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, and challenges. The audio has been republished on the Acquisition Talk podcast for your listening convenience. GMU senior fellow Shay Assad was the special interviewer, the former Director of Defense Procurement and Acquisition Policy.
Download the full-text transcripts
- 0:50 – Remembering Ash Carter
- 3:45 – Making an impact in national security
- 4:30 – Integrating wargaming and physics simulation
- 6:10 – Rapid Defense Experimentation Reserve (RDER)
- 10:45 – Defining tech transition
- 15:30 – Creating a SAP umbrella with allies/partners
- 20:10 – USD R&E collaboration with A&S
- 23:50 – Budgeting challenges, hurry up and wait
- 28:30 – Digital engineering for all new ACAT Is
- 32:20 – Venture capital and the APFIT program
- 36:20 – R&E’s impact on the JROC (requirements)
- 41:30 – Industry dialogues, 14 priority areas
- 46:30 – Workforce and Smart Scholar program
- 49:20 – Impact of continuing resolutions
Driving Requirements
Shyu discussed how she’s thinking about tying together warfighting, S&T, and program choice through a highly classified war room that ingests the latest intelligence on threat information:
In my mind, our decisions on our investments ought to be focused and driven by exquisite physics-based modeling and simulation trade space tied into a campaign level modeling and simulation… And then understanding the technologies we are developing, how does that change the outcome? If it doesn’t really change outcome — the mission — do I really need this or should I spend money someplace else that can give me a bigger bang for the buck?
This kind of analysis is intended to help drive which investments make it across the so-called “valley of death” into programs of record.
Since the split of AT&L, USD R&E has taken a seat on the Joint Requirements Oversight Council (JROC) which determines which types of systems should get fielded. Shyu said that she has been very successful impacting the JROC and the budgeting process to make sure her priorities don’t get left on the cutting room floor. Indeed, R&E has taken the lead to develop much of the analysis for the JROC to help make the decision. As a result, her priorities get money behind it. “I’ve actually had very significant impact on the POM,” Shyu said of the program budget process. “The areas that I identify as in terms of high priority get funded. So that just means you’ve had an impact.”
Tech Transition
One of the challenges of transitioning new technologies is getting on the same page with respect to what that means. Shyu notes, “when you ask what’s the definition of transition, everybody has a different definition.” Here are some of the successful ways Shyu outlined to transition tech:
- Most people think of transition as you went into a program record.
- It could be a piece of software that got into the hands of the warfighter right into a system.
- Develop something that’s dual-use and we buy the commercial system.
- If some other federal agency or international partner bought it, even if DoD may not have.
- Getting an advanced prototype from BA 6.3 into BA 6.4 accounts.
I think the first and the last are relatively close. Most efforts in the BA 6.4 accounts are programs of record, even if they do not have a fully specified Capabilities Development Document. BA 6.4 programs virtually have an entitlement to later phases of development, test, and procurement.
The second transition is a way “around” a program of record. In some cases, it could be continuing systems improvement of a legacy platform, and you’re putting new sensors, mission software, communications devices, or other components onboard to increase effectiveness. It could also be a standalone software that has been fully developed, and DoD can simply buy it on an as needed basis through software-as-a-service (SaaS).
Often, the SaaS approach may be similar to the dual-use approach. If DARPA, for example, funds the basic technologies and a company then turns it into a commercial product and “boomerangs” it back to DoD later when it reaches the scale to hit the compliance checkboxes, that could be a successful transition. But the issue is that DoD is late to the party. It was not an early adopter. Moreover, many defense-relevant systems that need to be built will not have commercial analogs.
If DoD invests in the S&T, and never ends up buying it on the back end, I consider that more of a failure than successful transition — even if another agency or nation buys it. There are plenty of RDT&E budgets in the National Science Foundation, NASA, and other agencies. The point should be to improve DoD capabilities, not create things for other purposes.
RDER and Budgeting
The Rapid Defense Experimentation Reserve (RDER) and the Accelerate the Procurement and Fielding of Innovative Technologies (APFIT) funds are two of the flagship efforts for timely transition success. Shyu has used these programs to fill the missing links to operating a joint force in a highly contested environment.
The second sprint of RDER is delayed until the second half of FY 2023 because of the continuing resolution — Congress did not pass appropriations and no new starts are allowed. The third sprint just made it through the Defense Management Action Group (DMAG) for scheduling in FY 2024. These efforts in FY 23 and 24 are baked into various budget lines for each of the services. Unfortunately, the lengthy timelines of the budget process means these experimentation efforts take a long time to get underway as well. Shyu comments on this budgeting process under PPBE:
Typical of the funding problem, this two year gap, you got to prove to me that this works. Then I will POM it. This is how the process works. It’s a two year POM. So hurry up and wait for two years. Don’t die on the vine and then we’ll come back and give you a contract. It’s just crazy how we do things.
… It’s crazy because threats may pop up that you didn’t anticipate. We need a lot more flexibility to be able to pivot. The rigid structure in which we shackle ourselves is just like tying our shoelaces together and try to run — that’s the best description I can think of. Why would you do things like this to yourself? Money is money.
I’ll follow up on a blog post tomorrow about the APFIT program, because that has some interesting nuances.
Thanks Heidi Shyu!
I’d like to thank Heidi Shyu for joining George Mason University and Defense Acquisition University at our annual conference this year. Be sure to listen to the whole thing on the Acquisition Talk podcast. Check out the video here. There was some press that covered the discussion as well: Shyu Says Wargames Define R&D Investment; New NDS Tech Document Coming (Air and Space Forces Magazine). Acquisition Next – Takeaways from the Fall 2022 government contracting conference (Assuring Autonomy Blog).
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