Hope and despair in government procurement.

• Author: Erwin, Sandra I.
• Position: Defense Watch

A group of Pentagon and contractor executives gathered recently to tackle a perennial problem: the Defense Department's procurement system.

It's crunch time for acquisition reformers as they face a July deadline to submit recommendations to the House and Senate Armed Services Committees. Lawmakers decided they will take another shot at fixing the seemingly unfixable Pentagon procurement system, and have asked industry groups to submit suggestions. They will consider proposals for the fiscal year 2016 defense authorization bill.

Several executives stepped up to the microphone to share their views from the trenches.

Everyone in the so-called acquisition community appreciates the latest congressional effort, but wonders how a new round of reforms will be more productive than past attempts. They have seen piles of band-aids put on the system with negligible results.

"I've been a contractor for 30 years, and I've seen things get worse and worse," said one participant.

The lengthy list of grievances is all too familiar to those in the business: Pentagon programs fail and nobody is held accountable, there are too many layers of supervisors that bog down the system, innovation is squelched rather than rewarded, and there is little to no incentive to cut costs.

Three decades of procurement reforms have had no noticeable effect on the performance of Pentagon weapon programs, but they surely have fueled industry cynicism.

"We are always on a 12-step program to reform. And we never reform," said another participant.

Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, who is overseeing the HASC review of defense procurement, said he is acutely aware of the skepticism about acquisition reforms. The committees are not interested in piling on new rules, he said, and are investigating why current laws and regulations have not worked as intended.

This congressional probe comes at a time when lawmakers worry that the Pentagon is not getting a good return on its acquisition dollars.

When Congress last passed sweeping procurement reform legislation--the Weapon Systems Acquisition Reform Act of 2009--the Pentagon's budget had reached record levels and the mood at the time was to crack down on procurement fraud and abuse. Military spending has since plummeted, although the cost of major weapon systems has continued to rise.

The Government Accountability Office credited the Pentagon for slight improvements in the performance of major weapon systems, but cautioned that trouble still...