Implementing NDAA Provisions - GAO Review

The 2019 NDAA (National Defense Authorization Act) contained a provision for GAO to review DoD's regulatory implementation of acquisition-related provisions between 2010 and 2018. There were about 180 of them. The purpose of the review was to determine how DoD implements acquisition-related  NDAA provisions in its DFARS (DoD FAR Supplement). Congress, of course, was concerned about the length of time it takes for a provision to go from law to implementing regulation.

After each NDAA is enacted, the staff of the Defense Acquisition Regulations System identify which provisions to implement through regulatory changes and which to implement through other means. Sometimes, rather than changing the DFARS, DoD can issue a 'class deviation' which allows its buying organizations to temporarily diverge from the acquisition regulations. Other changes can be implemented through its less formal PG&I (Procedures, Guidance, and Information) system.

GAO completed its review and found that on average, it took DoD about a year to implement an NDAA provision. In a few cases, it took more than two years. That didn't seem to concern GAO at all. The thing that did concern GAO was the lack of a mechanism to clearly communicate to Congress, industry, and other interested parties the status of regulatory or other changes based on NDAA provisions. Using only publicly-available reports and information, it is difficult for an interest party to find the implementation status of any given acquisition-related NDAA provision. As a result, interested parties are not always aware of what provisions have been implemented and when. This information is important for congressional oversight and to industry for planning and compliance purposes.

GAO recommended that DoD develop a mechanism to better communicate the implementation status of acquisition-related NDAA provisions, particularly those that direct a change or consideration of a change to the DFARS. DoD concurred with GAO's recommendation. It will be interesting to see how long it takes DoD to implement such a system.