NDIA Survey Chooses Top Issues for 2001.

Based on results of the government policy survey published in this space in September 2000, members of the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA) and NDIA's Government Policy Committee agree that national security is the most important issue facing the country in 2001. With that in mind, NDIA is pleased to present the 2001 Government Policy Agenda, a compilation of six issues of great importance to the defense-industrial base. They are described below.

1. A Strategy for the 21st Century

This past decade's reshaping of the U.S. military and the resulting peace-dividend led to significant reductions in both force levels and structure. However, there is recognition now that the U.S. defense structure needs additional resources to meet the nation's current commitments.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO), in September, noted an existing mismatch between U.S. defense resources, commitments, and the nature of those commitments. To that end, CBO estimates that the Defense Department needs an additional $51 billion annually.

The 2001 Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) is the immediate venue for recommending both additional funding for resources and a new formulation of our national-security strategy and policy in the 21st Century.

2. Sustaining Modernization

Today, U.S. active-duty military strength is at the lowest level in a half-century-less than half the size of the forces that fought the Korean and Vietnam Wars. Declining capability and reliability, because of aging equipment and scarce resources, is detrimental to national security.

Though the recapitalization process is evolutionary in nature, we must ensure that U.S. forces are properly trained, supported, and motivated. There also must be a balance between near-term and future readiness.

The defense budget needs to be increased to meet the projected shortfall in funding. Procurement reform must be implemented to streamline the acquisition process, best-value competition must be promoted, reasonable progress payments must be assured, and competitive sourcing must be employed.

3. Ensuring Readiness

Readiness remains a top priority as U.S. forces continue to be deployed around the world. Readiness instills the confidence that the nation needs to succeed in a wide variety of formidable situations. Today's challenge is to maintain this readiness edge through intense, frequent and realistic training of military personnel.

We support continued investment in both research and development and acquisition of training and simulation technologies to improve training quality and efficiency. We are committed to elevating the visibility of training as an essential element of readiness in the Office of the Secretary of Defense.

Readiness also demands that we have focused logistics capabilities that are robust, multi-faceted, efficient and responsive for sophisticated operations. To make this system work, the Defense Department should adopt a consistent core logistics methodology in order to control costs, improve workload efficiencies, and effectively leverage operations and support funding.

4. Implementing the Revolution

The Revolution in Business Affairs (RBA) has broad support at the senior level, but implementation remains uneven. Continued emphasis on education and training are critical to the success of this initiative. We urge that simulations be employed more comprehensively--and shared between government and industry--to encourage increased collaboration to meet today's complex system engineering and interoperability challenges.

We urge the new administration to support efforts to enhance civil-military integration in the acquisition process, utilize the base realignment and closure (BRAC) process to eliminate excess infrastructure, reform the A-76 process and the Civil False Claims Act, revise current organizational conflict-of-interest policies and refine past performance procedures and practices.

We urge unspent BRAC funding to be earmarked for force modernization. We oppose the proposed changes to the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR), concerning contractor responsibility determinations and cost principles.

5. Rationalizing International Trade

U.S. export-control laws, regulations, and processes require an overhaul to accommodate the realities of a global defense market that depends increasingly on commercial technology. A healthy defense industry is the keystone of sound national security.

We support the Defense Trade Security Initiative, which represents an important first step toward harmonizing the U.S. government's military export-control institutions with a global market characterized by numerous suppliers in Western Europe and elsewhere. Defense Export Loan Guarantee programs need to be strengthened. Direct commercial sales should be supported, and resolution of the World Trade Organization (WTO) challenge to U.S. exporters' use of foreign sales corporations is essential.

6. Revitalizing the Workforce

The national security workforce faces significant challenges, both in the public and private sector. For the public sector, an aging workforce means that the necessary talent for the future will not be available unless changes are made to the current civil service policy and regulatory system.

Because the workforce is in a downsizing mode, current systems do not permit significant employment opportunities for younger workers. NDIA believes that the pilot programs established in sections 1151-1153 of the fiscal year 2001 National Defense Authorization Act, offer opportunities to reshape the public sector workforce for the future.

For the private sector, the ability to attract new talent is directly related to the current business environment. Until there is a stable, reasonably growing business base, the defense industry will have difficulty competing with other sectors of the economy. We support additional and stable funding for research, development, and procurement. Improved business practices must be implemented. Favorable contract financing, tax policy reform and export control revisions are essential to the future vitality of the defense industry.