How delegation of authority is proceeding in Air Force contracting
The big question in my mind is not whether we are going to increase the authorities at the lower levels — we have to do […]
Management
Aircraft sustainment costs, inventories, and implications for design choices
The “digital century series” approach for the next-generation fighter could leave the Air Force with more costly small fleets of aircraft that exacerbate growth in […]
How SpaceX does software for 9 vehicles with only 50 developers — and gov’t requiring 50x the staff
The biggest gap in the government today is enterprise services. You go to big companies, they have infrastructure cloud team, they have a platform team, […]
Static program baselines and rethinking contract mgmt systems
Traditional acquisition metrics can be a major problem for adaptable systems. The Earned Value Management System (EVMS) is a common tool for measuring progress in […]
If you try to maintain initial trust by covering up mistakes, then you lose trust when they catch you
Harry: You say: “If soldiers trust the general, communication will be vastly more efficient.” What are your biggest lessons on how to create an environment […]
Loose cultures, tight cultures, and the USD(AT&L) break up
Loose cultures have a great benefit in terms of creating ideas but they’re not necessarily great at implementing them. So you think of innovation, it […]
Navy found $126 million in parts it didn’t know existed, and what that says about oversight
Navy aircraft were sidelined as they awaited parts last year that the service actually had in a warehouse. The problem? They didn’t even know the warehouse […]
Providing two or more sources of production doesn’t always lead to higher costs
The second argument usually used against setting up a second source is that the efficiencies of the first source would have to be scaled back […]
Making the FAR sing isn’t enough — no one can be expert in all applicable laws, regs
The cost to the taxpayer of attempting to eliminate all risk is prohibitive. The Executive Branch will accept and manage the risk associated with empowering […]
GSA category management, does it put process ahead of value?
Industry has found it challenging to understand where the value proposition is in category management because you don’t see best-in-class measured as a performance issue […]
Air Force vanguard programs — can they solve the transition problem?
Guided by strategic capabilities, this [transformational S&T] component will include a focused set of research programs called vanguards. Vanguard programs will advance emerging weapon systems […]
Is the funding process the last unresolved piece of acquisition reform?
Bernie Skoch: As anyone whose spent time in the five sided house of pleasure can tell you, there’s a programming process and there’s a budgeting […]
Do commercial practices trivialize the challenges of defense acquisition?
In this paper, we consider the latest stage in the on-going organisational evolution of the defence procurement function in Australia which has been dominated by […]
William Roper is saying all the right things on defense innovation
What we really have to do in acquisition is shift the culture that is solely focused on the balance sheet — on cost — and […]
Stop funding new R&D under existing major programs, fund a prototype program
Here’s a good point from Craig Hooper over at Forbes: Given that research and development hard to fund these days, Navy innovation aboard ships and […]