DoD’s end-to-end budget cycle must be compressed to one year, max
Here’s a lengthy slice from the recently exited DIU director Michael Brown on the Venture Stories podcast discussing a major barrier to military innovation. I’ll […]
Blog Posts
Origins of the Milestone acquisition process
One of the foundations of the defense acquisition system is the DoD Directive 5000.1, which defines how military systems progress from an idea to production. […]
Podcast: The power of the industry consortium with Stephanie Halcrow and Moshe Schwartz
In this episode of the Acquisition Talk podcast, we listen in an event hosted by the Center for Government Contracting to discuss a recent paper […]
Acquisition headlines (9/12 – 9/18/2022)
DoD must move faster to leverage commercial technology. (Real Clear Defense) Rep Mike Gallagher: “First, the Pentagon needs to think outside the box when it […]
Will inflation cause a $110 billion loss in DoD buying power between FY21-FY23?
A new paper from recent AcqTalk guest John Whitley and two PPBE Reform commissioners David Norquist and Lisa Disbrow has been released: “How Inflation Hurts […]
DoDIG report on Other Transactions sends mixed messages
DoD Inspector General has a new report: Audit of DoD Other Transactions and the Use of Nontraditional Contractors and Resource Sharing. Here are the findings: […]
Three reasons military programs shouldn’t start with requirements
Here’s a slice from Ron Westrum’s excellent book, Sidewinder: Missile Development at China Lake, citing Bill McLean’s arguments against the “requirements” process. As you read, remember […]
How AI/ML margins differ from traditional software
Here’s a good segment from the a16z podcast discussing how AI/ML companies are different than traditional software in terms of margins. Ultimately, what matters most […]
Acquisition headlines (9/5 – 9/11/2022)
Naval research boss wants ‘experimentation czar’ powers. (Defense News) “Rear Adm. Lorin Selby said the change would amount to an additional responsibility for him, or […]
Two good points on the state of Defense Innovation Unit
Here’s an article from Bill Greenwalt in Breaking Defense which cuts through the go-along-to-get-along commentary on defense innovation ecosystem. Here’s point number one: Established by […]
Why it’s so hard to accelerate change as a junior officer
Here’s an insightful episode of the Defense Unicorns podcast with Artem Sherbinin, a Lieutenant in the US Navy who was integral to the first applying […]
How the geometry of investing in defense startups is different
Here’s a few slices from a great Venture Stories podcast with Alex Moore, an investor at 8VC and before that he was one of the […]
Podcast: What it takes in acquisition to deter China
A new paper from MITRE takes an end-to-end look at how military strategy gets translated into the types of weapon systems actually bought through the […]
Acquisition headlines (8/29 – 9/4/2022)
US Army approves order for thousands of Microsoft combat goggles. (Yahoo!) “Microsoft will begin to deliver some of the 5,000 Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS) […]
How SOCOM makes price tradeoffs to accelerate contract delivery
Here is Paul Weisgarber and Noel Burke on the Air Force Contracting Experience podcast discussing their experience working with Special Operations Command (SOCOM) through the […]