US Air Force, WASHINGTON: The Air Force recently regained oversight authority on some of the acquisition programs taken from it more than 10 months ago.
The Department of Defense returned major milestone decision authority to the Air Force on 10 of 21 acquisition programs in January. The DOD had taken that authority from the Air Force in March, amid concerns over a service leadership void and Air Force acquisition practices.
At the time program oversight was transferred to the office of the secretary of defense, or OSD, the Air Force had no confirmed secretary, undersecretary or assistant secretary for acquisition. The service had also experienced issues on Capitol Hill over some of its acquisition practices, said Lt. Gen. Donald Hoffman, Air Force military deputy for acquisition.
“The Air Force has had a series of acquisition episodes regarding the management and oversight of some of our programs,” he said. “You couple that with the gaps in leadership and it is was prudent for the OSD to make sure that a clear message was sent that they have solid control of defense acquisition programs.”
It was determined by the then undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, Michael W. Wynne, that oversight for 21 Air Force Acquisition Category 1C programs would be moved to OSD.
Acquisition category 1 programs are the highest level and most expensive programs. Oversight for those programs typically rests with the services having the most interest, but it remains at the discretion of the OSD to take control of those programs when appropriate.
“They will let the services run programs unless there is a significant joint aspect to the program, there is a high mount of interest in the program or they want to keep control of it,” General Hoffman said.
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