That's been reduced to approximately 37, which is still too many. However, it's progress. The most used programming language for weapons systems in the third generation languages is Ada, and the second most used language in AIS is Ada. No one disagrees that we should use a 4GL or a 5GL when it makes sense. Soon no one will disagree that Ada is the language of choice.
Every mandate comes complete with a waiver system.
We can't seem to birth one without the other. Waivers to the Ada mandate have traditionally been handled by the individual services, and the services have published the waiver rules. Obviously, the life-cycle cost justification is a major piece of the waiver request. I remember one agency that tried that and within 24 hours we had 22 pages of backup data proving them wrong. If there are compelling reasons and the agency can justify the life-cycle costs of using a language other than Ada, the services will probably accept it.