Lisa Hershman, acting chief management officer of the Department of Defense, said in an interview the department is on the track to reach $6B in savings for fiscal year 2019, ABC News reported Saturday. Hershman noted that the DoD’s streamlining efforts for its projects and business strategies has enabled the department to save $4.7B in 2017 and 2018.
The Pentagon expects to experience changes in key areas such as acquisitions, contracting, healthcare, information technology and the defense supply chain under Hershman’s tenure. According to the CMO, her office encourages the department’s agencies to make their own assessments and identify areas of improvement. One of the efforts that resulted in less tedious work for the DoD include the modernization of the Defense Travel Service used by the department’s civilians and military personnel.
The initiative reforming DoD’s internal operations follows the department’s first-ever audit which reviewed over 144 projects and pointed to certain areas that need to be refined.