US policymakers must avoid the same mistakes with China that they did with the Soviets
US policy makers tend to have this view of Chinese technology policy as being long-range, strategic, and top-down. We know that the most successful parts […]
Blog Posts
Acquisition headlines
Will Roper: Startup.mil to Startup.com? “Like the impeded response of Xerox to personal computers, Sears to e-commerce, or Blockbuster to video streaming, our military could […]
David Packard argues against progress payments
At the present time the Department has about $10 billion tied up in progress Payments. This has increased from a level of about $4 billion […]
CSAF says ‘Accelerate Change or Lose,’ but can he follow through?
… we must reframe platform-centric debates to focus instead on capabilities to execute the mission relative to our adversaries. Programs that once held promise, but […]
AI/ML business models
If you’re building just the infrastructure, just the tooling and the nuts and bolts, you look like a software company and somebody else deals with […]
DoD can’t do rapid prototyping like it used to
The Albacore lessons tell us exactly how to develop new technology: theorize, research, test, develop, refine, test some more and when you have a solid concept, […]
Podcast: Blockchain’s potential for government with SIMBA Chain’s Joel Neidig
Joel Neidig joined me on the Acquisition Talk podcast to discuss how blockchain technology can support the military across a wide range of use-cases including […]
What Palantir and Lockheed’s financials say about the GovCon business
Here’s a good piece from Simply Statistics on Palantir: At first glance it seems their doing pretty well. Their gross profit (Revenue – Cost of […]
Acquisition headlines
Leaders at Navy’s innovation ‘super-connector’ give advice for getting in the door. A few people have been confused on this point: NavalX does not buy […]
Upcoming Army xTechSearch event
On the main stage, 10 team finalists from the xTechSearch 3 Accelerator competition will pitch and demo their technology solutions aimed at tackling the Army’s […]
Reconsidering the DoD’s Soviet-style budget process
The Pentagon and North Korea are the last bastions of Soviet-style central planning left in the world. The Planning, Programming, and Budget System (PPBS) system […]
Commercial solutions openings as a path to continuous competition
A CSO-type general solicitation advances two core concepts: modular contracting and merit-based decision-making… Modular contracting is a proven strategy. IT projects that follow the strategy […]
An indictment of government acquisition
NASA is working on the constellation program, they’re trying to go back to the moon for example and eventually to Mars. Then you have SpaceX, […]
What the DoD doesn’t understand about markets
Most people in economics think of economics as being a largely positive, scientific approach to studying. More than that: It is a set of questions […]
Podcast: JADC2 and decision-centric warfare with Dan Patt and Bryan Clark
I was pleased to have Bryan Clark and Dan Patt join me on the Acquisition Talk podcast to discuss a range of important subjects including […]