In recent years, a number of observers have suggested that United States Special Operations Command (SOCOM) is generally more effective at acquisitions than the U.S. military departments, in part because of the perception that SOCOM has unique acquisition authorities. This report describes SOCOM's acquisition authorities for unclassified acquisition programs and compares these authorities to those granted to the military departments. It also compares the military departments' and SOCOM's chains of command, and the scope of acquisition activity and program oversight for those organizations. Finally, the report explores whether SOCOM has unique characteristics that influence how it conducts acquisition. The Goldwater-Nichols Department of Defense Reorganization Act of 1986 ( P.L. 99-433 ) reorganized DOD's command and control structure, in part by establishing the current construct and authorities of combatant commands. There are 10 combatant commands: 6 geographic and 4 functional commands. SOCOM possesses unique acquisition authorities when compared with other combatant commands. SOCOM was established and granted its own acquisition responsibilities in the Fiscal Year (FY) 1987 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) ( P.L. 99-661 ). SOCOM was the first combatant command endowed with acquisition authority and its own budget line for training and equipping its forces. The FY2016 NDAA ( P.L. 114-92 ) granted limited acquisition authority to the U.S. Cyber Command, making CYBERCOM the second command to have current independent acquisition authority. However, SOCOM's acquisition authority is more expansive. Title 10 U.S.C. Section 164(c) grants SOCOM authority to validate and establish priorities for requirements; ensure combat readiness; develop and acquire special operations-peculiar equipment and acquire special operations-peculiar material, supplies, and services; and ensure the interoperability of equipment and forces. These authorities are applicable only to "special operations-peculiar items." If SOCOM wants to acquire a weapon system that is not special operations specific, the acquisition must be executed through one of the military departments. The military services are responsible for funding certain types of SOCOM training, service-common equipment, and professional services. For example, the Air Force provides SOCOM with C-130s and the Army provides the ammunition for service-common weapons to include the M4. SOCOM, in turn, can modify these systems to special operations-specific requirements. Pursuant to statute (10 U.S.C. 167), SOCOM has an Acquisition Executive who has the authority to negotiate memoranda of agreement with the military departments to carry out the acquisition of equipment, material, and supplies; supervise the acquisition of equipment, material, supplies, and services; represent the command in discussions with the military departments regarding acquisition programs for which the command is a customer; and work with the military departments to ensure that the command is appropriately represented in any joint working group or integrated product team regarding acquisition programs for which the command is a customer. These statutory authorities enable SOCOM to manage and oversee its acquisition programs, to negotiate with the military departments for systems to be provided to SOCOM, and to have input into military department acquisitions when SOCOM will be one of the customers of the acquisition program. Special Operations Force Acquisition, Technology and Logistics (SOF AT&L) is the organization within SOCOM that leads internal major procurement efforts. The SOCOM Commander is directly responsible for all portions of the command and the Acquisition Executive (AE) reports directly to the Commander. Falling under the AE are the Program Executive Offices (PEOs) and Directorates. This direct chain of command allows for rapid communication on purpose, intent, and decisionmaking (see Figure 1 ). The structure's design is similar to that of the other services, which also follow a Secretary/Commander-AE-PEO-PM structure (see Appendix B ). One difference is that in the services, the Service Acquisition Executive reports to the Service Secretary, whereas in SOCOM the AE reports to the Commander. Internal to SOCOM, the Commander generally delegates acquisition decision authority to the Acquisition Executive. The Acquisition Executive in turn generally further delegates the majority of Milestone Decision Authority (MDA) to the PEOs. SOCOM officials have asserted that this delegation enables more rapid decisionmaking and accelerates the acquisition process. The method SOCOM uses for acquisitions is similar to the acquisition processes used by the military services: they share the same general statutory and regulatory framework; training and education opportunities (i.e., access to Defense Acquisition University and National Defense University); and DOD oversight regime. However, there are also significant differences, many of which relate to the size and scope of SOCOM and its authorities. Table 1 summarizes select similarities and differences. SOCOM's statutory acquisition authorities are more limited than those of the military departments. SOCOM acquisition authority is restricted to Special Operations-specific items, while the military services have the authority to acquire any necessary goods and services. When SOCOM does exercise its authority, it adheres to the same oversight and documentation requirements as the services. As James Smith, the current SOCOM Acquisition Executive, reportedly stated: We are absolutely subject to all of the same oversight and policy as the rest of DOD. Our workforce operates professionally within the same DOD 5000 directives, the same Federal Acquisition Regulation and the same Financial Management Regulation. I think it's important to understand that.... Give credit to our acquisition workforce for the results they achieve, and you might dismiss using USSOCOM as a benchmark for how to do acquisition under the assumption that we're somehow "different." In some instances, SOCOM may in fact have fewer acquisition authorities and flexibilities than the military departments, as in cases where statute specifically provides acquisition authorities to the military departments. For example, 10 U.S.C. 2216 established a Defense Modernization Account and granted authority for its use to the Secretary of Defense and the Secretaries of the military departments. Additionally, the FY2017 NDAA ( P.L. 114-328 , §2447d) granted a new reprogramming authority, referred to as a special transfer authority , to the Secretaries of the military departments in an effort to expedite the selection of prototype projects for production and rapid fielding. The FY2018 NDAA ( P.L. 115-91 , §809) required the Secretary of Defense to submit a report on the acquisition authorities available to the military departments that are not available to SOCOM, and to "determine the feasibility and advisability of providing such authorities to the Commander of the United States Special Operations Command." The regulations governing acquisition are found in the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) and the Defense Acquisition Regulations Supplement (DFARS). The DFARS provides DOD-specific regulations that government acquisition officials—and those contractors doing business with DOD—must follow in the procurement process for goods and services. SOCOM is not referenced or discussed in the FAR; the DFARS includes a brief definitional reference to SOCOM, defining it as a defense agency for the purposes of the DFARS. Each military service and many DOD components also have their own acquisition regulatory supplement that provides unique acquisition guidance. For example, the Army maintains the Army Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplements (AFARS) and the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) maintains the DLA Directive. SOCOM has its own supplement to the DFARS, known as the SOCOM Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (SOFARS). SOFARS Part 5601.101 defines the supplemental regulation's purpose as "provid[ing] the minimum essential implementation of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), and DOD FAR Supplement (DFARS)." SOCOM has also issued USSOCOM Directive 70-1, which seeks to set forth an overarching construct for acquisition, within the constraints of the FAR, DFAR, and SOFARS. There are no unique authorities granting SOCOM exemptions or waivers from acquisition requirements. The Office of the Secretary of Defense's issuances establishing policy, defining authorities, and assigning responsibility for acquisitions across all military services and defense agencies include The Defense Acquisition System (DOD Directive 5000.01), Operation of the Defense Acquisition System (DOD Instruction 5000.02), and Defense Acquisition of Services (DOD Instruction 5000.74). As such, SOCOM acquisition personnel are bound by and act with the same freedoms and restrictions as the military services and defense agencies. For example, all large DOD acquisition programs are given an Acquisition Category (ACAT) designation based on dollar figures and program scope. These designations determine the level of oversight required for the program. SOCOM and the military departments adhere to the same oversight standards and dollar threshold for categorizing programs. (For more information on program categories and dollar thresholds, see Table A-1 .) According to officials, SOCOM has a total of six programs that exceed the category II dollar thresholds. Currently, the Silent Knight Radar program, which is developing a SOF-common terrain following/terrain avoidance radar system for use in SOF fixed wing and rotary wing aircraft, is one of SOCOM's largest with a total estimated procurement cost through FY2023 of at $391.7 million. FY2017 actual procurement funding budget for the program was $34 million. In comparison, the military services have numerous major programs with significantly higher procurement appropriations. The Navy's 2017 appropriation for the Virginia Class submarine program ($5.39 billion) is 250% larger than SOCOM's entire FY2017 procurement appropriation ($2.08 billion). In FY2017, the SOCOM procurement appropriation was 1.5% of DOD's total procurement appropriation of $132.2 billion. See Table 2 for a comparison of the largest programs in the military services to that of SOCOM. The different size and scope of the acquisition efforts result in SOCOM having a substantially smaller acquisition workforce than the services.