NATIONAL HARBOR, Md.—Days after the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) made moves to eliminate the Defense Department’s acquisition office, the Pentagon’s chief weapons buyer on Tuesday fired off a sharp critique of congressional meddling in acquisition policy.
Frank Kendall, undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics (AT&L), never explicitly mentioned the SASC defense authorization bill, which would supplant AT&L with two offices that would split its current responsibilities—something the committee’s chairman, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), hopes will drive more innovation and oversight. When asked directly about his thoughts on the bill, Kendall said he hadn’t read it but was concerned by what he saw in the summary.
But after showing the audience at the Sea Air Space conference data on how his Better Buying Power initiatives are helping to improve management practices, Kendall said that congressional changes to defense policy do not seem to be guided by reality.
“Data should drive policy. I just showed you a lot of data,” he said. “I don’t know, frankly, right now today that that data is driving the policy as far as the Congress is concerned. It doesn’t appear to be.”
“I have been in this business for about 40 years, and I have seen one acquisition fad after another come and go,” he said. “People like to talk themselves into acquisition magic. Whether it’s spiral development, or everything should be fixed price, or total quality management or whatever, I’ve seen a series of these fans. We actually know how to do product development, production and sustainment. It’s not a mystery. It’s hard work.”
“But professionals who do this for a living understand how to do it and there isn’t any acquisition magic,” he said.
One chart displayed cost growth on major contracts since the Packard Commission issued their recommendations in the 1980s. When the AT&L office was formed after the Goldwater Nichols Act of 1986 took effect, the Pentagon was successful in decreasing cost growth for about 10 years, he said. Eventually, cost growth ballooned because the acquisition office “took [its] eye off the ball,” but the implementation of Better Buying Power practices has helped reverse that trend.
“We’re doing the right things. We need to keep doing them,” he said.
The problem, according to Kendall, isn’t lack of innovation or poor acquisition practices. It’s a tight budgetary climate that contributes to cost growth when the Defense Department believes it can buy a product more cheaply than independent cost estimates show.
“The reason for that is pretty simple, I think. People [in government] are more optimistic and they talk themselves into what I think is wishful thinking,” he said. “The other thing that’s at work here I think is that industry, when money is tight, is more aggressive in how they bid because it’s so important to win.”
While Kendall did not comment directly on the SASC acquisition reform efforts or mention McCain, he commended Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) for working with the Pentagon on the House defense authorization bill. After Thornberry issued his acquisition reform proposal, Kendall made a strong appeal to change sections of the bill regarding modular open systems that the department viewed as “too rigid.”
Ultimately, the acquisition chief said he was “delighted” that Thornberry had taken his comments into consideration, he said.
Kendall also mentioned one area where he would like to receive more aid from lawmakers: legislation that can help the department recruit and retain talent. “If Congress could help us with that, that’s great,” he said.