Section

Search Tags: Harris Corp.

Buying commercial in DoD: Pentagon struggles to stay away from customization

Last year, the Pentagon spent nearly $75 billion on acquisitions of commercial items, more than double the amount from five years ago. But the word "commercial" in DoD applies to a lot of products you won't find on any store shelf.

Tags: DoD , commercial products , technology , Network Integration Evaluation , John Morrison , Kevin Kelly , LGS Innovations , Alcatel-Lucent , Sean Varah , MotionDSP , Dennis Moran , Jacques Gansler , acquisition , industry , Defense Science Board , Navy , CANES , DJ LeGoff , Terry Halvorsen , Jared Serbu

Tuesday - 05/22/2012, 07:15pm EDT

Listen

Comment

Buying commercial in DoD: 15 years after acquisition reform

During the last Defense drawdown, Congress and the White House pushed the Pentagon to make smarter buying decisions in the hopes that it would save a lot of money. The idea was to have the military buy many products the same way businesses do. A decade and a half later, DoD now spends tens of billions of dollars a year under the commercialized models Congress set up. In a two-part, exclusive report, Federal News Radio examines the debate underway over how well it has worked out.

Tags: commercial products , Bill Clinton , Al Gore , reinventing government , commercial of a type , Shay Assad , Clinger-Cohen Act , William Clinger , Federal Acquisition Streamling Act , Susan Lawrence , Army , Network Integration Evaluation , Navy , CANES , Coast Guard , John Korn , DoD , Aquisitions , Scott Amey , Project on Government Oversight , Defense Service Board , William Perry , Dennis Moran , Jared Serbu , Nett Warrior