The evolving private military sector: toward a framework for effective DoD contracting

Abstract

In this paper, we outline an analysis of DoD (US Department of Defense) contracting of private military firms (PMFs) in an expeditionary context. The paper makes two contributions to research on this topic. First, we outline a general model of how DoD acquisition skills and organization integration capabilities affect the contribution of PMFs to mission performance. Second, we address risk management in PMF contracting by outlining a spectrum of control mechanisms. As PMF management is clearly not the sole job of the acquisition community, we argue that DoD policy-makers should rethink how the department might change itself in order to integrate PMF services more effectively and efficiently.