Section 809 Panel Releases Volume 1 Report and Recommendations

In the FY2016 NDAA, Congress created the “Section 809 Panel” to review and streamline DoD acquisition regulations to “improv[e] the efficiency and effectiveness of the defense acquisition process and maintain defense technology advantage.” On January 31, the Panel released its Volume 1 Report, which includes recommendations on a number of topics, such as commercial buying, contract compliance and audit, defense business systems, and services and small business contracting. (The Panel’s Volume 2 and 3 Reports will be released in June 2018 and January 2019, respectively.)

   

Many of the Panel’s recommendations are deep in the legislative and regulatory weeds, but could have far reaching effects—e.g., implementing a single definition of “subcontractor” to replace the 27 different definitions currently scattered throughout various statutes and regulations; bifurcating commercial items into commercial products and commercial services; etc. The full Volume 1 Report is worth a read for those interested in (and impacted by) DoD acquisition reform.

We will also be providing further analysis on our blog in the coming weeks.