Bridging the Disconnect: The Government-as-Integrator Approach to Streamlining the DoD Acquisition Process
Shrinking budgets and a quickly evolving threat landscape have prompted senior leaders in the Department of Defense and Congress to push for defense acquisition reform. Though DoD has begun making changes, a fundamental restructuring of how governments works with industry to supply the military may be necessary.
The defense acquisition process has long been recognized as being inefficient and often ineffective. But recently, shrinking budgets and a quickly evolving threat landscape have made the need for reform much more urgent. DoD has begun making changes with the launch of Better Buying Power 2.0 initiative and subsequent instruction 5000.02, but more fundamental reform may be necessary.
Government Business Council (GBC) and Booz Allen Hamilton launched a research study in October 2013 to gain a deeper understanding of the underlying causes of the broken acquisition process. Through a survey of 340 senior defense leaders, GBC and Booz Allen explored the need for DoD acquisition reform, problems specific to the growing field of C4ISR, and the opportunities and challenges associated with reform.
Key findings include:
- The most significant defense acquisition problems
- The most significant C4ISR acquisition problems
- How greater government involvement in designing requirements could affect the acquisition process
- The biggest challenges government faces in reforming defense acquisition
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