How DoD Gets Money: A Primer on the US Federal Budget Process

The US federal government puts together its budget by way of a protracted, ongoing process. As the largest recipient of discretionary federal funds, the Department of Defense adds its own layer of complexity unknown to other smaller departments. This article explains how the process unfolds with its major milestones, players, and how they interact.

Rapid Fire 2012-02-13: Mobile Hotspots

• [Update] The US DOD released its FY13 budget request.

• Budget killer? With TRICARE costs spiraling, pharmacists and lawmakers are calling attention to the fact that the proposed merger of the USA’s only 2 national “pharmacy benefit managers” would not be good for TRICARE costs. If the merger is allowed by the FTC, it will be one more reason to push TRICARE recipients toward mail-order for drugs.

• In the UK’s House of Commons’ Major Projects Report 2011:

We welcome the Department’s better performance in controlling project-level cost increases, but remain concerned that total costs of the top 15 projects continue to rise for other reasons each year. Projects approved since 2002 have shown significantly lower overall cost growth than those approved before this date and since 2008 there has been no overall cost increase from project-specific technical issues. However, in 2010-11 the forecast costs to complete the 15 largest defence projects still increased by £466 million overall [DID: about $735M], and the Department continues to struggle to live within its means.

A note on variables that a Department cannot control: macro-economic factors such as exchange rate changes accounted for 38% of the 2010-2011 increase. Meanwhile the National Audit Office (NAO) reviewed the way the Ministry of Defence is handling reductions in the size of its workforce.