Value‐Based Acquisition: An Objective, Success‐Centric, Evolutionary Approach
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Authors
Gunderson, Chris
Minton, David
Roth, Rick Hayes
Subjects
Advisors
Date of Issue
2009
Date
Publisher
Language
Abstract
Rather than dwell on well-documented information system acquisition issues, we analyze
government success stories. We capture best practice in a suite of tools whose familiar
look and feel will resonate with acquisition professionals. We demonstrate how those
tools can enable rapid, evolutionary information system development. After all,
government policies mandate acquiring information systems rapidly & adaptively. DoD
in particular has taken a visionary approach that adopts cutting edge paradigms like
Service Oriented Architecture and Open Technology Development. Despite overall slow
progress, the government has succeeded impressively in some cases. Success stories
include continuous technology refresh of deployed systems; government investment in
some COTS markets; inserting true COTS as a quick fix; and consuming state-of-the art
COTS hardware. Typical government acquisition behavior contrasts sharply with this
best practice. Training and tools can solve that issue. Our strategy is to leverage the
enduring value of traditional approaches, the lessons learned from success stories, and
the innate innovative tendencies of the best employees. We apply the successful
continuous re-capitalization model to govern incremental “development” through a suite
of objective measures of effectiveness (MOE) and associated algorithms. These tools
are based on the concept of “Quality of Service” but address the higher abstraction
“Value of Service.” “Value” depends on reliability, speed-to-capability, utility, and cost.
The algorithms reward modularity, interoperability, and currency. They include a
profoundly new concept for government acquisition – that the front end requirements and
procurement activity should be governed with process-level systems engineering MOE.
The algorithms provide a framework to optimize choices around bundling options,
intellectual property, test & certification, and billable hours. They provide an objective
means to enforce policy, and a dashboard to monitor policy impact in near real time. We
demonstrate the viability of value-based acquisition in a simple commercial use case, and
in context with a real on-going military acquisition. Programs can, may, and should
leverage the success of the best of their peers, and begin value-based acquisition
immediately. The World Wide Consortium for the Grid (W2COG) Institute (WI) can
assist.
Government
Type
Article
Description
Series/Report No
Department
Organization
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.)
Identifiers
NPS Report Number
Sponsors
Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ)
Funder
Format
13 p.
Citation
Distribution Statement
Rights
This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. Copyright protection is not available for this work in the United States.