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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 , 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 , Harris Corp. , Jared Serbu , Nett Warrior

Tuesday - 05/22/2012, 07:39am EDT

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House drops DoD request to change definition of commercial products

The Pentagon says the way it buys certain commercial products has been abused for more than a decade. The Defense Department asked Congress to include new rules for buying commercial-of-a-type products, which are commercial in nature, but the military is the only or largest customer by far. Industry was pleased to see the House Armed Services Committee not include the change in the Defense authorization bill.

Tags: DoD , Better buying power , Professional Services Council , commercial-of-a-type , commercial products , acquisition , contracting , industry , Congress , Alan Chvotkin , PSC , Jared Serbu

Monday - 05/14/2012, 04:23pm EDT

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DoD faces struggles on path toward 'better buying power'

A year and a half after embarking on a strategy designed to get more bang for DoD's acquisition bucks, the Pentagon is still struggling to instill the idea that programs should be managed to what they should cost, rather than what they cost today.

Tags: DoD , acquisition , contracting , Better buying power , should cost , low price technically acceptable , Ashton Carter , Coalition for Government Procurement , Jared Serbu

Monday - 04/30/2012, 03:31am EDT

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Assad: DoD won't target contractor profitability

Shay Assad, the department's director of procurement and acquisition policy, said the department won't target contractors' profits, even as the Pentagon aims to make cuts. The Pentagon has said its concerned with cost reduction, not margin reduction.

Tags: In Depth , Francis Rose , DoD , DoD Report , contracting , acquisition

Thursday - 12/01/2011, 03:10pm EST

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DCMA leads acquisition 'revolution'

The Defense Department said it intends to not just rebuild its acquisition workforce in numbers, but also make sure those employees have access to new tools that will give them the insight they need to make good decisions.

Tags: DoD , DCMA , DCAA , NCMA , 2011 GCMC , DAU , acquisition , workforce , acquisition workforce , industry , contracting , pricing , Timothy Callahan , Jared Serbu

Wednesday - 11/16/2011, 07:04am EST

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Defense acquisition on road to recovery?

DoD addressing long-standing shortcomings, including hiring 20,000 acquisition workers over the next five years. Reforms of the 1990s big reason for procurement problems, deputy secretary says.

Tags: mngt , contracting , William Lynn , Rep. Michael Conaway , Rep. John McHugh , DoD , House Armed Services Committee , acquisition workforce , outsourcing