Defense Acquisition Rulebook to Go on a Diet A Defense Department task force proposes a crash diet to slim down the ponderous, 1,400-page Defense Acquisition Regulation Supplement. After months of review, the task force has recommended chopping 40% of the text out of the DFARS and revising an additional 22%. The task force was ordered to review the supplement with an eye to clarifying, simplifying and streamlining the rules governing DOD purchases. The review “developed 84 significant proposals and over 700 other recommended changes to the DFARS,” the task force said in a progress report released July 11. Those proposals will be vetted and new language will be published for comment beginning this fall. The task force said the proposals “call for significant changes that will reduce cycle time and administrative burden, clarify confusing provisions, remove extraneous procedures, streamline provisions, and create a more useful acquisition tool for both Government and industry.” One of the goals is “to provide freedom to manage at the lowest appropriate levels,” the task force said. It recommended that some approval authorities be granted at lower levels of management. The task force also recommended raising some dollar thresholds that trigger certain actions. The review is part of the department’s transformation initiative launched by Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. The task force report is available at http://www.acq.osd.mil/dp/dars/transf.htm.