Trump directs Pentagon to tee up major acquisition programs for potential cancellation
President Donald Trump signed an executive order Wednesday that could lead to the cancellation of major defense acquisition programs, boost the procurement of commercial technologies and shake up the workforce.
“Unfortunately, after years of misplaced priorities and poor management, our defense acquisition system does not provide the speed and flexibility our Armed Forces need to have decisive advantages in the future. In order to strengthen our military edge, America must deliver state‐of‐the‐art capabilities at speed and scale through a comprehensive overhaul of this system,” Trump stated in the directive.
The EO on “Modernizing Defense Acquisition and Spurring Innovation in the Defense Industrial Base,” directs Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Pentagon leadership to complete a comprehensive review of all major defense acquisition programs (MDAPs) within 90 days.
Any program more than 15 percent behind schedule, 15 percent over cost, unable to meet any key performance parameters, or “unaligned” with the SecDef’s mission priorities, could get the axe.
“The Secretary of Defense shall submit the potential cancellation list to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for future budget determinations,” Trump wrote.
After that review is completed, the Pentagon chief must provide the director of the Office of Management and Budget with a plan for reviewing all other “major systems” that aren’t categorized as major defense acquisition programs.
“It is the policy of the United States Government to accelerate defense procurement and revitalize the defense industrial base to restore peace through strength. To achieve this, the United States will rapidly reform our antiquated defense acquisition processes with an emphasis on speed, flexibility, and execution,” per the EO.
The directive also tasks Hegseth to submit a plan within 60 days to reform the Pentagon’s acquisition processes, including a preference for commercial solutions, other transaction authority, application of Rapid Capabilities Office policies, and other pathways to encourage streamlined acquisitions.
“Starting upon issuance of this order, and during the formation of the plan, the Secretary of Defense shall prioritize use of these authorities in all pending Department of Defense contracting actions and require their application, where appropriate and consistent with applicable law, for all Department of Defense contracting actions pursued while the plan directed by this section is under consideration,” Trump stated.
Trump also wants to update the “duties and composition” of DOD’s acquisition workforce.
Within 120 days, Hegseth — in coordination with the secretaries of the Army, Navy and Air Force, and component acquisition executives — must submit a plan to “reform, right-size, and train the acquisition workforce.”
The plan should include “restructuring of performance evaluation metrics for acquisition workforce members to include the ability to demonstrate and apply a first consideration of commercial solutions, adaptive acquisition pathways through the Adaptive Acquisition Framework, and iterative requirements based on the perspective of the end user,” as well as an analysis of acquisition workforce staff levels required to “develop, deliver, and sustain warfighting capabilities,” per the EO.
