00:00Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you all for your testimony today. Acquisition reform remains a highly relevant topic today as DOD is faced with an increasingly contested environment across the Indo-Pacific, Europe, and the Middle East.
00:16The defense acquisition system needs to be more nimble than ever before to rise to meet these global challenges.
00:23My first question pertains to the defense industrial base. Question. Under Secretary Duffy, what sectors within the defense industrial base do you currently assess as most fragile or high risk, and what data underpins those assessments?
00:39Thank you for your question. I will confess I don't have a holistic view of where the fragility exists in the defense industrial base, but I'm committed to finding, working with my team to holistically understand that, because I think that's critical to ensuring that we're allocating resources that Congress has appropriated, that we ensure that we understand where those greatest constraints and fragility exists.
01:05I can tell you that we are actively pursuing within the munitions sector solid rocket motors and looking at ways to expand the production capacity there. Certain microelectronic components can be a constraint.
01:20And we're also, because this is kind of a cross cut, we see a lot of interesting innovative ideas come in, in areas such as additive manufacturing and opportunities to improve how we're doing castings and those sorts of things, particularly within munitions, but really across the board.
01:41And Mr. Under Secretary, one of the greatest force multipliers the United States has is its extensive network of allies and partners across the globe.
01:50What are the department's plans to better integrate allied co-production or supply chain collaboration into the department's industrial base strategy?
01:59Well, I think the president has pushed a very strong message of self-reliance and part of that would be how do we assist our allies and partners with creating their own defense industrial base to supply their needs.
02:11So this is an area where I think we have a lot of thinking to do about how do we manage the complexity of technology exports, limited supply chains, workforce expertise, and partner with nations to share what we can without degrading our own operational readiness.
02:32And so within the department, I've got a partnership with Under Secretary of Defense Colby, who heads our policy office and our international partnerships.
02:42And we're dedicated to really thinking through how do we get after this problem in a way that really benefits the department and the holistic collective defense.
02:49Thank you for that.
02:50Thank you for that. And like a few of my colleagues here, I'm also interested in the right to repair issues and its impacts on acquisition costs and flexibility.
02:58In an April 30th memo, Secretary Hegseth directed the Army to incorporate right to repair provisions in all its contracts.
03:05This is a massive undertaking that raises other questions about the ability of the Army acquisition workforce to negotiate these provisions in a timely fashion.
03:15But my question to you, Under Secretary Duffy, is how do you plan on supporting and executing the Secretary's intent in your acquisition process?
03:22Well, I think that direction, as we've spoken about today, does maintain some flexibility on how do we pursue the data that is required to enable the sustainment of the system
03:34while still respecting the need to protect the intellectual property that's privately funded and is really an engine of the innovation that we are dependent upon.
03:45So I'm looking forward to working with my Army colleagues to understand how do we navigate that complex issue.
03:52And if I may, my final question, do you plan on excluding commercial items from right to repair?
03:58And if so, how do you see the impact, this impacting forward deployed forces?
04:04I'll have to get back to you on that. I don't think we've thought that, at least I haven't thought that through sufficiently enough to understand.
04:10But I'll just repeat the thought that I want to make sure that we're taking a balanced approach where we're respecting the intellectual property rights with the need for us to have access to information.
04:22Thank you, Under Secretary. Any gentlemen, anything to add?
04:26Sir, so from the Army perspective, I would just say that we're still in the process right now of trying to develop what that strategy is going to be.
04:33I would tell you that we've already leaned forward and we're essentially surveying the force and the fleet to try to get feedback to understand exactly where a right to repair issue has come up.
04:45And then it's a matter of looking at how do we then fix that with existing contracts and then moving forward, what is the appropriate level of access that we're going to have to have with new systems?
04:57So more to follow on that.
04:58Thank you so much. And I look forward to hearing back. And Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
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