Acquisition Reform - What's Really Broken in Defense Acquisition

Abstract

The United States has been in a persistent ground campaign in the Middle East for eight years. With the exception of the Vietnam War, this engagement is longer than any conflict the United States has been engaged in throughout its history as a nation. To aid in prosecuting this war and countering future threats to the United States, the Department of Defense (DoD) must ensure military forces have the right mix of military weapon systems to maintain the technological advantage over our adversaries. DoD has lost billions of dollars on failed weapon system development efforts due to the inability to successfully meet desired goals associated with development programs. These programs include the development of Army air and ground vehicles, Navy ships and submarines, and Air Force aircrafts. As we continue to investigate ways to reform the defense acquisition process, we must also rethink the methodologies and processes we use across the entire DoD decision support systems to meet our defense needs. If we do nothing to address the need to get capabilities to our military forces in a more timely manner, we will continue to lose critical resources (personnel, funding, and time) allocated for the defense of our country, which will also limit our technological advantage around the world. The defense acquisition process is centered around three major decision support systems within the DoD--the Joint Capabilities Integration Development System (JCIDS); the Planning, Programming, Budgeting and Execution (PPBE) system; and the Defense Acquisition System (DAS). To ensure we are doing all it takes to deliver needed capabilities to military forces in a timely manner, we must ensure all three systems are optimized and synchronized. This research paper examines the three DoD decision support systems, identifies deficiencies as related to defense acquisition, and explores ways to optimize deficient areas to aid in delivering military capabilities in a timely manner.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 30, 2010
Accession Number
ADA544322

Entities

People

  • Patrick W. Burden

Organizations

  • United States Army War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Human Systems
  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Acquisition
  • Aircrafts
  • Artillery
  • Business Administration
  • Decision Support Systems
  • Fighter Aircraft
  • Government Procurement
  • Governments
  • Logistics
  • Military Acquisition
  • Military Personnel
  • Military Science
  • National Security
  • Procurement
  • United States
  • War Colleges
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Defense Acquisition Program Management
  • Maritime Combat Support and Expeditionary Logistics.
  • Military History of the United States in the 20th Century.