Military procurement

Arms makers take on Pentagon's cost cop

Some of the nation’s leading defense companies are declaring war on a powerful enemy — an obscure Pentagon official named Shay Assad who has helped cut more than $500 million from military contracts with his aggressive scrutiny of their costs.

The industry’s tactics include blanketing congressional committees with proposals that would make it harder for Assad and his contracting officers to get detailed breakdowns of the companies' expenses, according to documents obtained by POLITICO. But Assad, the Pentagon's pricing director for the past five years, refuses to back down, saying: "We are going to be relentless in pursuing getting the good deal for the taxpayers."

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“That's the way it is,” said Assad, a 65-year-old Bostonian with the heavy accent to match. “If companies don't like it, people have an objection to it, we're not apologizing for it."