Tailoring the Acquisition Process in the U.S. Department of Defense

Abstract

Regulations and guidance have permitted tailoring of the acquisition process as one of many ways in which the acquisition workforce can more efficiently achieve program objectives. Tailoring is frequently mentioned in regulations and guidance. In particular, Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics Frank Kendall s Better Buying Power (BBP) 2.0 implementation directive advises that the first responsibility of the acquisition workforce is to think . . . and not to automatically default to a perceived school solution (Kendall, 2013, p. 1). BBP 3.0, the latest version of the BBP best practices, continues to address the theme of critical thinking in the U.S. Department of Defense s professional workforce (Kendall, 2015, p. 2). Policy allows (even encourages) program managers to customize regulatorybased reviews, processes, and information requirements to accommodate the unique characteristics of a program while still meeting the regulations intent for appropriate decision criteria and oversight processes. The extent to which programs take advantage of opportunities to tailor processes and documentation is not clear, but anecdotal evidence suggests that tailoring is more difficult in practice than guidance suggests. Widespread use of tailoring appears to be constrained by a variety of factors inherent in defense acquisition. This exploratory research reviewed the literature and conducted interviews within the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) and the RAND Corporation to begin to answer the following key questions regarding the use of tailoring: Is tailoring practical and possible? What are the constraints that make tailoring a challenge? Are there examples of tailoring that demonstrate its usefulness and feasibility? What set of skills or resources needs to be available to program managers for tailoring to be successful? What other conditions need to exist for tailoring to be effective?

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 2015
Accession Number
ADA618561

Entities

People

  • Jeffrey A. Drezner
  • Jerry M. Sollinger
  • Megan Mckernan

Organizations

  • RAND Corporation

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Acquisition
  • Aircrafts
  • Best Practices
  • Contracts
  • Corrosion Inhibition
  • Department Of Defense
  • Governments
  • Information Systems
  • Literature Surveys
  • Logistics
  • Management Personnel
  • Military Acquisition
  • Motivation
  • Organizational Structure
  • Procurement
  • Systems Engineering
  • Test And Evaluation

Readers

  • Defense Acquisition Program Management
  • Team-Based Human-Centered Cognitive Task Decision Making and Information Performance.