Fiscal 2011 National Defense Authorization Act
At the end of May, the House of Representatives passed the fiscal 2011 defense authorization bill (H.R. 5136), that contains $567 billion in budget authority for DOD. It includes, despite administration opposition and the threat of a presidential veto, $435 million in funding for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter alternate engine program, as well as numerous acquisition policy provisions of interest to industry.
The House picked up the acquisition policy language originally contained in the IMPROVE Acquisition Act (H.R. 5013), which was a result of recommendations made in the report of the Panel on Defense Acquisition Reform, and additional floor amendments focused on acquisition reform.
Among other things, these provisions include: 1) a requirement for potential federal contractors and grantees to submit certifications as to whether they have a seriously delinquent tax debt (defined as a debt exceeding $3,000); 2) a mandate that DOD undertake audit reviews of contractor business systems using GAO-accepted auditing standards; 3) a requirement that cost or price be given at least equal importance in evaluating competitive proposals for DOD contracts; 4) a prohibition on DOD establishing “any arbitrary goals or targets” in implementing its insourcing initiative; and 5) provisions aimed at the development and management of a professional acquisition workforce.
On the Senate side, the Armed Services Committee has approved its version of the authorization bill (S. 3454) authorizing $548.9 billion in DOD budget authority. The Senate measure includes a number of provisions aimed at improving contractor oversight and streamlining the acquisition process, some of which is an outgrowth of proposed reforms contained in last year’s Weapon Systems Acquisition Reform Act (P.L. 111-23).
As with its House counterpart, the Senate bill contains a section requiring the review and evaluation of contractor business systems to ensure that they are “adequate to protect the government’s interests.” Other acquisition policy changes include: 1) establishing a pilot program for the streamlined acquisition of military purpose items that have already been developed at private expense; 2) clarifying the government’s right to use technical data that is developed exclusively at government expense (when needed to ensure competition for follow-on contracts); 3) authorization for the Defense Secretary to take necessary steps to reduce supply chain risk in the acquisition of sensitive IT systems; and 4) provides $33.8 million to the DOD Inspector General’s budget to provide more effective oversight and help identify cases of waste, fraud, and abuse in defense procurements.
AIA will be submitting comments on the Senate bill prior to floor consideration and, subsequently, to the House and Senate members of the conference committee.
AIA Source: susan.tonner[at]aia-aerospace.org
