Pentagon Programs Under Fire

Administration to review programs for budget, schedule overruns

Good morning!

The Administration continues to make cost-cuts a central focus of its efforts. The Pentagon has taken aim at government consultants, cutting between $4B and $5.1B (depending on the source) in contracts with Deloitte, Accenture, and Booz Allen Hamilton.

At the same time, the Administration has threatened to begin cancelling acquisition programs that are over-budget or delayed. By law, any program that grows by 25% over the estimate requires notification to Congress. Programs that grow by 50% are supposed to be terminated unless the SECDEF provides a detailed explanation outlining:

• that the program is essential to national security, that no suitable alternative of lesser cost is available;

• new estimates of total program costs are reasonable; and

• management structure is (or has been made) adequate to control costs

This law is called the Nunn-McCurdy Amendment and has been around for 43 years.

In an Executive Order, the President has directed a thorough review of any program …