Few defense firms closed due to Covid-19, and more industry impacts
Defense Contract Management Agency data shows that about 106 out of 10,509 primary Pentagon contractors are closed. 68 companies have closed but subsequently reopened. On […]
Month: April 2020
Armen Alchian’s radical proposal for military R&D — will we ever take heed?
When analyzed together, they confirmed the hypotheses that Armen Alchian had first made in 1953 about the dangers of applying systems analysis to weapons acquisition […]
Should the Pentagon look to Detroit-style or Hollywood-style markets?
With the microphone and with recording devices [for example], you can reach the whole globe. So, that’s a huge improvement in productivity of a singer. […]
Software tooling: The next technology high ground for interservice rivalry
… the U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command Software Engineering Center is taking on the challenge with an ambitious initiative known as the Software Engineering Environment, or […]
Acquisition headlines
DoD officials are extremely aware, almost to the point of paranoia, that even discussing the issue of NRO potentially being subsumed by the Space Force […]
What are the thorniest problems confronting Program Managers?
Two of the thorniest problems confronting PMs are: The length of time required to process procurement documents [and]… The length of time required to effect […]
Podcast: Defense management reform with Peter Levine
Peter Levine joined me on the Acquisition Talk podcast about his new book, Defense Management Reform: How to Make the Pentagon Work Better and Cost […]
Federal contracts for Covid-19 reach $300 million per day
Federal non-defense COVID-19 contract dollars saw a rapid increase during the month of March to an average of over $300 million obligated each day (Figure […]
Marc Andreessen says it’s time to build. But what’s standing in the way?
Medical equipment and financial conduits involve no rocket science whatsoever. At least therapies and vaccines are hard! Making masks and transferring money are not hard. […]
Financial managers: the “garrison in the conquered city” of the Pentagon?
The principal antagonist of the Joint Chiefs within the central defense organization was the Comptroller. Like the JCS, however, his office afforded an excellent illustration […]
Will bureaucracy descend on the Air Force ABMS program?
The Air Force’s ABMS is a family of systems intended to replace the command and control capabilities of aging legacy programs and develop a network […]
Acquisition headlines
U.S. judge puts Amazon challenge to Pentagon JEDI contract on hold. Amazon “likely” to succeed on protest started in November. Time for DoD to cancel […]
Is small business hurt by industrial mobilization? Lessons from WWII.
As a result of the impact of the gigantic national defense and war programs on our American economy, small business enterprise in the United States […]
Space industry proposal for sustaining companies through Covid-19
Safeguarding our national security space industrial base in the face of the economic downturn warrants proactive measures to inject funding and sustain critical commercial space […]
Podcast: The future of Navy software development with Lt. Sean Lavelle
I was pleased to speak with Navy Lieutenant Sean Lavelle on the Acquisition Talk podcast. He is the founder and lead of the iLoc development […]