Editing William J. Perry (section)

===Streamlining the military infrastructure===
Perry devoted much time to restructuring defense acquisition policy and procedure, pursuing measures on acquisition reform begun when he was deputy secretary. Six days after he became secretary Perry released a document that laid out a variety of proposed acquisition procedure changes, including simplification of purchases under $100,000; maximum reliance on existing commercial products; conforming military contracts, bidding, accounting, and other business procedures to commercial practices when possible; eliminating outdated regulations that delayed purchases; and announcing military purchase requirements on data interchanges normally used by private business to increase vendor competition.

In June 1994 the secretary signed a directive ordering the armed forces to buy products and components to the extent possible from [[commercial off-the-shelf]] sources (his phrase was "commercial state-of-the-art technology"),<ref>Perry, W. J., [https://elsmar.com/Cove_Members/Military%20Standards%20Conversi.pdf Specifications & Standards - A New Way of Doing Business: A memorandum by William J. Perry], published 29 June 1994 (republished by the [[SAE International|Society of Automotive Engineers]], 7 January 2001), accessed 14 September 2022</ref> rather than from defense contractors, signaling a major departure from the traditional "milspec" over 30,000 military specifications and standards that actually inflated the cost of military items.<ref name="Historical Office William J. Perry" />

In March 1996 Perry approved a new DoD comprehensive acquisition policy that emphasized commercial practices and products. Program managers and other acquisition officials would have the power to use their professional judgment in purchasing. The plan canceled more than 30 separate acquisition policy memoranda and report formats and replaced existing policy documents with new ones that were about 90% shorter. Perry considered these reforms one of his most important accomplishments, and saw savings generated by the new practices as part of the key to adequate funding of the military in an era of continuing tight budgets.

A token of the Perry agenda's power is the 1995 merger between [[Lockheed Corporation]] and [[Martin Marietta]]. The resulting company, [[Lockheed Martin]], is still as of 2024 the largest defense contractor on the planet. Another token is the third-ranked [[Northrop Grumman]] company, which was formed in 1994 when [[Northrop Corporation]] purchased [[Grumman Corporation]].<ref name="wall1">{{cite news |date=June 9, 2024 |title=Meet The Largest Defense Contractors On Earth |url=https://247wallst.com/military/2024/06/09/meet-the-largest-defense-contractors-on-earth/ |work=247wallst.com}}</ref>

In a further effort to save money Perry resorted to base closures and realignments. In May 1994 he and General [[John M. Shalikashvili]], chairman of the [[Joint Chiefs of Staff]], announced that Defense would go forward, as required by law, with a 1995 round of base closings. In doing so Defense would consider the economic impact on the affected communities and the capacity to manage the reuse of closed facilities,<ref name="Historical Office William J. Perry" /> and in March 1995 Perry released DoD's 1995 [[base realignment and closure]] (BRAC) plan, recommending 146 actions. He estimated that implementing BRAC 95 would bring one-time costs of $3.8 billion and net savings of $4 billion within a six-year period.<ref name="Historical Office William J. Perry" />