Getting out of an acquisition system based on predictability and compliance
Jared Serbu: You already have the problem of DoD having the build a budget that they are not going to execute on for another two […]
Blog Posts
The future of DoD’s Future Years Defense Program
Here’s Jeff Jordan on the a16z podcast: Back when I was at Disney I started in the strategic planning group, and one of the tasks […]
Acquisition headlines (8/9 – 8/15/2021)
Pentagon advances experiments with autonomous barges to replenish aircraft. (Nextgov) “Autonomous marine navigation company Sea Machines is the prime contractor steering the work. On Thursday, […]
If Congress doesn’t make multi-billion dollar weapon decisions, who should?
Senator Karl Mundt expressed it in hearings on PPBS conducted in 1967: We used to face the question: “How much should we spend for a […]
NASA, SpaceX, and the development of extravehicular space suits
In 2017, NASA decided to design, test, and produce xEMU [Extravehicular Mobility Units] suits in-house. As a result, the Agency would serve as the prime […]
When can DoD get by without competitive prototyping?
Pierre Sprey testifies before Congress in a 1971 hearing “Weapon Systems Acquisition Process.” … if we cannot afford to execute a program under competitive prototype […]
Podcast: The political-economy of defense with Russell Rumbaugh
I was pleased to have Russell Rumbaugh join me on the Acquisition Talk podcast to discuss some of the most fundamental issues facing defense management. […]
Acquisition headlines (8/2 – 8/8/2021)
Navy acquisition boss shifting programs to prep for project overmatch. (Breaking Defense) “It is my intent that all programs core to the NOA [Naval Operational […]
Space Force doubles down on budget portfolios, but must think carefully about the structure
“One of the things that we’re trying to do out of our office is to think about: How would we manage by portfolio as opposed […]
Coordination in the market, science, and acquisition
I am suggesting, in fact, that the co-ordinating functions of the market are but a special case of co-ordination by mutual adjustment. In the case […]
Why James Forrestal opposed creating the Secretary of Defense
I would like to emphasize, as far as my opinion is concerned, and I offer it in all humility, that there are no easy solutions […]
Navy’s plan for managing it’s family of autonomous maritime systems
The Rapid Autonomy Integration Lab (RAIL) is an effort out of the service’s unmanned maritime systems program office… “The vision for the RAIL is that […]
Acquisition headlines (7/26 – 8/1/2021)
Lawmakers want DoD to explore tech’s valley of death problem. (NextGov) “The proposals to be reviewed at Wednesday’s markup directs the Defense secretary to carry out […]
The Pentagon’s “innovation tourism” problem isn’t what you might think
Pentagon has increasingly articulated a desire to adopt the best of the commercial sector into the military. But a new report suggests the department hasn’t […]
GMU Playbook: Tailor the contracting approach to elements of the architecture
In this week’s blog post on Mason GovCon’s acquisition playbook study, we discuss a recommendation for government to partition contract tasks alongside the modular open […]