Moving the Ball Forward on Acquisition Reform

Censeo Managing Director Jeff Jeffress participated in a discussion on defense acquisition reform at Brookings. This article was originally published by Brookings’ Michael E. O’Hanlon in The Brookings Institute’s National Security Industrial Base Series.

These days, at the Pentagon and on Capitol Hill, reform in the way the Pentagon buys weaponry remains a hot topic. Under Secretary of Defense Frank Kendall released his “Better Buying Power 3.0” vision for improvements in how the Department of Defense acquires weaponry, Chairmen Thornberry and McCain of the House and Senate Armed Services committees are leading the way on respective bills to change legal code for such acquisitions, and industry as well as many other actors and voices are pushing their ideas.

On June 10, Brookings convened a group of some 20 specialists from the think tank world, industry, and government circles to discuss various ideas for moving forward. Some of the ideas expressed in the discussion are summarized here, according to Chatham House rules, by which the comments of specific individuals are not revealed but the general substance of the conversation is conveyed. Jeff Jeffress of Censeo Consulting Group helped me kick off the discussion; a wide range of other viewpoints were added to the mix as well.

Read the full article here: http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/up-front/posts/2015/06/10-acquisition-reform-ohanlon.