Senate authorizers have rejected the Pentagon's legislative request to kill a congressionally mandated initiative aimed at fielding science and technology developments. In its fiscal year 2012 defense authorization bill, the Senate Armed Services Committee added $10 million to the Technology Transition Initiative. The Defense Department requested no money for this initiative, asking Congress to repeal the requirement for program on the basis that it is no longer needed. But Senate authorizers disagreed. "The committee believes that technology transition is important for innovation in defense weapons systems," Senate authorizers write. The committee also directed the Government Accountability Office to "conduct a study of the effectiveness of the various technology transition programs" within DOD. Due to Congress within one year of the law's enactment, this report was partially called for because of "the general importance of technology transition activities for the vitality of the defense industrial base," states the report accompanying the Senate bill. Senate authorizers also called for this GAO report because DOD's acquisition chief has failed to submit a report due in October 2009 that would "assess the feasibility of consolidating the various technology transition programs into a unified effort managed by a senior official of the department," the report language states.
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