One such reform is a change to the way the government buys “commercial items.” Classifying an item as commercial reduces the government’s ability to ask for information to determine whether prices are fair or reasonable, based on the assumption that these prices would be shaped by market forces. But other proposed “reforms” might place the government at greater risk of bad deals. And if history is any guide, the policy changes proposed by Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) and Ranking Member Adam Smith (D-Wash.) will force the Department of Defense (DoD) and taxpayers to eat the costs of the new “efficiencies.” In fact, the contractors are actually trying to make commercial item buying less friendly to the government and taxpayers by gutting nearly all contract oversight protections and the release of some cost or pricing data which often results in paying excessive prices.Įveryone wants to see the government reform the way it buys things, including POGO, and some of the proposals in new legislation will improve acquisitions and save taxpayers money.
The Project On Government Oversight has received documents showing that some of the proposed changes to commercial-items pricing policies in the House Armed Services’ committees National Defense Authorization Act come at the behest of industry.
