Acquisition reform act: the backlash has begun.

• Author: Erwin, Sander L.
• Position: DEFENSEWATCH

* It's only been seven months since President Obama signed the Weapon Systems Acquisition Reform Act of 2009. Both Congress and the administration heralded the legislation as a much-needed fix to the Pentagon's troubled procurement process.

Predictably, a chorus of disapproval already is being heard.

This is a bill that by most accounts was conceived with noble intentions--to rein in out-of-control costs of weapons systems and ensure the Pentagon does not waste billions on boondoggles. It also introduced important "organizational conflicts of interest" measures that restrict defense hardware suppliers from owning companies that also advise the government on weapons acquisitions.

"It is a thoughtful, bipartisan piece of legislation," says federal procurement attorney Robert A. Burton.

But military acquisition officials and contractors are privately moaning about the "unintended consequences" of WSARA. These critics say the law may inadvertenly exacerbate some of the problems it was intended to fix. The complaints most often heard are that WSARA duplicates existing regulations, adds fresh layers of bureaucracy and piles of new reporting mandates that could have paralyzing effects on a system that already is sluggish and unresponsive.

One particular source of unhappiness is the creation under WSARA of a director of cost assessment and program evaluation. The DCAPE is expected to provide independent cost assessments of major weapons systems to the secretary of defense. But several insiders who discussed the matter on condition of anonymity question the usefulness of this new bureaucracy and predict it will create unnecessary complexity. They argue that independent cost estimates already were being bandied by the program evaluation and analysis directorate (PA&E) and the CAIG, or cost assessment improvement group. The new office creates a chain of command that operates in parallel to the undersecretary of defense for acquisition, so there is much confusion at the Pentagon as to how programs are supposed to be certified and approved under the new regime, said one acquisition official.

"They are making it harder to deliver systems," he said. "At the Pentagon, they're having trouble figuring out how to implement the new law." A combination of confusion and fear of making mistakes is fueling paranoia and creating an environment where programs will see costs rise and schedules delayed, the manager said.

The programs that will be most affected in the...