The House-approved defense authorization bill for fiscal year 2016 requires the Defense Department’s operational test and evaluation director to monitor acquisition program delays and cost increases associated with operational tests, Federal News Radio reported Friday.
Scott Maucione writes the provision would also require the director to look at industry practices when it carries out operational tests on missiles, weapons and other programs.
“Several studies, including the June 2015 Government Accountability Office study on DOT&E directed by the Joint Explanatory Statement to Accompany the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2015, have shown that such testing does not cause programmatic delays and cost overrun,â€Â said Michael Gilmore, operational test and evaluation director at DoD, according to the report.
“The value of such testing is abundantly clear when considering the alternative: discovering these problems for the first time in combat, when it is too late to correct them,†he added.
