As his new title suggests, Director of Defense Pricing Shay Assad, formerly head of Defense Procurement and Acquisition Policy, will zero in on the details of Pentagon price tags.
In a Federal News Radio interview, Assad said the beginning stages of buying are crucial in closely examining Pentagon buying.
“If we’re going to make a quantum leap in improving what we pay for goods and services, it’s going to be in this particular area,” he said.
Assad reiterated that DoD acquisition guidelines do not amount to “a war on profitability of contractors.â€
“What it’s all about is trying to understand how can we use profit to properly motivate contractors to reduce the prices that we pay,” he said. “If we’re paying $100 for a product and included in that $100 is $10 of profit, we’d much rather pay $90 and if the contractor made $15 as a result of that, we’d be okay with that.”
The goal is to align profitability and performance, he added.
