{"id":68695,"date":"2024-06-17T20:30:28","date_gmt":"2024-06-17T20:30:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2024\/06\/17\/pentagons-contracting-speed-lane-sometimes-no-faster-says-watchdog\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T01:06:42","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T01:06:42","slug":"pentagons-contracting-speed-lane-sometimes-no-faster-says-watchdog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/pentagon\/2024\/06\/17\/pentagons-contracting-speed-lane-sometimes-no-faster-says-watchdog\/","title":{"rendered":"Pentagon\u2019s contracting speed lane sometimes no faster, says watchdog"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Pentagon\u2019s fast-track pathway for buying equipment often doesn\u2019t move any faster than the normal process, according to a new report from the government\u2019s watchdog agency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gao.gov\/assets\/gao-24-106831.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">Government Accountability Office unveiled its annual report<\/a> on the Defense Department\u2019s buying practices, covering many of the largest items in the military\u2019s shopping cart, from aircraft carriers to intercontinental ballistic missiles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">GAO studied more than 30 of the most expensive items on order, costing a little more than $1 trillion. The total cost of those fell by about $1.7 billion since the year before, due to changes in inflation and a drop in purchases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Still, several of these big-ticket items are running above the contracted price. The estimated total may rise, the report warned, plus there are issues with speed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For the largest weapons programs still awaiting delivery, it\u2019s taking 10 years for the Pentagon to place an order and then receive the system. That\u2019s longer than the average noted last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But for programs that have started delivering, the delays are even longer. The average time, the authors found, rose from 8 years to 11 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Alongside these major programs, GAO also studied some meant to be smaller and more nimble. These \u201cmiddle-tier acquisitions,\u201d or MTA, work like a toll road alongside a highway \u2014 a quicker route for weapons that the Pentagon needs more urgently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The trouble is that the speed limit isn\u2019t much faster, the report found.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAlthough the MTA pathway was designed for speed, GAO found most MTA programs do not plan to implement leading practices to facilitate that speed,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">These programs are meant to reach the field within five years, according to the Pentagon\u2019s own guidance. However, GAO found some middle-tier programs are still following a \u201clinear\u201d process: five years for prototyping and another five for development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWhile the MTA pathway offers flexibilities to create efficiencies in the acquisition process, the warfighter may continue to wait years \u2014 if not more than a decade \u2014 for a solution that may ultimately no longer be relevant,\u201d according to the report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One of the core problems the Pentagon faces as it tries to buy weapons moving forward is purchasing software. Weapons, like technology more broadly, depend more on the lines of code that make them work. To avoid going obsolete, that software must stay up to date.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But the DOD struggles to buy this evergreen technology, and one of the reasons listed in the report is employees. The department doesn\u2019t have enough people who understand software, the report argued. Instead, many of the most software-intense programs in the Pentagon require the expertise of contractors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cDOD has taken initial steps to establish a cadre of personnel with software expertise, but its efforts are in early stages,\u201d the report said. \u201cWhile DOD expects to request more funding, as of March 2024, the cadre consisted of one federal employee with limited assistance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">GAO offered three main recommendations: strategies to make MTA programs move faster, clearer guidance on the Pentagon\u2019s software workforce, and the funding and goals needed for that workforce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The top deputy for Pentagon acquisition and sustainment, who has since moved to a policy role, partially agreed with the recommendations and said some may be included in the DOD\u2019s next update to its buying practices, expected this month.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The &#8220;middle-tier acquisition&#8221; pathway is running into some of the same issues affecting the Pentagon&#8217;s regular contracting process, a report 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By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Pentagon\u2019s contracting speed lane sometimes no faster, says watchdog - Defense News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The &quot;middle-tier acquisition&quot; pathway is running into some of the same issues affecting the Pentagon&#039;s regular contracting process, a report found.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pentagon\u2019s contracting speed lane sometimes no faster, says watchdog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The &quot;middle-tier acquisition&quot; pathway is running into some of the same issues affecting the Pentagon&#039;s regular 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