DOD releases acquisition reports

DOD selected acquisition reports

Defense Department officials released yesterday their quarterly selected acquisition reports (SARs) required for major defense acquisition programs that are experiencing cost overruns or schedule changes.

The new reports cover the period from June to September and show an increase of more than $500 million in major defense acquisition programs. The total value of those programs is more than $1.2 trillion.

"The current estimate of program acquisition costs for programs covered by SARs for the prior reporting period (June 2003) was [$1.1 trillion]," the report read. "After adding the costs for new programs that were reported in the June 2003 reporting period, the adjusted current estimate of program acquisition costs was [$1.2 trillion]."

DOD officials must submit to Congress quarterly reports that cover programs with unit cost increases of at least 15 percent or schedule delays of six months or more. The total cost estimates provided in the reports include research and development, procurement, military construction and acquisition-related operation and maintenance. Programs that have not yet achieved their second milestones are exempt from the reporting requirements.

SARs also summarize the latest estimates of cost, schedule and technical status. The reports are prepared annually in conjunction with the president's budget and subsequent quarterly exception reports are submitted for cost or schedule overruns.

The Army's Global Combat Support System, one of the programs mentioned in the report, was removed from the major defense acquisition program list because the program was restructured to take advantage of available off-the-shelf technology. SAR reporting for GCSS will resume when the restructured program reaches its second milestone in May 2005.

Another program added to the SAR reports is the Warfighter Information Network — Tactical, which won approval for its second milestone in August. The network is meant to provide high-speed communications and real-time voice, video and data services to soldiers in battle. It will complement the Army's Future Combat Systems, the cornerstone of the service's transformation effort.

FCS, which entered a nearly $15 billion milestone phase in May, was also included in the reports for the first time.