[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 12]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 16102-16103]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              COMPETITION

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. JO BONNER

                               of alabama

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, July 26, 2006

  Mr. BONNER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to talk about the value of 
competition in our Department of Defense acquisition process. Without 
competition in the acquisition process we have no choices. Without 
competition, innovation does not exist. Without competition we have no 
bargaining position relative to costs. Without competition the 
capability of our military stagnates.
  Some would argue that we must protect our industrial base. I would 
suggest that competition does that very thing. We live in a global 
economy and, when U.S. industry does not produce competitive products, 
our industrial base suffers. It is true in virtually every industry.
  If we are to continue to procure the best military equipment for best 
value the taxpayer dollar can afford, we must preserve the competitive 
process. In today's global economy that means we must not shy away from 
our allies' participation. Rather we should learn the lessons of the 
commercial sector and embrace the value of their partnership.
  Ultimately, what does competition mean? It means a fair and open 
competition through an objective, quantifiable process. Secretary 
Rumsfeld for 6 years has espoused a capabilities based acquisition 
process. It is time to execute those words and follow the documented 
process.
  Air refueling is the key enabler to our global military might and we 
need to get the competition for the KC-135 Replacement program right. 
That means the Defense Acquisition System needs to prove that its 
selection process understands capabilities-based evaluation and 
appropriately weighs the system's key performance parameters. 
Otherwise, we'll never know whether the competition was a true 
competition and whether our warfighters have received the best possible 
capability.

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