Frank Kendall, Pentagon acquisition chief, said he will reinforce buying power best practices for the department’s procurement process to guide stakeholders in meeting cost requirements, Defense News reported Wednesday.Marcus Weisgerber writes that Kendall told the publication in an interview that the Defense Department Instruction 5000.02 policy document has been updated to include new methods for affordability analysis and program management.
“Basically it tells the services, and … the operational communities and the programming communities that they need to do long-term capital planning before they start down a program; that cost is a requirement,” Kendall said.
Kendall also urged the private sector to invest more in research and development programs to address future technology needs, Weisgerber writes.
He added the Pentagon will manage its budget to increase production levels for the F-35 program, according to the report.
“We do a 30-year shipbuilding, we do a 30-year [tactical aviation] plan,” Kendall said.
“This makes all the communities look out [to] that kind of a time frame, the life-cycle of a product. If I’m going to have roughly this amount of money in my service to spend and I have to replace everything in my current equipment inventory over 30 years, how much can I afford to spend on a given item,” he added.
