Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin OKs Task Force Recommendations to Streamline FMS Process

Lloyd Austin, secretary of the Department of Defense and a three-time Wash100 awardee, has cleared a memo ordering agencies to implement the six recommendations by a tiger team to accelerate and strengthen the foreign military sales process in support of the 2022 National Defense Strategy.

The first three recommendations are improving DOD’s understanding of ally and partner requirements, enabling efficient reviews for release of technology and providing allies and partner countries with relevant priority capabilities, DOD said Tuesday.

The team also suggested the acceleration of acquisition and contracting support, expansion of the defense industrial base capacity and the need to ensure broad U.S. government support.

For instance, the Pentagon will develop contract award standards and metrics and created associated process maps to help track the FMS prioritization and award process as part of efforts to speed up the acquisition process.

The department also formed an FMS continuous process improvement board to facilitate the implementation of the recommendations, measure impact, provide accountability and explore areas to improve the overall FMS process.

In August 2022, Austin established the FMS tiger team to identify systemic challenges in the department’s FMS ecosystem and integrate feedback from industry, allies and partner countries to improve the process. Sasha Baker, deputy undersecretary for policy at DOD, and Radha Plumb, deputy undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, co-lead the team.

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