Making it easier to do business with allies and scale new tech
Jerry McGinn and Bill Greenwalt spoke with Vago Muradian on the Defense and Aerospace Report on building industrial resilience. First up is Jerry — executive […]
Jerry McGinn
Podcast: Opening programs to modularity and iteration
In this special episode of the Acquisition Talk podcast, we listen into an event that explores how defense programs can harness modern development practices. Center […]
Have irregularities marked the success of weapons programs in years past?
Jerry McGinn: … the Department of Defense is stuck with the ’60s approaches which requires three years to really plan and then program and then […]
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 […]
Is software showing the cracks in DoD’s industrial age system?
Here are some excerpts from a good long-form article from from Lauren Williams at FCW, Why DOD is so bad at buying software: It can […]
IP and CMMC — two issues that could derail defense innovation efforts
… there are two thorny issues that need to be effectively addressed on this innovation journey: intellectual property (IP) and security. Both issues have seen […]
GMU Releases Draft Acquisition Playbook, Invites Your Feedback
George Mason University is developing a playbook to help government work with innovative industry partners. After more than 70 interviews with expert practitioners, the Center […]
Podcast: The Productivity of Defense Independent R&D
George Mason University and Wharton Aerospace Community held an excellent event on the productivity of independent research and development (IR&D). Discussing the topic was an insightful […]
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 […]
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: […]
Defense industrial strategy for the Biden administration
The fundamental challenge I see for the Biden administration is balancing reshoring versus Buy America. The Buy America approach is problematic when it comes to […]
George Mason kicks off an acquisition playbook for the information age
For the past 50 years, there has been a stable consensus about the benefits of competition in the Department of Defense. Unfortunately, infrequent “winner-take-all” programs, […]
The demise of the Pentagon’s Chief Management Officer?
The reality of the last 20 years where the Department has tried to have an independent third-silo be that Chief Management Officer and whatever it […]
GMU report on Covid-19 contract issues: terminations, simplified acquisition, and more
Contractors may worry, for example, about the government terminating contracts for convenience during the COVID-19 crisis. Non-defense contract actions do not indicate a significant uptick […]
Podcast: Covid-19 impact to government contracting
In this special episode of Acquisition Talk, we listen in on a conversation about the effects of COVID-19 on government contracting, including (1) the Defense […]