Upcoming acquisition events to join!
A couple upcoming events to be aware of, hope to see you there! Acquisition Next: Artificial Intelligence Symposium May 5, 8:30pm – 2:30pm ET In […]
budget reform
Here are the first picks on the PPBE Reform Commission
There seems to be broad agreement among most stakeholders the US needs “better, faster, affordable” development and acquisition of emerging technologies that will drive competitive […]
Three steps to help defense innovation break free from its shackles
Jerry McGinn and I provide three recommendations for the congressional commission on PPBE reform in a Defense News article: Be bold in vision. The DoD’s industrial-age […]
Podcast: Injecting tech in today’s weapons with Maj. Gen. John Ferrari (ret.)
I was pleased to have John Ferrari join me on the Acquisition Talk podcast to discuss a wide range of issues facing DoD’s ability to […]
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 […]
What are the prerequisites to defense budget reform?
Here’s a snippet from Christopher O’Donnell, acting ASD(Acquisition) at the 2021 GMU/DAU conference: What the MTA has shown is that the JCIDS process and the […]
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 […]
What’s left to be done after the Adaptive Acquisition Framework?
We need reform in our requirements processes and our budgets to allow for the same speed and agility the #AAF gives us. We have a framework for […]
Podcast: PPBE Reform Panel 2 — From Ideas to Implementation
In this second discussion on the future of the Planning-Programming-Budgeting-Execution (PPBE) process, Center for Government Contracting executive director Jerry McGinn hosts a distinguished panel including: […]
Podcast: PPBE Reform Panel 1 — Key Recommendations
For the first time in more than 50 years, a serious discussion is emerging on the foundations of defense budgeting and oversight. The “valley of […]
Make 2021 the year of defense budget reform!
Three excellent reports addressing defense budget reform were released between February 25 and March 8, 2021: Competing in Time: Ensuring Capability Advantage and Mission Success […]
Why are there defense authorizations and appropriations?
The budgeting that Wildavsky, Caiden, and other scholars defined as “traditional” was designed to finance bureaus that provide a service to the public or, more […]
Eric Schmidt: This is how DoD ends up with a camel rather than a horse
Chairman Jack Reed: We were chatting before and reminiscing about days gone by. One of the relics of those days gone by is the defense […]
Jacques Gansler’s take on congressional micromanagement
Congress has not in recent years demonstrated a willingness to delegate fiscal authority to operating managers in the DOD. On the contrary, Congress has tended […]
DoD oversight is intimately linked with appropriations structure
… it is time to modernize the way the DoD is resourced with simpler, responsive and flexible appropriations that meet congressional oversight requirements. The DoD […]