Who should make multi-billion dollar decisions?
Part of the reason for “programming” the budget was to give decision-makers at the top the ability not only to decide on how much money […]
Blog Posts
Are OTA contracts being competed?
A number of nontraditional companies told CRS that they are more likely to work with DOD because of the department’s other transaction authorities. Despite these […]
What is the Trusted Capital Marketplace really about?
This post will speculate on the intent behind the DOD’s new Trusted Capital Marketplace, and what will be expected of its managers. Background. The Statement […]
Moving beyond Newtonian and industrial era thinking
This post highlights excerpts from two episodes of POGO’s Pentagon Labyrinth podcast. Both relate to the mindset embodied in the US Department of Defense — […]
Are better requirements the answer to acquisition?
Here are some excellent insights from the Army Materiel Acquisition Review Committee’s 1974 report. Might sound like a lot of the arguments going on today […]
FFG(X) update — and then there were four
The FFG(X) program is a Navy program to build a class of 20 guided-missile frigates (FFGs). The Navy wants to procure the first FFG(X) in […]
Acquisition Headlines
New U.S. Navy Aircraft Carriers Can’t Launch F-35s Until 2027: Report. Lockheed Martin Continues To Impress (impress investors, that is, not the weapon systems users). […]
B-1B bomber readiness nears 16 percent
The U.S. Air Force is slacking when it comes to the B-1 Lancer fleet, with less than ten operational units out of a total number […]
Lessons from France on fixed-price contracting
There is much to like about how the French do weapon systems acquisition, and we in the US need to pay more attention: In the […]
DIB recommends new appropriation to meet software challenges
The following is a lengthy excerpt from the Defense Innovation Board’s Software Acquisition and Practices (SWAP) appropriations subgroup. I think it is an excellent expression […]
Interpreting the Navy’s FY 2020 shipbuilding plan
Overall inventory will reach 314 ships by FY2024 and 355 ships in FY2034. The DDG 51 class-wide extension was the principal driver of the 20-year […]
Acquisition workforce confined to a fishbowl
Sixteen years ago, the National Commission on the Public Service (known as the “Second Volcker Commission”), reported that the federal government was not adequately staffed […]
Trends in technical performance, effort, and cost of being wrong
During the 30 years that our company has been in existence… we have seen air vehicles advance front the 100- to 200-mile-per-hour speeds characteristic of […]
Acquisition Headlines
“Steam’s only worked for about 65 years perfectly,” the president said. “They have a $900 million cost overrun on this crazy electric catapult. I said, […]
Problem areas of Earned Value Management
This is from a March 1969 article that discusses the Air Force’s implementation of the C/SCPS, which later became known as Earned Value Management: AFSC […]