O n Feb.12, 2025, President Trump held a press con- ference in the Oval Office about recent initiatives aimed at reducing fraud, waste, and abuse in fed- eral government spend- ing. Defense contractors were specifically men- tioned as the president expressed his frustrations with their cost and sched- ule overruns. Almost two months later, on April 9, 2025, the president is- sued Executive Order 14265 in accordance with this objective. Regardless of where you are on the political spectrum, it is under- standable and reasonable to expect to receive a product or service within the cost, schedule, and scope con- tractually agreed upon by both par- ties. For example, as a homeowner, if you hire an HVAC or landscaping contractor for a product or service with a set price and deadline, you expect the contractor to deliver the product or service as agreed upon. Therefore, it is essential for contrac- tors to budget and pace themselves in a responsible way that ultimately meets the deadline. As a defense industry thermal en- gineer over the past 14 years—with roles ranging from an individual con- tributor to a technical team lead to a Cost/Control Account Manager (CAM)—I’ve observed that too many engineers disregard their budget and schedule constraints when executing an engineering task, to their CAM’s dismay. This results in cost overruns and schedule delays for the program, which hurt the program’s earned value
July-August 2025 | DEFENSE ACQUISITION | 41
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