The indispensable man of the Pentagon
Here’s an excerpt from Samuel Huntington’s classic 1959 book, The Soldier and the State: The principal antagonist of the Joint Chiefs within the central defense […]
Month: December 2022
How were projects selected for the APFIT fund to field innovative tech?
The Accelerate the Procurement and Fielding of Innovative Technologies (APFIT) fund was one of the bright spots from FY 2022. It provided $100 million to […]
Podcast: USD R&E priorities for defense tech with Heidi Shyu
At the 2022 GMU-DAU annual conference, the Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (USD R&E) Heidi Shyu joined us to discuss her priorities, approaches, […]
Problem areas in software and facilities modernization
Here are a couple interesting excerpts from former deputy Comptroller Don Shycoff’s book, The Business of Defense: Historically, procurement appropriations funded equipment for DOD support […]
Acquisition headlines (12/19 – 12/25/2022)
L3Harris Technologies to acquire Aerojet Rocketdyne for a value of $5.7 billion, after Lockheed Martin failed to do so. (Fl360Aero) “the acquisition of Aerojet would […]
Expertise in program management takes longer than three years
Here’s an excerpt from a 1970 congressional report by the Committee on Government Operations: “Policy Changes in Weapon System Procurement.” At the time, David Packard […]
How DoD’s budget process keeps it on the wrong side of the ‘valley of death’
Here is a slice from an article by Jared Serbu recapping a discussion with Jerry McGinn and myself: In fiscal year 1956, the Army didn’t […]
Why is there a reluctance to invest in shipbuilding despite record budgets?
There was an interesting exchange at the 2022 Reagan National Defense Forum where Senator Wicker was discussing adding funding for defense and shipbuilding in particular […]
Podcast: Managing Portfolios to Bridge DoD’s Valley of Death
I hosted a panel event with the the newly named Baroni Center for Government Contracting to discuss our recent report on how funding flexibility can […]
Acquisition headlines (12/12 – 12/18/2022)
Lawmakers aim to deep-six Pentagon wish lists. (Roll Call) “These wish lists have become the Pentagon’s primary tool to boost an already excessive top line, […]
What is portfolio management and how can it speed up defense tech insertion
Jerry McGinn and I joined Vago Muradian on the Defense and Aerospace report to discuss our recent webinar event with James Ruocco, Katie Wheelbarger, and […]
Length of DoD continuing resolutions and the inefficiencies created
A continuing resolution (CR) is a temporary spending legislation that allows the Department of Defense to keep funding activities despite starting the new fiscal year […]
DoD cannot wait for zero risk before scaling important technologies
One of the major ideas of defense acquisition is that programs of record shouldn’t begin until a full requirements and technical understanding has been accomplished. […]
NDAA page count has been skyrocketing, hits 4,408 pages in FY23
The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) is the big national security policy legislation. It is separate from appropriations which provides actual funding to program authorized […]
Acquisition headlines (12/5 – 12/11/2022)
Army chooses Bell V-280 to replace its black hawk helicopters. (Defense One) “Bell received a $232 million contract on Monday—the first installment of what could […]