Washington, D.C. -- "One out of every five dollars the Pentagon spends to develop new weapons systems is to cover cost overruns; $296 billion dollars in increases above the original price," said Rep. Neil Abercrombie today as the U.S. House gave final approval to legislation that overhauls the Department of Defense acquisition process.  "The process for developing and paying for weapons has been badly broken for years and this Congress has taken a giant step to fix it."

Abercrombie, who chairs the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Air and Land Forces, cosponsored today's successful legislation, the Weapons Acquisition System Reform Through Enhancing Technical Knowledge and Oversight Act of 2009, and helped negotiate the final bill, reconciling differences between the House and Senate's version.

Abercrombie has been highly critical of Pentagon spending on future weapons in committee hearings, which oversees the operations and budget for the U.S. Army and Air Force, in speeches to the defense industry and in articles in national publications.

"Over the last decade, the government has outsourced oversight by paying defense contractors to manage defense contracts," said the Hawaii Democrat.  "The result has been a purchasing environment in which over-budget contracts are the rule rather the exception.  The average delay on a contract now approaches two years."

The Weapons Acquisition System Reform legislation:

• Provides for a presidentially-appointed Director of Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation at the Pentagon;
• Also provides for Directors of Developmental Test and Evaluation, and Systems Engineering;
• Tracks cost growth of weapons programs in the early stages of development;
• Requires greater oversight and scrutiny of troubled weapons programs that have raised questions;
• Promotes greater use of competition in the weapons acquisition process; AND
• Requires DOD to take steps to prevent conflicts of interest in the weapons acquisition process.

"The next generation of aircraft, ships, vehicles and weapons will have to compete for dollars and meet reasonable performance goals.  The Department of Defense and their contractors will have to demonstrate a more efficient and effective use of public dollars because with this Administration, this Congress, and this legislation, the days of unlimited Defense budgets are gone."

Rep. Abercrombie will be a guest at the White House tomorrow morning (Friday) as President Obama signs the bill into law in a Rose Garden ceremony.

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