Frank Kendall, acquisition chief at the Defense Department, has said he is amenable to the idea of revising a proposed rule for the acquisition of commercial products at DoD, Defense News reported Wednesday.
Kendallâs remarks are in response to a letter sent by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) to Defense Secretary Ashton Carter that the proposed regulation would subject commercial firms to âcumbersomeâ requirements with regard to the provision of detailed pricing data on commercial items, Jen Judson writes.
“I think the rule is very general,â Kendall told an audience at the ComDef conference.
âI would like it, frankly, to be more specific and I’m working with my contracting people on how to do that.”
He said the proposed regulation aims to help the Pentagon get âa fair and reasonable price” when it buys commercial products and that the agency is open to receive any feedback on the draft regulation, according to the report.
“We buy a lot of parts… and vendors of those parts would like them to be considered commercial, which means that we essentially don’t ask for cost data,â he said.
Kendall noted that DoDâs acquisition branch has initiated efforts to establish a team of personnel at the Defense Contract Management Agency that would help acquisition officials evaluate if a price of a commercial item is fair.