Senator McCaskill will push to head off military acquisition cost overruns at the start and will try to make three changes in the military acquisitions reform bill. that already is focused on reducing cost overruns on military projects., But Senator McCaskill says it needs to be stronger. One big provision is a requirement that the military order a prototype of any new weapons system to see if the machinery will work…before anything is bought.
But there’s a loophole that lets the military avoid a prototype if it’s going to cost too much to build. That’s not good enough for McCaskill. She says the Deepwater ship project is an example of how a prototype would have avoided a lot of trouble. The Coast Guard Cutter project she says has been a "textbook example of this mess." She also points to plans for a new Presidential helicopter built so the President would not have to duck when was getting aboard Marine One. She says the costs soared enough of control and the program has been gutted.
McCaskill is a member of the Senate Armed Services committee. She has been targeting cost overruns since joining the senate.