Report of the Defense Science Board Task Force on Improvements to Services Contracting
Abstract
The Defense Science Board Task Force on Improvements to Services Contracting conducted an independent assessment of improvements in the procurement and oversight of services by the Department of Defense (DoD). The task force identified six Key Findings in their assessment. (1) Contracts for services support major DoD programs and their associated administrative, technological, and logistics services and are a strategic component of all military operations. DoD services contracting in 2010 added up to more than $200 billion, over 50 percent of the total DoD acquisition budget. (2) Buying services is fundamentally different than buying weapons systems, yet most current acquisition regulations, laws, policies, processes, standards, training, education, and management structures are focused on optimizing the characteristics of products. Only a small fraction of these focus on the way services are acquired. (3) The workforce is inadequately prepared to acquire and execute services contracts. Specific guidance, training, and experience are needed. (4) The DoD urgently needs to establish a meaningful taxonomy for services to develop useful definitions, performance standards, and outcome measures for each type of service. It is important to note that different types of services will need different policies and guidance than others. (5) New and more detailed guidance is needed that clarifies the inherently governmental functions that should always be performed by government personnel. This is needed to eliminate the confusion over work that is "critical" or "closely associated" with inherently governmental activities, much of which can be done better and more efficiently through contracting in support of inherently governmental work. (6) Services contracting to support contingency operations is a special case needing fast response. A number of specific actions are needed to facilitate acquisition in these time-critical situations.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 01, 2011
- Accession Number
- ADA553353
Entities
People
- David Oliver
- Deidre Lee
- Jacques Gansler
- John Tenaglia
- Judith A. Miller
- Paul Kern
- Philip Odeen
- Richard Dunn
- Ronald Kerber
- William Lucyshyn
Organizations
- Defense Science Board