House Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Mac Thornberry (R-TX) has drafted a defense acquisition reform bill that would fence Pentagon funding until the department begins implementing reform measures already on the books.
"Frankly, some of this is to get somebody's attention," he told reporters today.
Thornberry's bill is focused on getting DOD to: implement rapid prototyping and fielding authorities, cut "Fourth Estate" civilian management agencies by 25%, establish a policy for defense business systems, create a department-wide intellectual property policy and workforce, and establish a modular open system approach for major defense acquisition systems.
"These are the ones that make a big difference across the department," Thornberry said.
The bill would specifically fence funding for the Office of the Secretary of Defense until progress reports are provided.
Thornberry noted he has successfully introduced 63 acquisition reform provisions over the past four years.
"The department has implemented some of them well, there are some that they have not implemented well," he said. "I want the department to implement what we have already set before them."
When it comes to rapid prototyping and fielding, DOD has touted its efforts on Middle Tier Acquisition programs, also known as Section 804 programs. But Thornberry said DOD has yet to establish a department-wide policy to identify, test, cost and sustain programs using rapid prototyping and fielding authority.
A Republican committee aide also said the panel is concerned that the military services have each established their Section 804 policies that even they are not uniformly following.
Pentagon acquisition officials said they began writing permanent Section 804 guidance in February.
Meanwhile, Thornberry applauded the Army for establishing its own intellectual property policy, but said DOD needs a department-wide policy as well as a cadre of experts to assist acquisition officers who must haggle with defense contractors.
"Part of the reason we get ourselves in a bind being dependent on one supplier for one system is that we did not bargain very well for intellectual property very well at the beginning," he said. "It's a specialty. . . . There is not this cadre of talent that an acquisition person can go to and rely upon in the negotiations to see that the government and the taxpayers have the rights that they need for the long term, especially when it comes to sustainment."
Thornberry said recent concerns about price gouging stemming from DOD's dealings with TransDigm could be traced to bad intellectual property deals.
"More competition is better, especially if you’re smarter about the intellectual property rights from the beginning," he said. "Part of the problem with TransDigm was we ended up with a single supplier," he said. "Now, they were smart. They went around and bought the intellectual property on the things we had only one source for that were critical for very important systems. Then they basically took advantage of the taxpayers."
Pentagon acquisition officials have said they intend to use the Army's intellectual property policy as a template for the rest of the department.
Still, the Republican committee aide said the requirement to establish a department-wide IP policy as well as stand up a cadre of subject matter experts is now two years old.
The Pentagon should view the new legislation as a "line in the sand," the aide said.
Separately, Thornberry said he lacked confidence that DOD is on a trajectory to cut 25% of the overhead expenses from its Fourth Estate civilian management agencies, despite a new report provided by the Pentagon.
"This plan is too vague in order to get any assurances," he said. "I do not have confidence they are going to meet the 25% savings on that report. It does not provide the roadmap for achieving the savings that the law requires."
Thornberry said he would understand if DOD were to provide a report that said it could only achieve a lower level of savings, say 19%.
"I don't want to wake up a year from now and [hear], 'Oh, sorry, we could only get 2%,'" he said. "If they come and say that we have scraped bottom and gotten every nickel out we could . . . well, OK, come tell me that."
Acting Chief Management Officer Lisa Hershman told Inside Defense in an interview last month DOD plans to send Congress more details by Oct. 1.
Defense industry advocates, meanwhile, are waiting on DOD to implement more than 150 acquisition reform measures and have said they hope Thornberry's efforts will be able to break up the bureaucratic logjam.