December 09, 2009

CNAS Releases Brief on “Smart” Defense Acquisition Reform

The demands of rapidly evolving conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan coupled with intense fiscal pressure at home underscore the need to reform U.S. defense acquisition. The Center for a New American Security (CNAS) released today a new policy brief, Smart Defense Acquisition: Learning from French Procurement Reform, which examines the French defense reform process and draws recommendations for how to apply their best practices to our own.

Download the full policy brief here.

Smart Defense Acquisition: Learning from French Procurement Reform, authored by CNAS Non-Resident Senior Fellow Ethan Kapstein, highlights best practices of the French acquisition reform process, including streamlining the contracting process and increasing the government’s technical expertise by recruiting the nation’s top science and engineering experts.

“As President Obama seeks to reform defense acquisition, he should look to 'best practices' from beyond the Beltway,” writes Kapstein.  “Unbeknownst to most Americans, the French have developed an innovative approach to controlling the cost growth of the weapons they produce. The United States would do well to examine, and perhaps adapt, elements of this model.

Smart Defense Acquisition: Learning from French Procurement Reform, made possible by the support of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, is part of a larger CNAS project  that will explore the growing globalization of the U.S. defense industry and its potential consequences, both for the American manufacturing base and for U.S. national security.

Read more about the project here.