The Senate has included a provision in its version of the 2007 defense authorization bill that would proscribe DOD to rewrite its acquisition regulations to include a “preference” on the use of fixed-price type contracts for system development and demonstration—in effect putting the burden to maintain cost upon contractors. The prime mover behind this change is Sen. John McCain, who will ascend to the chair for the Armed Services Committee should Republicans retain a majority in Congress. Defense analyst Loren Thompson of the Lexington Institute writes that McCain is driven to this approach out of “concern” that the defense is headed into a “contraction.”
DARPA Changing Directors Again in Third Recent Shuffle
Jan. 21, 2021
The Biden administration is reportedly tapping Stefanie Tompkins to run the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, spurring the third leadership change at the secretive Pentagon organization since January 2020. Defense One first reported Tompkins’s “pre-decisional” appointment to the post on Jan. 19. The White House did not respond to a…