DoD programs are over-analyzed, yet decisions remain superficial and shallow
I drop you into an exchange between Senator Scoop Jackson and Alain Enthoven, ASD Systems Analysis and one of McNamara’s ‘whiz kids,’ in a 1967 […]
acquisition
Commercial tech, “fast follower” strategies, and a framework for rapid acquisition
Here’s a flash talk with DIU’s Mike Brown at the Aspen Security Forum: There are so many innovations in the commercial sector that could be […]
GMU Playbook: Striking the balance with intellectual property
Mason GovCon’s sixth play for software-intensive systems seeks to protect the government’s interests while reducing its need for intellectual property. When government adopts commercial technology, […]
GMU playbook: Agile contracting
In this week’s blog post on our acquisition playbook study, we discuss agile contracting. When technical solutions are uncertain, it is wise to provide room for […]
Podcast: Science & Technology for national security with Lisa Porter
Lisa Porter joined Jordan Schneider and I for a discussion about Science & Technology (S&T) in the national security arena. She is co-president of LogiQ, […]
Podcast: Next steps in acquisition reform with Dan Ward, Pete Modigliani, and Matt MacGregor
I was pleased to have an impressive trio from MITRE join me on the Acquisition Talk podcast to discuss the future of acquisition reform. Dan […]
How formal relational contracts can improve defense outcomes
When Dell originally selected FedEx, in 2005, to handle all aspects of its hardware return-and-repair process, the companies drew up a traditional supplier contract. The 100-page-plus […]
Revolutionizing manufacturing in the aerospace industry
This entire industry of aerospace and defense, especially the area in manufacturing parts, is dependent on this large and fragmented supply chain. Basically, mom and […]
There isn’t enough freedom for our program managers, HASC Chair Adam Smith says
When we’re looking at regulating how we do these contracts with the programs of record, it’s too much in a box. There isn’t enough freedom […]
Event: Measuring R&D productivity
R&D is an easy target for cuts when firms face pressure from quarterly earnings. One problem is that firms don’t have a metric to benchmark […]
Should government be more mission-driven?
Only when it’s too late, only when we have a pandemic of the scale we have now, do we realize, uh oh, we have to […]
Why monolithic defense programs are inherently fragile
Mother Nature does not like anything too big… Mother Nature does not limit the interactions between entities; it just limits the size of its units. […]
Seeing like a state, institutional legibility, and the collapse of defense innovation
The book begins with an early example, “scientific” forestry (illustrated in the picture above). The early modern state, Germany in this case, was only interested […]
STITCHES is getting stymied by the acquisition process
One government-owned program already exists that can enable previously incompatible networks and systems to exchange data without the need for common standards or open mission […]
One key to software success in DoD: Consumption-Based Solutions
Here’s a lengthy but important discussion on Consumption Based Solutions from Nick Tsiopanas at a nice NPS ARP webinar, Innovations in Software Acquisition at the […]