Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas), ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, on Thursday introduced a bill aimed at expanding acquisition reform efforts in the Department of Defense.
The legislation aims to strengthen accountability and agility in the defense acquisition system and Thornberry wants the measure to serve as a discussion draft in order to seek feedback ahead of the markup for the fiscal 2021 National Defense Authorization Act.
“Nobody’s smart enough to know all the implications of moving things around in the system. So put it out there, let people have their shot at it, make adjustments as appropriate,” Thornberry told reporters Thursday.
According to a fact sheet, the proposal covers six aspects and the first focuses on requiring DoD to carry out two assessments of the requirements process against efficiency, technical feasibility and other metrics.
Thornberry also proposed to codify reforms to ensure that the “night court” process, departmentwide reviews and other efforts will continue; restrict certain defense funding until the Pentagon implements congressionally mandated reforms; require quarterly briefings to identify vulnerabilities or gaps in defense industrial base; streamline Title 10 with a focus on the reorganization of acquisition statutes.
