On the recordApril 28, 2010
Not only do we want to increase the number of people working on solving this problem, we want to increase the quality of their work. So this bill provides for education and training. It provides for diversification of our workforce. It provides for the use of the best and the brightest to get the job done. The final aspect of this bill is to induce and provide more competition in the provision of goods and services to our Department of Defense. You know, somewhere in America today, there are probably a couple of people who are scientists on a college campus or who are working in a tool and dye shop somewhere in the country who have a much better solution to some problem than a person working for an immense defense contractor. Now, if the immense defense contractor has the best solution, that's what we ought to buy. But if the three people in the college lab or the five people in the tool and dye shop have a better idea, we need to get them into the competition so they can have their idea heard, have their proposal heard, and if it's the best one for the servicemembers and for the taxpayers, that's the one that ought to be chosen. We refer to that as broadening and diversifying the industrial base.
