Five new business initiatives approved - Department of Defense News Service

Program Manager, March-April, 2003

The Department of Defense announced today the DoD Business Initiative Council (BIC) approved five initiatives that will improve business practices and processes across the Department.

The approved initiatives focus on various requirements and processes and will positively affect business applications within the DoD. They include:

* Initiate discussions with the Office of Management and Budget and the Congress on revisions to scoring rules on capital leases (e.g., lease to own), so that budget authority and outlays are scored in ways more similar to commercial accounting practices.

* Study successful Share-in-Savings projects and use this research to develop legislative proposals to expand this proven technique.

* Review the joint travel regulations to obtain more parity between civilian and military travel practices and leverage best business practices to obtain volume discounts on commercial lodging.

* Work with the DoD Policy Board on Federal Aviation to improve personnel aspects of the military air traffic control process.

* Propose legislation that permits the full cost of travel to be charged to the appropriation current when the travel begins.

The benefits from the BIC-approved initiatives include streamlined business processes that will enable DoD military and civilian personnel to make better use of their time, the opportunity to avoid unnecessary costs in several functional areas, and the possible return of some Service personnel to deploying units. Several of the proposals require legislation prior to implementation and realization, of any efficiencies.

The BIC was launched in July 2001 to implement bureaucracy-reducing and/or money-saving opportunities in the business practices of the Department of Defense, which is core to Secretary Rumsfeld's broader "Battle on Bureaucracy" campaign. The council is presided over by Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Edward C. "Pete" Aldridge and is composed of high-level military and civilian personnel.

In approving the latest round of BIC initiatives, Aidridge noted, "the BIC will continue to bring good ideas forward for consideration. For the Departments business processes to improve, leadership must use teamwork and gain continued support and participation from the entire workforce."

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