An uncertain future for Middle-Tier of Acquisition
Here’s a couple slices from an interesting Breaking Defense article on Middle-Tier of Acquisition (MTA) pathway for rapid prototyping and rapid fielding. First, what’s going […]
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Middle-Tier of Acquisition is under serious threat unless oversight can think differently
Here’s an update on Middle-Tier of Acquisition (MTA) authorities and how they are facing serious backlash from oversight. MTAs, of course, provide DoD rapid prototyping […]
GAO struggles to define oversight for the Adaptive Acquisition Framework
Here’s the General Accountability Office’s take on Middle Tier of Acquisition (MTA) in space systems from a recent report. Remember, MTA efforts must be rapidly […]
Software Acquisition Pathway meets a requirements roadblock from the Joint Staff
Sponsors utilizing the software acquisition pathway per reference III for software only will submit a Software-ICD (SW-ICD) to the Joint Staff Gatekeeper to assess for […]
The state of defense acquisition as 2021 draws to a close
Previously, I discussed the messaging from the Reagan National Defense Forum that “Time is running out with Silicon Valley.” It was intimated that major acquisition […]
Are we starting to see the backlash to OTAs?
Here’s a Q&A from a Mitchell Institute webinar discussing Other Transactions (OTAs): Audience question: There’s lots of new platforms being developed or being procured under […]
Release of the DoDI 5000.91 Product Support Management
The DoDI 5000.91 Product Support Strategy contains 12 elements in the Integrated Product Support (IPS) and 10 elements in the Lifecycle Sustainment Plan (LCSP). This […]
Is DoD starting to bridge the valley of death?
… funding for Advanced Components Development and Prototypes (6.4 funding) has increased from 20.4% of total RDT&E funding in 2012 to 30.2% in the enacted […]
New DoD cost estimating guide fails to address the problems facing the cost community
“No one can predict the future” is an often-used cliché, and yet this is what the DoD asks its cost estimating community to do every […]
Sustainment planning gets an overhaul in FY21 NDAA
Section 802 of the FY 2021 NDAA is called “Improving planning, execution, and oversight of life cycle sustainment activities,” but really it has dramatic effect […]
Are we at a crisis point in acquisition reform?
Francis Rose: Every uniformed official that I ever hear anything from talks about speed… When there’s legislative language that proposes exactly the opposite, is working […]
Are Appropriators blocking defense transformation?
I recommend reading a nice Breaking Defense article, Senate Appropriators Cut R&D To Buy More Weapons. The SAC-D recommended that the Air Force and Navy […]
Take-aways from the updated DoD Directive 5000.01
Overall, DoDD 5000.01 went from 10 pages to 16, though two of those are for a table of contents. In terms of word count, it […]
Congress has a bold vision for Navy subsystem prototyping, but here’s what they’re missing
As the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has documented, lead ships in new classes of naval vessels routinely fail to meet expectations… It was not always this […]
How much oomph is left in rapid acquisition reform?
We’ve seen this pendulum swing drastically over the last few decades. In the middle of the 20th Century we saw thousands of companies iteratively delivering […]