Acquisition must align with individual responsibility, not program lifecycles
Jumping off yesterday’s post on a mixed strategy for acquisition, Arnold Kling argues in a different post that most people, including economists, see the success […]
Blog Posts
A mixed strategy for acquisition processes
Here is an interesting blog post from Arnold Kling on why natural selection in nature and human society always prefers heterogeneity: One question that I […]
Discovering where programs are on the productivity-to-team-size curve
Here is former China Lakes and Sidewinder missile inventor Bill McLean speaking with Congress in a 1971 hearing: Only in listening to the problem of […]
Venture Capital takes advantage of power-law distribution, should the Department of Defense?
Here is venture investor Steve Kim on data-driven insights from the Venture Stories podcast. We model that 30% of the startups that we invest in […]
Acquisition headlines (10/3 – 10/9/2022)
F-35 jet deliveries can resume following waiver for Chinese-origin alloy. (Reuters) The waiver, signed Oct. 8 by William LaPlante, the Pentagon’s chief weapons buyer, allows […]
The mismatch between acquisition and resourcing, 5000.1 and PPBE
Here’s a slice from “The DSARC and PPBS decision making process within DOD” by Goral, Frank Ivan. Monterey, California. Naval Postgraduate School, Dec 1979. Remember, […]
Podcast: Military uses of AI/ML in China and the United States
In this cross-over episode of the Acquisition Talk and China Talk podcasts, we have Greg Allen on to discuss progress in AI/ML, the military, China, […]
The defense industry and the road to nationalization
Here is a good segment from NPS Professor Judson after introducing all the process and people challenges of defense acquisition. It comes from a 1975 […]
Are multiyear contracts really a super-saver in acquisition?
Bill Greenwalt and Mackenzie Eaglen advocate for greater use of multiyear contracting to help solve supply chain troubles and pricing in an inflationary environment. Here’s […]
Acquisition headlines (9/26 – 10/2/2022)
GAO: Navy’s XLUUV undersea minelayer $242M over budget, 3 years behind schedule. (USNI News) “The service contracted in March of 2019 with Boeing to build […]
LaPlante, Shyu, Lord, and others will be at GMU/DAU Conference 2022!
We got a killer line up at the annual GMU/DAU conference including USD A&S Bill LaPlante, USD R&E Heidi Shyu, PPBE Commissioner Ellen Lord, former […]
What’s the proper role of the Chief of Naval Operations?
Here is a good piece on the organizational design of the Navy and the Chief of Naval Operations from Admiral Hyman Rickover’s 1974 speech, The […]
Consortia-based OTAs larger, but slower growing than stand-alone OTA
The same day I dropped the podcast on Stephanie Halcrow and Moshe Schwartz’s event on industry consortia, the GAO released its own report Other Transaction […]
Acquisition headlines (9/19 – 9/25/2022)
SDA a ‘model’ that could shake up all space acquisition: Calvelli. (Breaking Defense) ““They are building small, they are doing things on two-year [cycles], and […]
Rickover defends the parochial viewpoint
One common complaint about defense acquisition is that the services won’t coordinate their needs and consider the bigger, “joint” picture. Certainly there is something to […]