and units in time to combat the threat, then we have achieved our de- sired velocity. Juggling requirements and risk. Rapid acquisition is a balancing act, with requirements in one hand and high-risk decisions in the other. Since our office is JCIDS-exempt, our requirements process is tailored. What starts as a few paragraphs of need must be expanded into detailed requirements that go on contract. We iterate with receiving units/com- mands and the vendors who will be building our systems. We visit op- erator locations, talk about needs, capture how missions are currently executed, and talk about what might be. We also visit vendor locations, talk about technology, manufacturability, business cases, and we meet with teams that might be building our sys- tems. Only after these conversations do we have a sense of both what is needed and what can be realistically built. And that is where risk comes in. As acquirers and systems engineers, we carefully track program and techni- cal risk. But attention also needs to be paid to business risk, both for the government and industry. Business risk includes funding risk, staffing is- sues, opportunity cost, and organiza- tional risks. When business risk isn’t understood, surprises happen. Finally, there is personal risk. To go fast, our PMs and leadership must be comfortable with carrying a certain amount of risk throughout a program’s life. We mitigate risks when we can and accept risks when circumstances dictate. Every risk ac-
The Space RCO Team at Space RCO headquarters on Kirtland AFB in Albuquerque, N.M. Source: Courtesy of SpaceRCO
ceptance decision carries the chance of an undesired outcome, but our PMs making those decisions are confident they are taking smart risks and know our leadership will back their plays accordingly. Be open to new dance industry partners. There’s certainly comfort in steady and predictable dance part- ners, but sometimes getting velocity right requires learning some new dance moves! The space industrial base is “on fire,” as the young people say, and this means we need maximum exposure to potential new partners. We crave fresh ideas, innovation, and new blood to engender robust competition. We’re doing what we can—even step- ping up to help build relationships in the space ecosystem. For example, we recently piloted a “partnership accelerator” to spur meaningful matchmaking between select small businesses with space payload innovations and prime inte-
grators who build complete satellites. These and other efforts will accelerate movement of small business innova- tion into our acquired space systems and help expand the industry base. We’ve come a long way in our first six years and are proud of what we’ve accomplished. Acquisition will likely always be under fire, but that’s out of necessity because we are stewards of taxpayer money and expect to be held accountable. For Space RCO team members, however, this is our pas- sion. We believe in what we’re doing, we’re confident in how we do it, and we understand the consequences of failure. So, we will continue to dance to our own beat... FETROW and HILBERT lead the strategic com- munications team at the Space Rapid Capa- bilities Office. The views expressed in this article are those of the authors alone and not the Department of Defense. Reproduction or reposting of articles from Defense Acquisition magazine should credit the authors and the magazine.
DAU Resources • Space Acquisition Community of Practice • DAU Space Acquisition Learning Assets
This is about more than just being good stewards of taxpayer money. We’re helping to win a possible space fight so we can win the Joint fight, and we consider that sacrosanct.
58 | DEFENSE ACQUISITION | March-April 2025
Made with FlippingBook - Online Brochure Maker