One Small Step for Space Acquisition Doctrine
to enabling his overarching acquisition philosophy (Calvelli, 2022). Memoranda like these are traditionally coordinated between multiple staff offices before approval, and the final signature only comes after scrutiny and complete concurrence. Because Calvelli had over 30 years of experience working for the NRO, his extensive knowledge, coupled with his presidential appointment, qualifies him to provide authoritative insights into effective practices for space acquisition. Another question that guided this study was whether these memoranda would be authoritative enough to inspire, motivate, and influence actual change within space acquisition. For example, one tenet describes collocating the PM and contracting team (Calvelli, 2022). It would be reasonable to ask the following question: If all Space Force acquisition organizations do not adhere to this (or any) tenet, would it qualify a unit as out of compliance? It could be argued that, like doctrine, the 9 Tenets memorandum is authoritative but not directive. One could also argue that if these tenets were codified in a “more” authoritative doctrinal document, a culture would be built that adheres to all recognized best practices.
As described earlier, acquisition reform is not a new concept. Over the last two decades, several books and reports have come out on the subject. The reports cover the entire DoD and are not unique to space acquisition. In his book Defense Acquisition Reform, 1960–2009: An Elusive Goal , J. Ronald Fox analyzed the numerous attempts to reform the acquisition system for major defense acquisition systems. Therein, Fox describes historical reforms such as the introduction of DoD 5000 in 1971; the Packard Commission in 1986, which recommended the creation of positions such as the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, SAE, and Program Executive Officer (PEO); and the introduction of
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Defense ARJ, Summer 2025, Vol. 32 No. 2: 132—193
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