Military Acquisitions in a World with Rising Chinese Control
Abstract
The traditional Department of Defense acquisitions system is adapting too slowly for todays digital age. Activities of China are explored that provide a compelling need for an acquisitions revolution. The new mission-focused approach is driving the contracting community to be offensive-focused business leaders. Scrutiny is being applied to existing rules to take advantage of authorities that already exist. Aside from exercising existing authorities and programs that have historically been under-utilized, a plethora of newer initiatives have also been initiated. Below are recommendations for further improvement: Contracting: Rapid contract capability for unplanned work. Manpower: Space Combat Developers; administrative support for acquisition branch chiefs; casual status government civilians; need a more efficient way to quickly add staff; military service pause and return; and programs need to be balanced with available staff. Funding: Structure program elements to be at the Program Executive Officer portfolio level; expand funds matching/private investment to standard acquisition; and programs should not have funding cut due to efficient spending. Program Initiation: Push back on laws that say a new organization cannot be stood up unless it is shown to save dollars or people; requirement documents need to transition into problem documents; and working with the government needs to function in a way that is not foreign to commercial businesses. Security and IT Architecture: Separate classified issues to have more stand-alone portions that can be solved in an unclassified environment; develop new classification levels definitions; security clearances special programs and compartments access should follow the individual; Common Access Cards for support contractors should last longer than the end date on a contract; and high-capacity data transfer and storage methods should be easily available within each classification.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jul 01, 2020
- Accession Number
- AD1112345
Entities
People
- Christopher A. Cox