Acquisition headlines
Roper Calls For New Air Force Planes Every Five Years; Recalls X Plane Days. A slice: “Part of Roper’s push is for what he called […]
Month: June 2019
The culture change associated with rapid acquisition
Francis: What is with all the science fiction references in all of these [software] programs? Star Wars, Kobayashi, where’d that come from? Lauren: Well, you […]
Should you apply “should cost” to research and development?
Mr. Chairman, before I discuss “should cost,” which is a complicated subject, I might, point out that as far as I know the Navy has […]
Capt. Mark Vandroff (ret.) on people, process, and delegation
I was pleased to have Mark Vandroff speak with me on the Acquisition Talk podcast. He served 30 years in the US Navy before retiring […]
The defense innovation ecosystem in one chart
Here’s a useful chart showing the defense innovation ecosystem all in one chart. Check it out a high-resolution image over at LinkedIn or download the […]
Rapid acquisition pathways for software — Sec. 801 (FY20 NDAA)
… the Secretary of Defense shall establish guidance authorizing the use of acquisition pathways… for the rapid acquisition of software applications and software upgrades that […]
The rush to obligate funds before fiscal year end
Throughout the acquisition community there is a strong cultural belief that if funds are not obligated, they will be reallocated to other projects or reduced […]
Acquisition headlines
“The Boeing T-X (which also saw Sweden’s Saab as a partner) was remarkable in not only was it a clean sheet design that triumphed against […]
John Nash on the virtues of parallel control
The basic idea is simple. Instead of having a single control unit sequencing the operations of the machine in series (except for certain subsidiary operations […]
The sustainment record of the first 360 delivered F-35s
Here are some highlights from the GAO’s April 2019 assessment of the F-35’s sustainment challenges (I will forego the indentation): ___________________ As of February 2019, […]
Unified cybersecurity standards, allowable costs, and whether it makes a difference
“We have a great deal of standards for cybersecurity. What we are lacking is a unified standard,” Arrington said June 12 during a webinar sponsored […]
Value based pricing and how the DOD misunderstands cost
TransDigm uses a value based pricing technique. What I mean by that is that the price of the product or service is based on the […]
How the Army budget process works
Contrary to what one might expect from the budget process, most of the actual horse-trading happens at a higher level inside the Pentagon during a […]
Why Raytheon and UTC don’t want to build weapons platforms
Neither company [Raytheon nor UTC] works as a platform producer, eschewing the production of aircraft or ground vehicles and instead focusing on the technology that […]
Acquisition Headlines
NDAA: HASC Doubles Joint AI Funding, Streamlines Software Buys. (Double to only $166.8 million, and the streamlining involves a “new acquisition pathway” with twice a […]