Washington for Builders #1: The NDAA Is a Process, Not an Event

Each year, companies go to Washington seeking to have something included in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

It is too frequent that they begin too late.

Although the NDAA will probably receive the most attention when the House and the Senate discuss it on the floor, many of the important decisions have already been influenced by months of prior work.

The process includes members' submissions, the President's budget request, posture hearings, the committees' drafting and markups, the bill's consideration on the floor, and, finally, negotiations between the House and the Senate.

For a company that wishes to promote a policy priority, understanding the role of the calendar is quite important.

Yet it is even more important to understand the decision points.

A successful NDAA strategy rarely consists solely of finding a Member of Congress willing to offer an amendment.

The appropriate means, depending on the objective, could be statutory language, an adjustment to the funding table, a reporting or briefing requirement, directive report language, or language expressing congressional concern or support.

The provisions of the House and Senate will still have to go through the reconciliation process. Language may be altered or discarded. Different committees might have jurisdiction over them. The Pentagon might have its own opinion. Eventually, the appropriators may have to supply the funds. Moreover, the person who is your most effective advocate in Congress might not be in the room when the final decision is taken.

That leads to a few principles I've found useful:

Begin as early as possible since opting to wait for floor consideration generally involves giving up some of your most effective opportunities to influence the result.

Get the appropriate type of vehicle. It isn't necessary in every case to use statutory language. In some instances, a reporting requirement, a briefing requirement, or a committee report is the better initial move.

Promote support among peers; having a House champion is useful, but bipartisan support, Senate interest, Pentagon or service branch involvement, and agreement on appropriations are much better.

Make it real back home. Jobs, facilities, supply chains, military installations, and capabilities in a Member's state or district can turn an abstract policy argument into something tangible.

Think beyond passage. The objective isn't to get your language into a draft. It's to produce an outcome that survives the process and changes something.

The NDAA has been passed every year for over six decades.

That makes it one of the most important policy tools in Washington for companies involved in defense and national security.

It is not a single moment in legislation.

It's a campaign.

And the companies that understand that distinction tend to be much better positioned when the window for action opens.