By Angela Styles and Robert Wagman (December 12, 2017, 7:21 PM EST) -- For the first time since the early 1990s, when Congress overhauled federal contracting through the federal acquisition reform and federal acquisition streamlining, House and Senate authorizers exhibited a bold willingness to simplify federal purchases of commercial products and services. While many of the proposed provisions, from direct online purchasing to the wholesale elimination of regulations, were removed or modified during conference, the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act, signed by the president on Dec. 12, 2017, made measurable strides forward and signaled a willingness to remove the regulatory burdens facing government purchasers and commercial companies. The NDAA also included some warning shots about U.S. Department of Defense's perceived lack of progress:...