FROM THE CHAIRMAN AND EXECUTIVE
EDITOR Dr. Larrie D. Ferreiro
The theme for this issue is “Informed Decision-Making.” Defense acquisition often involves inherently uncertain processes when developing new platforms, creating novel technologies, or navigating unique procurement strategies. The three articles in this issue, as well as the books reviewed, all address the processes that inform decision- making at every level. The first article is “Commercial Solutions Opening: An Innovative, Competitive Process
to Solve Slow Government Procurement” by Eric W. Washburn, Mary Beth Colavito, E. Cory Yoder, and Rene G. Rendon. The authors identify the strengths, weaknesses, and best practices of the Commercial Solutions Opening (CSO) as a solicitation technique leading to contract award. They further detail how CSO was first legislated in 2016 and is now a rapidly evolving competitive solicitation technique to achieve innovation throughout the defense contracting community. The second article, by Kyle P. Marquis, Edward D. White, Brandon M. Lucas, Robert D. Fass, Jonathan D. Ritschel, and Shawn M. Valentine, is titled “Distribution Comparisons of EAC Cost Growth for Aircraft Work Breakdown Structure Elements.” In this study, the authors analyze probability distributional fits to Estimate at Completion (EAC) cost growth for various Work Breakdown Structure elements, using over 60 aircraft programs as their basis. Their analysis shows that either
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