Gates to outline new acquisition guidelines

Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Ashton Carter, chief of the Defense Department’s procurement policy, are expected to speak Sept. 14 about new guidelines on Gates’ acquisition and procurement initiatives, the department announced today.

Related Stories

Gates details plans to slash DOD budget

Insourcing failed, DOD's Gates says. Now what?

Pentagon tightens reins on contractors

DOD officials have not officially released details on the guidelines. But in August, Gates gave a few details on plans to shave $100 billion from the defense budget over the next five years by spending less money. Among the cuts, DOD’s IT infrastructure and offices are on the chopping block. Gates intends to reduce funding for support contractor employees by 10 percent a year for the next three years.

In addition, the secretary said the plan to insource work from contractors has not yielded as much savings as expected.

“The problem with contractors is — and what we’ve learned over the past year — is you really don’t get at contractors by cutting people,” Gates said. He said contractors get the money from a contract and then hire as many people as they think is necessary to do the work. “So the only way, we’ve decided, that you get at the contractor base is to cut the dollars.”

In other acquisition reforms, Carter, undersecretary for acquisition, technology, and logistics, gave some ideas earlier this year on closing the budget gap. He wants to take aim at contracting activities, particularly at the different types of contracts, program costs, and the practices that surround them. He talked about cutting back on contracts that come with an award fee or incentive for contractors to do their work well. The Obama administration has worked to minimize these types of cost-reimbursement contracts throughout the government.

Carter also outlined plans to trim excess spending, while leaving open the repercussions for companies that don’t work to get leaner.

“This is about costs, not profits," Carter said. "We want to use profits as an incentive for the defense industry, an incentive for saving taxpayer dollars.”