House Armed Services Committee (HASC) Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) on Monday vowed further acquisition reform efforts in the 115th Congress, adding to significant reforms he championed in the last fiscal year.
Thornberry said lawmakers last year delayed implementing a reorganization of the Pentagon’s acquisition wing, formally known as acquisition, technology and logistics (AT&L), to give lawmakers more time to work through them. Thornberry said he looks forward to talking with Defense Secretary James Mattis’ team, once he has under secretary-level leadership installed, to talk about priorities such as innovation, proper leadership and implementing last year’s AT&L reforms. 
Thornberry said he intends, as he’s done the last few years, to introduce a separate acquisition reform bill outside the traditional defense authorization bill. He said this allows lawmakers and defense officials to give feedback, understand consequences and allow lawmakers to make adjustments.
“I really think on a topic that complex with so many moving parts, that has worked pretty well,” Thornberry, discussing the separate acquisition reform bill, told reporters on Capitol Hill.
Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) last year championed an effort to eliminate the position of under secretary of defense for AT&L and divide it into two positions: a new under secretary of defense for research and engineering USD(R&E), who would focus on technological innovation; and the renamed undersecretary of management and support, a key figure overseeing the business operations of the department. This proposal was staved off for a year in conference negotiations between HASC and SASC staffers.
Thornberry said he believes a $640 billion base budget is necessary to turn around the military’s readiness issues, including providing increased end strength and additional ships. Congress, in FY ’17, authorized a $611 billion defense budget: $524 billion in base spending plus $68 billion in overseas contingency operations (OCO) spending and $20 billion for national security programs of the Energy Department and other defense related activities.
Thornberry said he’s been in touch with President Donald Trump’s administration on these details and that he plans to provide a much more detailed analysis. This, he said, should give the Trump administration a head start as it will tackle both a fiscal year 2017 supplemental and the FY ’18 budget request at the same time in the spring.
Thornberry said the Trump administration vowed to submit a supplemental request within the first 100 days of his presidency. Thornberry added that HASC might markup its FY ’18 defense authorization bill a little later than April this year, but he said, hopefully, not too much later.