Hi! I’m Eric Lofgren, and I created the Acquisition Talk blog and podcast in October 2018 to advocate for management principles in the Department of Defense that move beyond industrial age paradigms that were, oddly enough, adopted from the Soviet Union. On this site, you will find over 1,400 blog posts and links to over 160 podcast episodes about all aspects of the defense acquisition problem (particularly budget reform).
Why This Matters
With a new era of strategic competition with Russia and China, it is vital that the United States accelerate the acquisition process to expand capacity of key weapon systems as well as adopt new technologies and concepts of operations.
The point is to improve our deterrence posture and avoid war all-together. But that comes downstream from empowering the workforce so that they can take joy in responsibility. So that they can see themselves in their work. So that they are rewarded for creative problem-solving rather than burdened by compliance and process. The “Big A” acquisition system should reflect our American values, and when that happens, no adversary nation will be able to compete.
It currently it takes two years to approve a requirement, two years to find funding, and two years to get a company on contract. That is not relevant. Relevance is delivering capabilities faster than our adversaries and at the pace a conflict could require. For just one example of relevance in World War II, Henry Kaiser dredged the Santa Fe in three weeks, built a shipyard in three months, built the first Liberty ship in 120 days, and between 1941 and 1945 constructed 2,571 ships. That’s relevant! Today, the Pentagon cannot even move simple paperwork in that time.
PPBE is at the Core of the Problem
In my view, all this starts with the resourcing process — the Planning, Programming, Budgeting, Execution (PPBE) process. I am turning my research project Programmed to Fail: The Rise of Central Planning in Defense Acquisition 1945-1975 [full-text] into an eleven part podcast series. Check out the introduction here, or on your favorite podcast app including Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, or where ever you listen to podcasts! Some of my other key works are below.
Key Works
- Planning-Programming-Budgeting-Execution (PPBE) Reform
- Programmed to Fail: The Rise of Central Planning in Defense Acquisition 1945-1975 [full-text]
- PPBE Reform resources page [Link] and reading list [Link]
- Budget Reform: The Next Frontier of Acquisition Reform (NPS 2020) [Link]
- Pathways to Defense Budget Reform (NPS 2022) [Link]
- Execution Flexibility and Bridging the Valley of Death (GMU 2022) [Link]
- PPBE Reform video series (YouTube) [Link]
- #Make Industrial Mobilization Cool Again
- Series of blog posts on mobilization [Link]
- Effectiveness over Efficiency: Preparing the US Industrial Base for Mobilization (YouTube) [Link]
- Preparing the U.S. industrial base for mobilization (Government Matters) [Link]
- Munitions Data Analysis
- Data on DoD munitions and missile procurement FY 2001-2023 [Link]; Analysis of ammunition procurement [Link]; Year-to-year funding stability [Link]; Are munitions really ‘bill payers’? [Link]; DoD reprogrammed nearly $5 billion for munitions in FY22 in response to Ukraine [Link]; A brief history of munitions industrial base. [Link]
- Acquisition Next: A Playbook to Break the Industrial Age Paradigm [Link]
- Costing Programs and Pricing Contracts
- Updating the cost-based pricing model (Government Matters) [Link]
- Cost and Competition in US Defense Acquisition (ICEAA 2018) [Link]
- Pricing Innovation – Century-Old Cost-Basing Doesn’t Work (NCMA 2021) [Link]
- The end of accounting [Link] and How DoD misunderstands cost [Link]
- DoD management in the 21st century [Link]
- Principle investigator for studies on Cost Accounting and Certified Cost or Pricing Data for the Principle Director, Defense Pricing and Contracting.
My Journey
I spent 7 years as a consultant with Technomics, primarily sitting in the Pentagon for OSD CAPE working on cost data, program estimates, and economic analyses. I assisted other clients including the GAO, Canada Public Works, DASA-CE, and NAVSEA. I also have been a regular participant at the International Cost Estimating and Analysis Association conference, where I received 5 best paper awards including co-best paper overall in 2018.
I spent nights and weekends researching the history of defense acquisition for several years, eventually leading to a book project. In October 2018, I received an Emergent Ventures fellowship from Tyler Cowen to work at the Mercatus Center, George Mason University. In addition to finishing the manuscript on acquisition history, I started the Acquisition Talk blog and podcast. Between January 2020 and February 2023, I performed research at Mason’s Center for Government Contracting.
Starting on February 20, 2023, I took a new role at the Senate Armed Services Committee as a Professional Staff Member with the acquisition policy and seapower portfolio. This is one of the few opportunities that I would be willing to put on hiatus this blog and podcast. I appreciate all my subscribers and look forward to one day returning to this work with a newfound body of knowledge.