Acquisition headlines (3/14 – 3/20/2022)
Cyber Command prepares to gain significant budget control. (Fed Scoop) “The fiscal 2022 National Defense Authorization Act gave the commander of Cybercom responsibility for direct control […]
Reducing uncertainty and discretion in development contracts
The market for defense R&D is imperfect and fails to provide a reliable mechanism by which the government can automatically secure performance at or near […]
Should organization follow programs, or the other way around? Issues in PPBE reform
The main points which will be stressed in the succeeding paragraphs are: first, that PPBS has been and is being oversold and, in some ways, […]
DoD needs to rebuild competency in hypersonic flight test
We need to move rapidly toward weaponization of hypersonics. We have already demonstrated that we have the technical understanding to address both the challenges of […]
Other Transactions continued growing in FY21, but will it soon level off?
Contracts using other transaction authority saw another year of growth in the Department of Defense, but only when excluding awards for COVID-19. Obligations unrelated to […]
Acquisition headlines (3/7 – 3/13/2022)
Show, don’t tell: Navy changes strategy to sell unmanned systems to skeptical Congress. (Breaking Defense) “Public discussions between the Navy and Congress over unmanned technology […]
When acquisition theory runs into funding realities
In unmanned maritime systems, the Navy’s learning curve and operational experience is rapidly accelerating… For example, Task Force 59 is challenging the process in which […]
Podcast: Opening programs to modularity and iteration
In this special episode of the Acquisition Talk podcast, we listen into an event that explores how defense programs can harness modern development practices. Center […]
How weapons become overoptimized to the point they become brittle
Here is Roland McKean, one of the founders of the DoD’s Planning-Programming-Budgeting system, who later in the 1960s saw the errors of what he helped […]
Space Force acquisition reorg moves in the right direction
Following a 90-day review, the head of Space Systems Command Lt. Gen. Michael Guetlein proposed a new structure built around five program executive offices: Assured Access […]
Acquisition headlines (2/28 – 3/6/2022)
Addressing DoD’s tech focus areas requires new approaches. (DoD) DIU’s Michael Brown at a Mason GovCon event: “We don’t start with requirements, which often dictates […]
The fractured nature of accountability in defense acquisition
I was talking to someone the other day quite senior in the acquisition arm of a service who was basically saying look — my role […]
How the Saab Gripen fighter can rapidly develop and deploy software
The ability to embrace change was one of the important factors taken into account while designing Gripen E. The fighter, with its smart split avionics, […]
Have irregularities marked the success of weapons programs in years past?
Jerry McGinn: … the Department of Defense is stuck with the ’60s approaches which requires three years to really plan and then program and then […]
CSAF Brown’s struggle against bureaucracy and why there’s resistance to top-down plans
CSAF CQ Brown’s desire to accelerate decision making in the Air Force — “accelerate or lose” — seems to not be going as well as […]