Warfighter Equipment Acquisition Reform (WEAR)
WEAR Objective: The primary objective of WPRC advocacy is to work with the Congress and Department of Defense on warfighter equipment acquisition reform initiatives that integrate lessons learned from new procurement practices, such as rapid fielding, into the Defense Acquisition System to improve life cycle management of clothing and individual equipment, enable modernization during sustainment, and protect warfighter and industrial base readiness.
Summary WEAR Recommendations:
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Agencies should adhere to “Best Value” contracting for critical warfighter equipment that allows trade-offs between price and performance. This practice will encourage innovation and preserve the industrial base.
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Defense departments should increase visibility of warfighter equipment funding in their budgets where possible by moving funding from Operations and Maintenance Accounts (OMA) into procurement accounts. This will provide more funding certainty for industry to plan capital and internal research and development investments.
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Defense departments should maintain “unit level funding” to allow warfighter choice when sourcing mission-specific equipment. This will guarantee warfighters are always able to obtain commercial-off -the-shelf equipment when needed, and it will allow end-user ideation to help develop new requirements from the field.
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The Services and the Defense Logistics Agency should develop life cycle management acquisition policies to facilitate modernization through sustainment. This will enable continuous improvements and technology insertions to critical equipment items.