GAO investigates why agency funds get cancelled
About 1.6 percent of the total available budget authority government-wide was cancelled from fiscal year 2009 to fiscal year 2019, averaging $23.9 billion per year… […]
program budget
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 […]
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 […]
How financial planning came to rule the Pentagon
Here is the estimable Frederick Mosher in his 1954 classic discussing the rise of the program budget. A programmed budget, of course, is when money […]
How the military almost lost all funding for basic research
What the Bureau of the Budget actually proposed when it made these reductions was that the military services get out of basic research entirely. Indeed, […]
It’s not just my imagination — why funding is so important to tech progress
Here’s my last excerpt — I promise — from Jason Crawford’s excellent interview on the Venture Stories podcast, “Progress Studies in 2020.” Jason: I want […]
Defense budgets are “sticky” in the near term
In a letter to committee Chairman Adam Smith (D-Wash.) and ranking member Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas), the Democrats, most of whom are in the Congressional Progressive Caucus, urged the panel’s […]
Budget reform reference guide
For years, I’ve been arguing that the budget process is the single most important problem of acquisition reform. We still have in place what is […]
Eisenhower’s appeal for increased efficiency and economy — the Single Manager Plan
Today, most of our defense funds are appropriated not to the Secretary of Defense but rather to the military departments. The Secretary of Defense and […]
Is the PPBE process the root cause of test & eval failures?
Again and again in briefings and conferences I am asked: “What are the major problems in T&E [Test & Evaluation]?” I think there is really […]
JIDO: a successful application of agile in defense acquisition
… this kind of goes to those mid-level warfighter programs that guys really need, programs like Joint Improvised Explosive Defeat Organization (JIEDDO), Task Force (Odin) […]
Software requires a faster funding process
The DOD’s process for obtaining funding for new acquisition programs typically takes multiple years. To address a DOD capability shortfall, the shortfall must be linked […]
Does budget reform comply with the 10 rules for good reform?
Here is the insightful Peter Levine providing us 10 rules for reforming the Department of Defense: I’ve watched as every secretary of defense has sought […]
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 […]
I beseech you, Norm Augustine, to think it possible you be mistaken
Defense acquisition in the United States is quite unique. It is a monopsony that has monopolies embedded within it. People’s lives — even our nation’s […]