House subcommittee hearing: DOD acquisition system 'too slow, too rigid,' witnesses say

WASHINGTON — The House Oversight and Reform Committee’s Subcommittee on Military and Foreign Affairs held a hearing to examine the Department of Defense’s procurement system and to hear witnesses’ proposals to accelerate defense innovation.

Committee leaders and witnesses said the existing acquisition process is slow, risk‑averse and discourages new entrants and startups from scaling technologies to the warfighter. "The acquisition system was born in the Cold War and fundamentally designed to eliminate risk," said Miss Boatner, vice president of national security policy at the Aerospace Industries Association. "The result is a rigid and lengthy system, which does not enable the flexibility or speed required by today's evolving threat landscape."

The hearing came as the Government Accountability Office published an annual assessment cited by witnesses showing DOD plans to spend at least $2,400,000,000,000 on its weapons portfolio and that it now takes nearly 12 years on average to deliver capability to the field. "DOD recognizes that the current acquisition system isn't keeping up," said Miss Oakley, a director on GAO's national security acquisitions team.…