Acquisition reform season is once more upon us, with efforts to overtake the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) and accompanying company dietary supplements, intensive acquisition reform provisions included within the FY2026 Nationwide Protection Authorization Act (NDAA) (together with Title 18 devoted to acquisition reform), and the discharge of the division’s Acquisition Transformation Technique. How does the Pentagon’s reform efforts stack up?
The concepts and initiatives within the Protection Division’s technique usually are not new. Some have been tried earlier than (longer tenures for program managers, enhance the Protection Acquisition College, portfolio administration, higher price estimating), are already present coverage (Modular Open Techniques Method, scorecards, purchase business), or have been within the FY26 NDAA (portfolio acquisition executives, set up the Mission Engineering and Integration Exercise, repeal outdated statutes, streamline price accounting requirements). And a few are perennial siren songs (reduce forms, streamline processes, workforce).
This isn’t criticism; that is excellent news. Everyone is aware of what must be executed to “repair” protection acquisition. We’ve got all talked about what must be executed; few have been prepared or in a position to do it. Solely time will inform if the 158th time is the appeal. However the essential components for fulfillment are current:
- Management is a prerequisite for fulfillment. Present DoD leaders are exhibiting this management. One living proof is the Secretary of Protection’s Nov. 7 press convention on acquisition reform and the accompanying launch of the memo “Reworking the Protection Acquisition System into the Warfighting Acquisition System.” And acquisition reform seems to be a spotlight of Deputy Secretary of Protection Steve Feinberg, Beneath Secretary of Protection for Acquisition and Protection Michael Duffey, Military Secretary Daniel Driscoll, and Area Pressure Chief Probability Saltzman, simply to call just a few.
- Political will: The present administration — and DoD management — has proven exceptional political will to realize its objectives.
- Administration/congressional cooperation: Previous acquisition reform efforts (i.e. the 800 Panel, Part 809 Panel on Streamlining Acquisition) benefited from a shared imaginative and prescient between the administration and Congress. Congress and DoD seem like aligned on the necessity for acquisition reform and far of what must be executed.
- Want: America is being challenged around the globe. In a rising variety of capabilities, the US is now not the expertise chief (e.g. hypersonics). We have to change.
In wanting on the content material of the technique, the initiatives could be roughly damaged down into 4 broad classes: folks, course of, tempo and industrial base.
Individuals
Protection acquisition is a human exercise depending on the judgments and choices of the workforce. Because the 809 Panel argues, “the final word effectiveness and effectivity of protection acquisition rely upon and is decided by the folks” who make up the acquisition workforce. DoD’s acquisition technique picks up on this theme, emphasizing the significance of the “warfighting acquisition workforce” and the necessity to allow them to “reduce via pink tape and ship outcomes.”
A centerpiece of the workforce efforts is establishing portfolio acquisition executives (PAEs), who would have the authority to make funds and necessities trades, and handle their workforce (contracting officers would report back to the PAEs). The technique additionally tackles workforce coaching, together with via government-industry exchanges and reorienting Protection Acquisition College (renamed Warfighting Acquisition College) to “foster speedy cross-functional teaming, vital considering, innovation, and threat taking beneath operational pressures.” The technique additionally requires “financial incentive awards” to reward excessive performers and establishing longer tenures for PAEs and program managers.
Course of
The division’s aim for accelerating the acquisition processes is easy: ship new capabilities quicker, spend sources extra effectively and guarantee a extra aggressive market. This could be completed by streamlining the method, chopping pointless steps, and accelerating “risk-based decision-making” the division seeks.
One instance is the Center Tier Acquisition (MTA) Pathway, which has turn into slowed down by forms. The technique seeks to delegate MTAs approvals to the “lowest permissible degree,” reduce down prototype improvement and approval processes, and get rid of MTA advisory boards — changing them with a digitized system that integrates information and identifies considerations. The technique emphasizes adopting industry-driven options, buying business services and products, and going direct-to-supplier.
Tempo
Whereas the technique doesn’t throw out the standard steadiness of price, schedule and efficiency within the context of operational want, it does elevate the significance of pace, declaring that the DoD is shifting to a wartime footing to foster a way of urgency. The technique establishes a “Wartime Manufacturing Unit” to advise on manufacturing optimization, interact with PEOs to implement effectivity enhancements in manufacturing, and speed up manufacturing ramps to fulfill operational wants.
The technique additionally tackles integrating trendy engineering strategies and rigorous readiness testing. The emphasis on pace extends past simply acquisition to readiness and surge capability.
Industrial base
The protection industrial base has been shrinking for greater than a decade. The technique seeks to reverse these tendencies, hoping to spur competitors, enhance innovation, speed up manufacturing, lower price and generate extra personal capital funding. To incentivize {industry}, the division will “curate a playbook of economic instruments,” to incorporate longer contracts, direct loans, mortgage ensures and pre-contract {industry} investments.
Will this time be completely different?
The tone of the technique and the secretary’s speech are promising. Gone is vilifying the prevailing protection industrial base because the supply of all that’s fallacious with protection acquisitions, which gave the impression to be the tone earlier on. Additionally gone are a number of the extra excessive positions in mental property that dissuade corporations from working with the division.
The change in tone shouldn’t be confused with letting {industry} off the hook — DoD should maintain {industry} accountable and embrace inventive destruction: corporations unable to carry out shouldn’t survive. DoD should be a troublesome negotiator. However it should additionally embrace {industry} as a companion and acknowledge that the issues in acquisition are the shared fault of DoD, {industry} and Congress. Because the secretary said, to succeed, DoD wants your entire protection industrial base, together with business and VC-backed entities that haven’t but joined the DIB.
Even with a good panorama, the technique remains to be only a technique, and reforms are within the early levels. Some, reminiscent of Invoice Greenwalt, appropriately argue that the technique doesn’t go far sufficient, that within the immortal phrases of the Authorities Accountability Workplace, “extra must be executed.” True. However we’re extra optimistic. The time is correct. The political panorama is correct. The concepts are proper. And our nationwide safety depends upon it.
Moshe Schwartz is the protection acquisition fellow at The Coalition for Widespread Sense in Authorities Procurement and president of Etherton & Associates. Arzoo Dawoodani is a analysis assistant at The George Washington College Regulation Faculty.
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