White House guidance issued last fall is prompting the military, including a major Navy command that oversees multibillion-dollar shipbuilding programs, to crack down on expenses for travel, information technology, printing and other items.
Defense Budget Alert
March 29, 2012 |
Inside the Pentagon
March 23, 2012 |
Inside the Navy
The Navy is facing a $939 million shortfall in its fiscal
year 2012 budget due to fuel prices rising higher than expected, officials
acknowledged at a House subcommittee hearing last week.
March 22, 2012 |
Inside the Pentagon
The armed services are having second thoughts about the annual ritual of listing for lawmakers key projects not included in the president's budget request, a practice that last year produced a tally exceeding $1 billion.
March 22, 2012 |
Inside the Pentagon
The Pentagon is asking Congress for the authority to enter into multiyear service contracts with federally funded research and development centers in an attempt to be more efficient and cost-effective.
March 22, 2012 |
Inside the Pentagon
To mitigate challenges facing the defense industrial base, Congress should require the defense secretary to develop a strategy that provides insight into future investment areas, to emphasize small business programs in acquisition workforce training and to find ways to reward small businesses for good work, a congressional panel urges in a new report.
March 19, 2012 |
Daily News
The Defense Department plans to boost weapon system procurement spending between fiscal years 2013 and 2017, targeting military hardware purchases for annual average increases of 3.75 percent above inflation -- moves that would raise spending on new equipment from $98.8 billion in FY-13 to $122.8 billion by FY-17, according to a newly released Defense Department investment forecast.
March 15, 2012 |
Daily News
The Pentagon is asking Congress to ease rules requiring the department to report cost data for big-ticket acquisition programs that are nearly complete.
Current law requires the Defense Department to submit selected acquisition reports until a major program is 90 percent complete, but among a set of DOD legislative proposals sent to Capitol Hill in recent days is a call to terminate the requirement when programs are 75 percent complete.
March 15, 2012 |
Daily News
Cost growth in the lead ship of the Gerald Ford-class of carriers, CVN-78, has ballooned beyond $1 billion over the original estimate, Navy Secretary Ray Mabus told the Senate Armed Services Committee today. He added that the Navy plans to ask for legislative relief on the congressionally mandated cost cap next year.
March 15, 2012 |
Inside the Pentagon
The Marine Corps has clearly achieved audit readiness and should continue to audit its books going forward, according to the office of Pentagon Comptroller Robert Hale.
March 15, 2012 |
Inside the Pentagon
The Pentagon wants $37 billion for information technology in the upcoming fiscal year, which will see further data-center consolidation and increased cybersecurity as the department works toward the goal of IT "anywhere, anytime, any device," according to recently released budget plans.
March 15, 2012 |
Inside the Pentagon
Six Republican lawmakers have sent a letter to the head of the House Appropriations Committee urging that Congress only use overseas contingency operations accounts to fund emergency military operations.
March 09, 2012 |
Daily News
The Defense Department must make "tough" cuts to major investments to accommodate the huge cost of replacing Ohio-class submarines that provide nuclear deterrence worldwide, according to Pentagon Comptroller Robert Hale.
There are no easy solutions to the looming fiscal challenge presented by the Ohio-class replacement program, also known as SSBN(X), Hale told reporters Thursday at the Credit Suisse/McAleese defense program conference in Arlington, VA.
March 08, 2012 |
Daily News
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has established a new analytical approach for scrutinizing weapon system investment decisions in fiscal year 2014 and beyond, directing defense officials to look across service portfolios to identify redundancies and capability gaps in a process like one the Army has used in recent years to balance its modernization plan and terminate some projects.
March 08, 2012 |
Daily News
Despite a stern warning from the Senate Budget Committee chairman about the likelihood of more defense cuts that would not be as extreme as sequestration, the Defense Department is not planning for that scenario, Pentagon Comptroller Robert Hale said today.
Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND), during a Feb. 28 hearing, counseled Hale, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Martin Dempsey to come to grips with the likelihood of more cuts.
March 08, 2012 |
Inside the Pentagon
The Defense Department expects proposed multiyear procurement deals for two major shipbuilding programs to produce savings much higher than initial estimates from the department's cost assessment and program evaluation office, acting Pentagon acquisition chief Frank Kendall has informed Congress.
March 08, 2012 |
Inside the Pentagon
The Defense Department's highly publicized $3.4 billion budget figure for cyber-related investments does not account for unspecified classified funding the Pentagon is seeking from Congress for offensive operations in cyberspace, according to a DOD official.
March 08, 2012 |
Inside the Pentagon
The Defense Department's inspector general has begun looking into the Air Force's multimillion-dollar general ledger program to ensure its contracts are being administered in an effective and efficient manner -- a move drawing praise from Capitol Hill.
March 08, 2012 |
Inside the Pentagon
Additional defense spending reductions would force the Pentagon to institute fundamental changes in how the military services operate, according to the Defense Department's former policy chief.
March 02, 2012 |
Inside the Navy
Budget cuts to the military shouldn't hinder operations in
the U.S. Pacific Command as long as the Defense Department holds true to its
new strategy of focusing resources in the Asia-Pacific area, PACOM commander
Adm. Robert Willard told the House Armed Services Committee on March 1.
March 01, 2012 |
Daily News
Comptrollers across the military departments would have few difficulties implementing Congress' sequestration provision because the rigidity of those $500 billion in cuts puts the onus of applying them on program offices and personnel managers, not budget experts, an Air Force official said this morning.