Spending on defense falls into two broad categories: dollars that go toward combat capability, and dollars that go toward supporting combat personnel. The percentage of spending on military combat capability relative to support is commonly known as the tooth-to-tail ratio. Over time, the ratio of tooth-to-tail in the Department of Defense has become upside-down — more is being spent on tail than on combat tooth. For more than a decade, BENS has worked to reform the way the Pentagon buys goods and services and manages its business processes. Our projects, championed by individual BENS members in cooperation with our DoD client partners, seek to help the Pentagon budget better, spend smarter, and cut overhead.
