Analytics cannot save the DOD, the data problem is deep
The July 24 Defense News article, “David Norquist has one word for you: Analytics,” refers to Mr. Norquist’s emphasis on analytics at the Office of […]
Search Results for program budget
No more one-horse races for weapon systems
Programs like MBT-70, C-5A, and the F-111 get defended before Congress and the American public-whatever their problems in performance, cost, and schedule slippages-simply because the […]
Information is not transformation
Here are excerpts from Allen Schick’s excellent study on the performance budget (PB), also known as the program budget or the Planning-Programming-Budgeting (PPB) system. Remember, […]
Modular architecture, incremental decisions, and software acquisition
Jeff Boleng [USD(A&S) Special Assistant for Software]: Should we separate our hardware procurement and our software procurement, and maybe even look to different vendors to […]
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 […]
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 […]
Panel discussion on maximizing defense innovation
In this episode of Acquisition Talk, we’ll listen in on a panel discussion hosted by the Lincoln Network that focuses on defense acquisition, called, “From […]
The pendulum of reform swings back-and-forth
A few days ago I argued that the Melvin Laird and David Packard reforms of 1969-1971 were not a great break from the policies of […]
The history of acquisition since 1950
In an essay published in 1978, the highly regarded historian John Lukacs argues for history that is “microcosmic and sociographic, not sociological and generalizing.” By […]
The Defense Department was never intended to innovate?
Innovation leaders often cite Eastman-Kodak as an example of an enterprise that was too dim-witted to see the writing on the wall and so fell from its […]
Opportunity cost of the Air Force’s inventory
The U.S. must balance current exigencies with future requirements. Any single-focus approach bears a huge opportunity cost… Operating the smallest, oldest, and least ready […]
Prophecy for the defense industrial base
The way that the defense industrial base has been progressing since World War II, one future that appears to have a reasonable likelihood is that […]
Only the highly efficient can burden inefficient processes
“It is a good thing that we are a rich country, because poorer countries just could not afford to waste this kind of money,” the […]
50 years of state-planned technology
Mr. Chairman, I believe we are in a de facto situation of nationalized high technology industry. All that is left is to formalize the arrangement. […]
What is the slogan for acquisition reform?
At the Air Force “Spark Tank” innovation award — presumably titled after CNBC’s Shark Tank show — Mark Cuban asks a young innovative airman why […]