant."
Meanwhile, Shanahan said reforming DOD's business practices would continue to be a focus for the department, as it is key to Defense Secretary Jim Mattis' strategy to redirect funding toward warfighting.

"Reform, alongside everything we do in this department, is geared towards one goal: maximizing lethality," Shanahan wrote. "The best way to prevent a war is to prepare to win one. Success demands we adopt a culture of performance instead of measuring ourselves in terms of effort and improvement alone. At the end of the day, what matters is not whether we are better than we were last year, but whether we are better than our adversaries -- stronger, faster, and more lethal."