One of the unintended consequences of the 2011 Budget Control Act (BCA) and its annual threat of sequestration-the automatic, widespread budget rescissions plaguing federal agencies since March-is the turnabout that will occur in the ratio of Defense Department procurement to research, development, testing and evaluation (RDT&E). According to analyst Todd Harrison of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments think tank here, since fiscal 1955, the ratio has averaged 2.1, meaning the Pentagon was spending more than $2 in procurement for every $1 of RDT&E. While the actual figure has fluctuated over the decades, it never fell below a fiscal 2006 nadir of 1.1. But under decade-long spending caps mandated by the Budget Control Act, that ratio will drop below 1.0.
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