Four senior members of the House Armed Services Committee are pushing for the Pentagon to speed up its modernization efforts.

“Though increasing authorities have been given to DOD, it continues to struggle to adapt and pivot at the same rate as some competitors,” Reps. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), Adam Smith (D-Wash.), Don Bacon (R-Neb.) and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) wrote in a Military Times op-ed.

Rogers and Smith lead the Armed Services Committee. Bacon and Khanna lead its Subcommittee on Cyber, Information Technologies and Innovation.

The members identified roadblocks that DOD acquisitions managers face within the department and also said Congress needs to be a better partner with more consistent and flexible appropriations, among other ways.

“We have the most innovative economy in the world. We have the best universities, capital markets and entrepreneurial spirit,” they wrote. “It is our duty to make sure the government can access that unmatched advantage in an effective way to give our military what it needs to meet our national security needs.”

Army photo from Association of the U.S. Army expo by Bernardo Fuller