For the past 50 years, there has been a stable consensus about the benefits of competition in the Department of Defense. Unfortunately, infrequent “winner-take-all” programs, for example, favor large incumbents and often lead to de facto monopoly positions. Contracting practices, moreover, can reinforce barriers to entry and discourage innovation.
… The time is ripe for a change in approach rather than a new set of reforms. What is needed now is a change in mindset, a paradigm shift in approaching defense acquisition. “Instead of incremental efforts or end-runs around the system, we should change how we think about defense acquisition,” said Center for Government Contracting Executive Director Jerry McGinn. The center has produced a video that describes how traditional DOD contracting practices, developed for industrial age processes, fall short in today’s information-age environment.
This study has been facilitated by generous donations in support of defense acquisition research from the Common Mission Project and a group of leading companies in defense technology: Anduril, BMNT Inc., Improbable, Scale, Balius Partners, and GoTenna. The Common Mission Project is a nonprofit dedicated to creating a global network of mission driven entrepreneurs driven to solve the critical challenges of our time—from national security to natural disasters, from energy to the environment.
That was from a press release from George Mason University’s Center for Government Contracting, “Facilitating a Paradigm Shift: An Acquisition Playbook for the Information Age.” Be sure to watch the whole video embedded below. Please contact me if: (1) you would like to know more about the effort; (2) if you would like to participate and share your insights; or (3) if there’s someone you recommend we talk to. We plan to conduct a series of interviews between February and July of 2021.
Contact me: Lofgren.e.m@gmail.com or ELofgren@gmu.edu
Best of luck. The tough part has always been changing the culture especially the Frozen Middle.