Acquisition Policy, Technology, and Competitiveness Issue Area
Plan--Fiscal Years 1995-97 (Letter Report, 04/01/95, GAO/IAP-95-10).

GAO presented its Acquisition Policy, Technology, and Competitiveness
issue area plan for fiscal years 1995 through 1997.

GAO plans to: (1) evaluate whether the Department of Defense (DOD) is
retaining critical technology and production capabilities as downsizing
takes place; (2) assess whether defense conversion programs are
cost-effective; (3) evaluate the implementation of government-wide
acquisition reform legislation and identify initiatives to promote the
acquisition of commercial products; (4) analyze the changing nature of
foreign military sales and export controls over critical military
technologies; and (5) review DOD spending priorities.

--------------------------- Indexing Terms -----------------------------

 REPORTNUM:  IAP-95-10
     TITLE:  Acquisition Policy, Technology, and Competitiveness Issue 
             Area Plan--Fiscal Years 1995-97
      DATE:  04/01/95
   SUBJECT:  Defense conversion
             Commercial products
             Defense procurement
             Procurement practices
             Military downsizing
             Cost effectiveness analysis
             Dual-use technologies
             Defense capabilities
             Foreign military sales
             Export regulation

             
******************************************************************
** This file contains an ASCII representation of the text of a  **
** GAO report.  Delineations within the text indicating chapter **
** titles, headings, and bullets are preserved.  Major          **
** divisions and subdivisions of the text, such as Chapters,    **
** Sections, and Appendixes, are identified by double and       **
** single lines.  The numbers on the right end of these lines   **
** indicate the position of each of the subsections in the      **
** document outline.  These numbers do NOT correspond with the  **
** page numbers of the printed product.                         **
**                                                              **
** No attempt has been made to display graphic images, although **
** figure captions are reproduced.  Tables are included, but    **
** may not resemble those in the printed version.               **
**                                                              **
** Please see the PDF (Portable Document Format) file, when     **
** available, for a complete electronic file of the printed     **
** document's contents.                                         **
**                                                              **
** A printed copy of this report may be obtained from the GAO   **
** Document Distribution Center.  For further details, please   **
** send an e-mail message to:                                   **
**                                                              **
**                                            **
**                                                              **
** with the message 'info' in the body.                         **
******************************************************************


Cover
================================================================ COVER


National Security and International Affairs Division

April 1995

ACQUISITION POLICY, TECHNOLOGY,
AND COMPETITIVENESS ISSUE AREA
PLAN - FISCAL YEARS 1995-97

GAO/IAP-95-10



Abbreviations
=============================================================== ABBREV

  DOD - Department of Defense
  ABC - ABCDED

FOREWORD
============================================================ Chapter 0

The Acquisition Policy, Technology, and Competitiveness issue area is
one of the General Accounting Office's 35 issue areas.  Relying
heavily on input from congressional committees, as well as industry,
academia, agency officials, and other experts, GAO develops issue
area plans to ensure that our resources are directed towards the most
important concerns of the Congress. 

GAO serves as a source of timely, accurate information and unbiased
analysis for decisionmakers in the Congress and executive agencies. 
For each issue area, GAO's strategic plan describes the significance
of the issues, our objectives, and the focus of our work.  Our work
includes such products as reports, briefings, and testimonies. 

GAO's work in the Acquisition Policy, Technology, and Competitiveness
issue area focuses on policies and processes of the Department of
Defense (DOD) and civil agencies that are designed to make affordable
acquisitions as well as sustain the health, technological leadership,
and international competitiveness of the industrial base in a period
of downsizing. 

The principal issues in the issue area are

  -- ensuring the industrial and technology base is being
     restructured to best serve U.S.  security interests;

  -- examining whether defense exports are maintaining critical
     industrial capabilities and reducing unit costs of weapons for
     the Department of Defense (DOD) while retaining technological
     leadership and competitiveness; and

  -- evaluating progress and new initiatives in federal acquisition
     reforms and best/commercial practices for streamlining and
     improving acquisition processes and practices while ensuring
     public funds are properly spent. 

In the pages that follow, we describe our objectives and planned work
on these issues. 

Because unanticipated events may affect this plan, GAO's planning
process allows for updating the plan and responding to emerging
issues.  If you have any questions or suggestions about this plan,
please call me at (202) 512-4125. 

David E.  Cooper
Director
Acquisition Policy, Technology and
 Competitiveness Issues


CONTENTS
============================================================ Chapter 1


   FOREWORD
---------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 1:1

1


   TABLE I:  KEY ISSUES
---------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 1:2

4


   TABLE II:  PLANNED MAJOR WORK
---------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 1:3

6


   TABLE III:  GAO CONTACTS
---------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 1:4

7




                                     Table I
                     
                                    Key Issues

Issue                         Significance
----------------------------  --------------------------------------------------
Industrial base: Is the       The defense industrial and technology base is
industrial and technology     downsizing in response to declines in DOD and
base being restructured to    world markets. Mergers and acquisitions in the
best serve U.S. security      defense industry continue while major defense
interests?                    conversion and adjustment programs are funded and
                              implemented. Concerns remain over maintaining
                              critical production and technology capabilities
                              for future national security needs. Concerns are
                              also being raised about the value of and returns
                              on multibillion dollar federal investments in
                              conversion programs.


Technology and                As the defense industrial and technology base
competitiveness:              downsizes, pressures increase to export and
Is defense technology being   transfer more advanced, frontline weapons and
protected while promoting     technologies to maintain the base and jobs. The
competitiveness?              challenge is to promote exports that maintain
                              critical industrial capabilities and help reduce
                              unit costs of weapons for DOD while retaining
                              technological leadership and superiority.





Federal acquisition reform:   The Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act requires
Are DOD and civil agencies    GAO to evaluate the implementation of several
streamlining and improving    provisions' of the act throughout the federal
their acquisition processes   government. In addition, DOD has numerous
and practices while ensuring  reengineering initiatives and pilot programs
that public funds are         underway designed to further acquisition reform.
properly spent?               At the same time, defense acquisition and contract
                              management remain high-risk areas for misuse of
                              billions of dollars in public funds.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Objectives                                Focus of work
----------------------------------------  --------------------------------------
--Evaluate whether DOD is retaining       --Extent and progress in defense
critical technology and production        downsizing
capabilities needed for national          --Oversight and contributions of
security as downsizing takes place.       Federally Funded Research and
                                          Development Centers (FFRDCs)
--Assess whether defense conversion       --Technology reinvestment projects and
programs designed to preserve national    other defense conversion programs
security interests are cost-effective     --Extent of and need for U.S.
and identify opportunities for savings.   government support for defense
                                          exports
                                          --DOD's defense industrial base
                                          initiatives




--Contribute to effective policies and    --Foreign investments in U.S. defense
programs designed to maintain, promote,   and key strategic industries and
and protect critical defense              foreign countries' laws, policies, and
technologies while enhancing U.S.         practices in this area
international competitiveness.            --DOD's science and technology plan,
                                          priorities, and spending
                                          --Adequacy of international weapons
                                          development and data exchange
                                          agreements and U.S. export controls
                                          --Nature and effects of offsets
                                          connected with foreign military sales


--Evaluate implementation of government-  --Mandated government-wide evaluations
wide acquisition reform legislation and   of Federal Acquisition Streamlining
costs/benefits of new proposals.          Act implementation
                                          --Selected DOD initiatives to promote
--Identify best commercial practices for  acquisition of commercial products and
the acquisition process.                  apply best practices
                                          --Efforts to streamline DOD
                                          acquisition organizations

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

TABLE II:  PLANNED MAJOR WORK
============================================================ Chapter 2

Issue                         Planned major job starts
----------------------------  --------------------------------------------------
Industrial base               --Assess technology reinvestment projects
                              --Review Federally Funded Research and Development
                              Centers
                              --Assess defense industry downsizing
                              --Examine DOD's industrial base planning




Technology and                --Analyze the changing nature and effects of
competitiveness               offsets associated with foreign military sales
                              --Review foreign countries' laws, policies, and
                              practices regarding foreign investment in their
                              defense and key strategic industries
                              --Review export controls over stealth and other
                              critical military technologies
                              --Review international weapons codevelopment/data
                              exchange agreements
                              --Review science and technology spending
                              priorities




Federal acquisition reform    --Evaluate government-wide Federal Acquisition
                              Streamlining Act regulations
                              --Assess electronic commerce implementation
                              government-wide and its costs/benefits
                              --Develop baseline data to assess results of
                              selected acquisition reform initiatives at key
                              federal buying activities
                              --Assess government-wide acquisition work force
                              downsizing and efforts to streamline DOD
                              acquisition organizations
                              --Review performance-based acquisition management
                              --Identify and evaluate selected DOD and industry
                              initiatives to use best commercial practices




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

TABLE III:  GAO CONTACTS
============================================================ Chapter 3


      DIRECTOR
-------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 3:0.1

David E.  Cooper (202) 512-4125


      ASSISTANT DIRECTORS
-------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 3:0.2

C.  David Childress
Davi M.  D'Agostino
Les Farrington
John K.  Harper
Charles F.  Rey
Katherine V.  Schinasi
Cliff Spruill
Kevin Tansey
Charles W.  Thompson
Karen Zuckerstein

*** End of document. ***