Upcoming acquisition events to join!

A couple upcoming events to be aware of, hope to see you there!

Acquisition Next: Artificial Intelligence Symposium

• May 5, 8:30pm – 2:30pm ET
• In person and virtual, register here
• Arlington Campus at George Mason University (see you in person!!)

Keynote:

• Dr. Kamaljeet Sanghera – Executive Director at GMU Institute for Digital InnovAtion
• Mr. William (Will) Roberts – Acquisitions Chief, Joint Artificial Intelligence Center, U.S. Department of Defense

The first panel, Buying AI: Industry Challenges, will discuss the challenges of AI procurement from an industry perspective.

• Moderator: Benjamin McMartin, Esq. – Senior Fellow at GMU Center for Government Contracting
• Dr. Shree Taylor – Vice President of Government Analytics & Innovation at Elder Research Inc.
• Josh Wilson – Senior Vice President of Services and Technology at LMI
• Alexis Bonnell – Senior Business Executive: Emerging Technology Evangelist at Google
• Kristen Summers – Business Unit CTO at Microsoft Federal

The second panel, Buying AI: Current Government Practices, will focus on current practices used by U.S. government agencies to purchase AI tools.

• Moderator: Dr. Jerry McGinn – Executive Director at GMU Center for Government Contracting
• Major Andrew Bowne – Chief Legal Counsel at DAF-MIT AI Accelerator
• Azza Jayaprakash – Counsel at Intellectual Property Cadre at the Office of the USD (Acquisition & Sustainment), U.S. Department of Defense
• COL Matthew Benigni, PhD – Chief Data Officer and Director, Data and Decision Sciences Directorate (DDSD) at U.S. Army Futures Command
• Deniece Peterson – Sr. Director of Federal Market Analysis at Deltek

Naval Postgraduate School Acquisition Research Symposium

• May 11, 3:30pm – 4:45pm ET
• Virtual, register here

Panel #09: Resourcing the Future Fight: Current PPBE Challenges & Opportunities for Reform

• Chair: Rear Admiral John Gumbleton, USN, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Budget (FMB)/Director, Fiscal Management Division, N82, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations
• Panelist: Dr. Stephanie Young, Director, Resource Management Program, RAND Corporation
• Jonathan Wong, RAND Corporation
  • Paper: Challenges of Enabling Innovation Under the Current Resource Allocation System and Opportunities for Reform
• Jon Schmid, RAND Corporation
  • Paper: Resourcing Capabilities for the Future Fight: Challenges of Supporting Cross-Cutting Military Capabilities in Current Resource Allocation Processes
• Eric Lofgren, George Mason University
  • Paper: Pathways to Defense Budget Reform

Here’s the abstract from my paper:

The Planning-Programming-Budgeting-Execution (PPBE) process is the most powerful system of incentives affecting acquisition management in the Department of Defense. It is the conduit to money. A key feature of PPBE is the program of record concept that relies on a multi-year planning process. Not only does the program of record hamper technology adoption through adherence to baselines, it creates barriers to interoperability by stovepiping program decisions. Many researchers have detailed the inadequacies of PPBE and the need for embracing a portfolio management approach that aligns with best practices found in commercial and international organizations. This paper dives deeper into the history of how the legislative and executive branches managed defense budget portfolios in the 1960s and before, as well as how PPBE upended those traditional processes. First, it traces the reduction in execution flexibility over time by documenting the budget structure and thresholds for reprogramming. Second, it examines criteria for effective oversight in the PPBE and portfolio settings. The paper concludes that execution flexibility in the form of portfolio budgeting is not only consistent with economic efficiency, it is consistent with United States traditions of congressional control.