10 U.S.C. § 125a — Reform: improvement of efficacy and efficiency

(a) In General. The Secretary of Defense must take whatever action is needed to reform the Department, to make it work better and more efficiently, and to improve its ability to prioritize and weigh the costs and benefits of "covered elements of reform" (defined in (d)). (b) Policy. The Secretary must write a policy and issue guidance to carry out reform within the Department and improve its ability to prioritize and assess these reform elements. (c) Framework for Reform. (1) By February 1, 2023, the Secretary had to set up policies, guidance, and a consistent reporting framework to measure the Department's progress on reform — including categories of reform, consistent metrics, and a process for prioritizing reform activities. (2) This framework may address duties under section 125 of this title, section 192 of this title, section 2222 of this title, section 1124 of title 31, and section 11319 of title 40. (3) The Secretary must consult with the Deputy Secretary of Defense, the Performance Improvement Officer of the Department of Defense, the Chief Data Officer, the Chief Information Officer, the Director for Administration and Management, and the financial managers of the military departments while carrying this out. (d) Covered Elements of Reform. For this section and the framework required by (c), "covered elements of reform" may include: (1) business systems modernization; (2) enterprise business operations process re-engineering; (3) expanded and modernized collection, management, dissemination, and visualization of data to support decision-making at every level; (4) improvements in workforce training and increased capability to support and carry out reform activities and business processes; (5) improvements to decision-making processes that enable cost savings, cost avoidance, or investment in process improvements; (6) developing and using a uniform way to track and assess cost savings and cost avoidance from reform initiatives; (7) reform-focused research to improve management and administrative science; (8) tracking and using technology — such as artificial intelligence tools — to improve management decision-making; and (9) any other elements the Secretary considers appropriate. (e) Annual Report. At the same time the President's budget for a fiscal year is submitted to Congress under section 1105 of title 31, the Secretary must send the congressional defense committees a report — with detailed narrative justifications and comparisons between options — on (1) the reform activities, spending, and results carried out during the fiscal year the budget covers, and (2) the proposed reform activities, spending, and results planned for the budget's fiscal year and each of the next four fiscal years.