Recent acquisition reform through technology and workforce improvements

Abstract

Research conducted for this joint applied project attempted to determine which policies should be put in place to further acquisition reform, based on a review of previous reforms enacted through technology and workforce improvements and their consequent outcomes. The objectives of the project were to examine the various acquisition reform initiatives that have been enacted recently, in order to determine what reforms have proven successful in producing the intended outcome, and what reforms have not been effective in changing the acquisition process to accomplish the initial goal. We found that the various reforms instituted over the previous twenty-five years have attempted to address how acquisitions can be streamlined within the Department of Defense (DOD) to create efficiencies and improve cost and schedule for major programs. The major finding of this research is that there is overlap in the reforms that have been initiated and the changes they seek to implement. This makes it difficult to determine what reforms are driving successes and failures of acquisition reform policy and which will allow policy makers to adjust and drive positive change to the DOD acquisition process based upon verifiable data collection. This lack of data can only be fixed by resetting the acquisition reform process. It is our recommendation that a fifteen-year suspension be placed on acquisition reforms to stabilize the system and reset the data collection. Once stabilization has occurred, a new acquisition reform should be enacted, and a second suspension of fifteen years should be implemented to ensure data can be collected and the reform can be analyzed in isolation. This strategy would ensure that the data collected solely represents the effects of the latest reform over the course of an acquisition's life cycle.