WASHINGTON
—
A
key
defense
industry
organization
is
urging
the
Trump
administration
to
make
more
aggressive
changes
to
the
federal
acquisition
process,
according
to
details
shared
with
Breaking
Defense.
In
a
Dec.
2
letter
to
the
Office
of
Management
and
Budget,
the
Aerospace
Industries
Association
wrote
that
the
administration
has
taken
“significant
steps”
to
reform
the
Federal
Acquisition
Regulations
(FAR)
but
could
“go
farther
to
achieve
President
Trump’s
vision
of
faster
acquisitions,
greater
competition,
and
better
results.”
The
FAR
hasn’t
gone
through
a
comprehensive
overhaul
since
it
was
first
implemented
in
1984,
making
this
a
“once
in
a
generation
opportunity”
to
realize
the
administration’s
goal
of
speeding
up
the
acquisition
process,
said
Margaret
Boatner,
AIA’s
vice
president
of
national
security
policy,
in
an
interview
with
Breaking
Defense.
“We
think
that
they’ve
done
some
really,
really
great
things
in
there.
But
again,
this
is
a
really
rare
opportunity
to
attack
some
of
those
requirements
that
are
most
burdensome,”
she
said.
“That’s
what
we
try
to
identify
in
this
letter
—
where
can
we
go
further
in
streamlining
those
requirements
that
really
are
the
ones
that
add
to
the
timelines,
and
that
are
the
ones
that
disincentivize
certain
elements
of
industry
from
participating.”
Of
the
five
recommendations
listed
in
the
letter,
Boatner
highlighted
two
items
that
stand
above
the
rest
in
terms
of
the
impact
they
could
have
on
simplifying
the
acquisition
process.
The
first
calls
for
the
administration
to
streamline
the
requirements
for
industry
to
submit
cost
and
pricing
data.
Industry
has
long
argued
that
these
requirements
—
which
force
companies
to
disclose
information
about
the
cost
of
goods
and
services
so
that
the
government
can
ensure
pricing
is
fair
—
is
overly
burdensome
and
leads
to
some
companies
choosing
not
to
work
with
the
government.
The
revised
FAR
put
forward
by
the
government
tries
to
handle
this
by
directing
contracting
officers
to
“obtain
the
type
and
quantity
of
data
required
to
establish
a
fair
and
reasonable
price,
but
not
more
data
than
is
needed.” However,
AIA
argues
that
this
guidance
is
not
specific
enough
and
recommends
that
the
government
conduct
a
comprehensive
review
of
the
language
surrounding
cost
and
pricing,
which
would
allow
it
to
streamline
regulations
down
to
only
what
is
required
by
law.
“It
is
one
of
those
single
levers
that,
if
streamlined,
would
really
make
a
very
significant
impact
on
shortening
procurement
timelines
and
enabling
the
process
to
move
faster,”
Boatner
said.
The
other
critical
recommendation
involves
“allowable
costs,”
the
term
used
to
describe
what
costs
are
reimbursable
by
the
government
to
a
contractor.
AIA
contends
that
the
revised
FAR
does
not
“substantively
change”
the
current
framework,
which
forces
contractors
to
absorb
certain
costs,
thus
leaving
it
up
to
companies
whether
to
spend
their
own
funds
on
investments
that
could
improve
readiness
and
innovation.
For
example,
“there’s
lots
of
calls
from
Secretary
[Pete]
Hegseth
and
other
Pentagon
leadership
to
industry
to
be
able
to
surge
production,”
Boatner
said.
“But
industry
cannot
put
excess
capacity
costs
on
a
federal
contract.
We’re
literally
prohibited
from
doing
it.
So
it’s
very
frustrating
for
industry.”
In
the
letter,
AIA
also
makes
recommendations
aimed
at
enabling
the
procurement
of
commercial
products
and
maintaining
competition,
as
well
as
changes
that
could
make
it
easier
for
contracting
officers
to
understand
and
follow
the
new
FAR.
The
Trump
administration’s
FAR
overhaul,
triggered
by
an
April
executive
order,
comes
as
the
Pentagon
and
congressional
defense
committees
move
forward
with
their
own
acquisition
reform
efforts.
As
the
administration
enters
the
formal
rule
making
stage
of
the
FAR
overhaul,
AIA
is
currently
formulating
specific
language
that
can
be
implemented
for
some
of
its
recommendations,
including
for
allowable
costs
and
cost
and
pricing
data,
Boatner
said.
“We
would
love
for
them
to
bring
industry
in
and
work
on
these
two
problems
in
particular,
to
come
up
with
a
proposed
solution
set
prior
to
that
formal
rule
making,
so
that
we’re
still
leveraging
all
of
this
momentum
that
everybody
has
with
the
FAR
overhaul
to
make
really
good
progress
here,”
she
said.