The IMPROVE Acquisition Act that the House passed overwhelmingly Wednesday is supposed to cut costs and waste in Pentagon acquisitions. But two key experts say the touted benefits of the bill are likely overblown.

Jim Schweiter, a former House Armed Services Committee staff member and Pentagon official, said the bill is "much ado about a little more than not much."

"Many provisions direct [the Defense Department] to do things it's already doing of its own accord," he said. The bill may be "overprescriptive" and a clause that would require companies that apply for government contracts to disclose tax debt is likely to be revised substantially, said Schweiter, now an attorney with the law firm McKenna Long & Aldridge.

Peter Levine, counsel for the Senate Armed Services Committee, said that unlike last year's Weapons Systems Acquisition Reform Act, there is no companion bill in the Senate for the IMPROVE Acquisition Act. Therefore, Wednesday's vote was largely meaningless. The acquisition bill will most likely be attached to the larger Defense authorization bill in the House later this year, and only then would it be considered by the Senate.

Levine said that the House Armed Services Committee's bill is "a little bit of a mishmash of provisions" and that the Senate would have to go through it one item at a time. He also suggested that the potential cost savings trumpeted by Congress members probably are overblown.

"It's unrealistic to think you're going to cut [costs that much] without actually buying less," Levine said.

Levine and Schweiter spoke about the bill at a Coalition for Government Procurement conference Thursday.

Citing a looming budget crisis, the House passed legislation April 28 designed to force the military to be more cost-conscious when it buys a vast range of goods and services — from computers and software to lawn-mowing services.

The IMPROVE Acquisition Act could save $27 billion a year, said the bill's chief sponsor, Rep. Robert Andrews, D-N.J.

The act passed in the House on a 417-3 vote amid warnings from House members that the nation's huge deficit will likely mean that future defense budgets will have less tolerance for waste.

The measure would hold acquisition workers more accountable for the performance; improve financial management to enable the Pentagon to be audited; expand the industrial base to increase competition; and reward acquisition workers who save money and punish those who don't.

———

WILLIAM MATTHEWS contributed to this article.