Time to Reform Acquisition Funding Rules?

The short answer is yes. And we should act very soon if we want more effective and  rapid acquisition!

Department of Defense (DoD) acquisition oversight stakeholders continue searching for the silver bullet that will provide real reform and lead to better acquisition outcomes. We have seen reform efforts for decades, yet apparent dissatisfaction and continued reform actions occur every year. In addition to congressional action, recommendations come from multiple advisory groups, boards, and panels. Recently, the Section 809 Panel Report provided one of the more comprehensive studies recommending significant paradigm shifts in defense acquisition.

One of the big themes in the 809 Panel report is increased funding flexibility. This flexibility is necessary to support the portfolio-management acquisition model described in detail in the report. In fact, it is a prerequisite to the portfolio-management approach, which I wrote about (“A Portfolio Management Based Acquisition Model?”) in the January-February 2020 issue of this magazine.