At Peace With Profit

The push to reform defense acquisition has not been a “war on profit,” and in fact has actually been positive for industry, Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics Frank Kendall said Tuesday at the Sea Air Space expo in National Harbor, Md. “We use profit to get better results,” he said. “If we can drive down costs and save 10 percent” but gain another point or two in profit, “That’s a great deal for the taxpayer,” Kendall said, which is why industry has done “reasonably well” in recent years despite the push to decrease defense spending. “There was a concern when we started the first Better Buying Power initiative that the Defense Department was waging “a war on profit,” Kendall said, “The data does not support that.” Kendall also offered a “short version” of the current Better Buying Power initiative in four bullet points: set reasonable requirements, put professionals in charge, give them the resources they need, and provide strong incentives to succeed.