October 19, 2017

U.S. Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510

Dear Conferee,

You will soon consider in conference H.R. 2810, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).  On behalf of the more than one million members and supporters of the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW), I respectfully ask you to consider our views on the following provisions:

CCAGW urges you to agree to the defense procurement reforms based on H.R. 2511, the Defense Acquisition Streamlining and Transparency Act, that are included in the House-passed version of the NDAA.  Allowing the Department of Defense (DOD) to streamline its acquisition process through the use of commercial, competitive, and simplified online marketplaces, will help to expedite the defense purchasing process, while increasing transparency.  This language should be retained in the final conference version of the NDAA.

CCAGW urges you to agree to any motions made by House conferees to eliminate Sections 881, 883, 884, 885 and 886 of Title VIII, Subtitle I, “Development and Acquisition of Software Intensive and Digital Products and Services,” which are included in the Senate version of H.R. 2810.  These provisions promote costly sole source, government-based technology concepts over proven private sector solutions and violate long-standing technology neutrality procurement policies.  They also undermine the procurement reform provisions, subvert intellectual property rights, and threaten national security.

Although most of these provisions are limited to the DOD, Section 886 sets a precedent that could establish open source software licensing as the preferred method for software procurement throughout the government.  This potential snowball effect could expose the government to the risk of greater cybersecurity attacks similar to the recent Equifax data breach, and impinge on the intellectual property rights of technology companies that contract with the federal government.  It would also reverse the July 1, 2004 Office of Management and Budget software acquisition memorandum that requires federal software purchases to be technology neutral.  Conferees should remove these problematic provisions.

CCAGW also urges you to oppose any increase in F-35 Joint Strike Fighters (JSF) above the number requested by the Pentagon.  The Senate version of the NDAA proposes purchasing a total of 94 JSFs, or 24 more than the 70 requested by the administration.  The House-passed NDAA includes 87 JSFs, 17 above the administration’s request. 

The JSF program is currently six years behind schedule and approximately $170 billion over budget.  Any increase would add to overall costs, as the delivered aircraft would eventually need to be retrofitted with modifications that are still under development.  In FY 2017, members of Congress earmarked $500 million for four additional JSFs.  It appears Congress is on track to spend even more on earmarks for the troubled program in FY 2018.

CCAGW also urges you to incorporate the Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) into the regular budget.  Created in 2001 to fund the country’s military engagements abroad, the OCO was intended to be a one-time emergency supplemental.  However, over the past seven years, members of Congress and the executive branch have utilized the OCO to bypass the spending limit imposed by the Budget Control Act of 2011.  Much of the spending contained in the account in recent years is for nonemergency-related spending that could easily be incorporated into the regular budget. 

Finally, CCAGW is concerned with the overall budget figures in both the Senate and House-passed NDAA, which include between $30-40 billion more than President Trump’s budget request.  The House NDAA requests $632 billion for base defense spending and $65 billion for OCO, while the Senate version calls for $640 billion for base defense spending with $60 billion for OCO.  Increases over the administration’s budget request funds could increase wasteful spending at the DOD, and we urge you to exercise strict oversight of all such expenditures.

Thank you for your consideration of our views on the NDAA.  If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at (202) 467-5300. 

Sincerely,

Tom Schatz
President, CCAGW

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