CONSTRAINTS AND CONTROLS
PROGRESS AND PRIORITIES Overall, “I think we’re making progress, but we have a ways to go” in institutional- izing Carter’s Better Buying Power memo, said Frank Kendall, Acting USD(AT&L), in his keynote address.
“I’m getting a lot back from PEOs, PMs, and others on what they’re doing to drive down costs.” At the same time, Kendall said it is proving diffi- cult to get away from old “use it or lose it” spending habits, “but I think I’m making progress.”
“Punishing people for not spending the money … is debilitating in the extreme,” Kendall said. “That attitude has got to go away, but it pervades our system.”
The imperatives that should pervade acquisition, he said, are supporting the warfighter and protecting the future. Ken- dall cited China’s military modernization as a potential long-term threat: “Not that I expect a conflict with China anytime
FOCUSING ON EFFICIENCIES
Kendall shares his views on DoD’s efficiency initiatives, the path forward, and professional standards Nov. 1 during the PEO/SYSCOM Commanders’ Conference at the Defense Acquisition University, Fort Belvoir, VA. (DoD photo by Erica Kobren.)
soon, but they will try to expand their influence. We have been a force for peace and security for a long, long time, and we should continue in that role. That leaves us with the very difficult job of trying to equip our force and sustain it in a very tight environment.”
Kendall had been at Dover Air Force Base, DE, the day before his address to receive the bodies and the families of 13 troops and civilian employees of the NATO-led force in Kabul, Afghanistan, who were killed by a suicide bomb on Oct. 29.
“Those are the people we’re working for, to prevent more of those bodies from com- ing home,” he said.
The work of acquisition has its own harsh realities. Across program, portfolio, and commodity areas, “essentially every- thing is on the table right now,” Kendall said. “We’ve got to look at force struc- ture. We’ve got to look at lots of costs … even compensation.
“We’re not going to do anything dramatic on compensation,” he noted. “Secre- tary [of Defense Leon E.] Panetta has made very clear that we’re going to keep faith with our people.” At the same time, Kendall said, “I’m trying to protect our investment accounts, because our invest- ment accounts drive our capability in the future—whether we’re going to have tech- nological superiority or not and which areas we’re going to have it in.” Achieving superiority will require tough choices in S&T, modernization, and recapitalization, he said. “We won’t be able to do it every- where. We probably could never be able to afford to do it everywhere.”
But the fact remains, “about every 40 years, we have to replace everything. It wears out, and if you don’t buy enough stuff, you can’t do that. It’s a pretty sim- ple equation, and it’s the heart of that
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affordability equation.” Protecting the industrial base is another big part of the equation, Kendall said. “So there’s a lot of work to be done.”
Ensuring that the military maintains the contingency contracting capability estab- lished over 10 years of conflict is another high priority, Kendall said. “We have built up a system that simply did not exist before Iraq. … [We] have to institutional- ize that capability. This is not the last time that we’ll be engaged in operations some- where where we will rely on contractors. Kendall said the Commission on Wartime Contracting, in its Aug. 31, 2011, report (online at http://www.wartimecontract-
ing.gov), “didn’t do justice to all the great work that’s been done building up that capacity. There is waste there. There’s more work to be done. … But I think their failure to give credit where credit is due is unfortunate.”
A CULTURE OF EFFICIENCIES Better buying power is a powerful moti- vator in and of itself, Kendall said. “I’m a firm believer in a culture that is very conscious of … controlling costs. … It’s a fundamental part of our job to do that, controlling costs. We need a strong sense of stewardship of the taxpayers’ dollars.”
Whereas the acquisition community tra- ditionally has been motivated by getting contracts awarded and obligating funds, trying to get the best deal for the govern- ment should be driving the profession, Kendall said—“staying with a negotia- tion long enough to get a better deal, as opposed to moving ahead just to get something on contract.”
“It is a difficult job, but you do that upfront planning, you identify the places where you can hopefully reduce cost, you target them, [and] you set a goal for yourself. And then your performance is measured
Army AL&T Magazine
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