DOD Acquisition Official Sums up CR for Contractors: 'I get hurt, you get hurt'
By Tony Bertuca
InsideDefense.com
Nov. 21, 2019

Pentagon officials warned defense contractors today that Congress could be inching closer toward a yearlong short-term spending bill that could prevent the Defense Department from starting new acquisition programs.

Though stopgap "continuing resolutions" are commonplace, they typically don’t last longer than three or four months. But the dreaded "yearlong CR" is referred to in hushed and serious tones among defense acquisition officials and contractors. "I get hurt, you get hurt," Alan Shaffer, the deputy under secretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, said today at a conference hosted by the Professional Services Council.

"I think that there's an increase in the possibly that we will be faced with a yearlong CR," he continued. "A yearlong CR would have incredibly harsh impacts on where the department is trying to go."

Under a CR, the Pentagon, unless granted relief by Congress, may not begin any new programs or increase production rates. The DOD budget is also frozen at the level of the previous year.

Though the federal government has operated under yearlong CRs in the past, DOD has always been excluded.

Officials say that a yearlong CR for defense would be unprecedented.

"We're a going to put a lot of new contracts and new programs in jeopardy," Shaffer warned.

He encouraged defense contractors to speak to Congress.

"I can never suggest that you go lobby Congress, but if you have congresspeople go tell them how a yearlong CR will affect you because it will," he said.

Veronica Daigle, the assistant defense secretary for readiness, said that CRs, though common, are "never routine" for DOD, especially because the threat of a yearlong measure is always on the horizon.

"It's always dispiriting," she said.

Earlier this month, Defense Secretary Mark Esper said a prolonged CR would put the United States at a disadvantage in competing with China.

Shaffer echoed those concerns today.

"What happens if I lose a year right now because of a CR? You can't recover lost time," he said.

Still, DOD has started the fiscal year under a CR for 13 of the past 18 years and every year since fiscal year 2010, excluding FY-19, according to the Congressional Research Service.

CRS also notes that DOD has operated under a CR for an average of 119 days per year between FY-10 an FY-19, compared to an average of 32 days during the period between FY-02 and FY-09.

Meanwhile, the Senate voted 74-20 to pass a four-week extension to the current CR, averting the chances of government shutdown until Dec. 20.

The measure, which passed the House on Tuesday, must be signed by President Trump before midnight.