Thoughts on Agility Through Appropriations or, "If BA-8 Is Successful, What Next?"
Abstract
The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) seeks sufficient funds from the U.S. Congress to meet critical national security missions. However, predicting, budgeting, authorizing, and appropriating the type and amount of needed funding can be challenging, especially when threats and technologies are changing faster than Planning, Programming, Budgeting, and Execution (PPBE) process timelines, which run over two years given that the DoD starts planning 19 months before the programming and budgeting stage begins (e.g., see McGarry, 2021b). Threats and needs can even change after budgets are authorized and appropriated by Congress, and reprogramming of those funds are limited. Federal funds are budgeted and appropriated into types-- such as research, development, test, and evaluation (RDT and E); procurement; and operation and maintenance (O and M). These so-called colors of money constrain the purpose for which the appropriation is made (i.e., how the funds can be used). These appropriation types also have life cycles-- periods of time within which the funds can be obligated (ranging from 1-5 years, by type) and expended (normally 1-10 years, by type).1 Within each appropriation type, there are usually budget activities (BAs) that further characterize and constrain how the funds can be used. In response to recommendations from numerous reports, studies, and DoD Programs2 and with Congressional approval,3 the DoD created a Budget Activity (BA) 8 Pilot to experiment with a single (colorless) appropriation to seamlessly use fund for what would otherwise be RDT and E, procurement, and O and M of software programs. Further details on BA-8 are contained in the Appendix A of this document, and details on the types of BAs, colors of money, and time availability of appropriations are discussed briefly in Appendix B.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 30, 2022
- Accession Number
- AD1192944
Entities
People
- Philip S. Anton
Organizations
- Stevens Institute of Technology