GovCon Expert Jim McAleese Details Congressional Actions on FY 2022 DOD Budget

Consulting firm McAleese & Associates has released a report on recent congressional actions on the Department of Defense’s budget for fiscal year 2022.

The Senate Armed Services Committee voted to approve and move the fiscal year 2022 National Defense Authorization Act to the Senate floor for consideration.

Jim McAleese, founder of McAleese & Associates and a three-time Wash100 winner, reported the Senate panel marked up the bill with $25 billion in additional funding, reflecting a 3 percent increase from the White House’s proposed defense budget of $715 billion for FY 2022 and bringing DOD’s topline funding to $740 billion.

McAleese said the additional funding would increase the Pentagon’s buying power by about 5 percent or $36 billion for FY 2022 before adjusting for approximately 5.2 percent 2021 inflation.

The House Appropriations’ defense subcommittee released a report in mid-July outlining its proposed $706 billion defense budget for FY 2022.

The House subpanel proposed $254 billion for DOD’s FY 2022 operation and maintenance operations, reflecting a 32 percent increase over the FY 2021 enacted level. DOD’s procurement budget under the measure is $134.3 billion, a 2 percent drop from the previous fiscal year’s enacted level, according to the McAleese report.

The bill would authorize $110.4 billion for DOD’s research, development, test and evaluation account for FY 2022, up 3 percent from the enacted FY 2021 budget.

McAleese said overall modernization accounts covering the Pentagon’s procurement and RDT&E under the House measure “remained flattish” at $244.7 billion.