ACQUISITION 2.0— Time for a New Paradigm by BRIAN SCHULTZ
T hese are exciting times for those of us who advocate “real” acquisition reform. We have witnessed many previous attempts at reform over the last decade with some marginal improvements, but the momentum for transformational reform is accelerating.
This is a remarkable opportunity for defense acquisition to fnally aban- don many of the Cold War processes that hinder DoD’s ability to deliver decisive capabilities to our Warfght- ers. Executive Order 14192, Restoring Common Sense to Federal Procure- ment, Federal Acquisition Regulation 2.0, the proposed FoRGED (Fostering Reform and Government Efficiency in Defense) Act, and the proposed SPEED (Streamlining Procurement for Efective Execution and Delivery) Act are just a few examples of new initiatives that can drive change. In- deed, we appear to have a consensus within the acquisition community that we must act now! While it’s not clear what the reform outcomes will be, important tenets should be included. These tenets were addressed in previous articles, some of which are several years old but
still relevant. Links to the articles are highlighted in the Suggested Reading list. The list of items is not necessar- ily in order of importance as they are all critical and interdependent. For example, it would be difcult, if not impossible, to adopt a comprehensive portfolio management model without financial management reform. We cannot accelerate acquisition cycle times without reforming our require- ments and budgeting processes. A piecemeal approach to reform will not be efective as we have seen over the last two decades. We must reform the entire system, as described in the following founda- tional tenets. Portfolio Management In the commercial world, compa- nies use portfolio management to ensure investments, resources, pro-
cesses, and execution align with the overall strategy. This helps to maxi- mize the value of the entire portfolio of projects. Companies can rapidly shift resources and priorities to ad- dress new threats or to exploit oppor- tunities. Alignment of eforts directly links back to the company strategy. While DoDD 7045.20, Capability Portfo- lio Management , outlines DoD’s current process, it is constrained by structural barriers, including lack of funding flexibility, a slow and rigid require- ments process, and organizational stovepipes. Initiatives by the Ofce of the Secretary of Defense, such as the Integrated Acquisition Portfo- lio Review process and Competitive Pathfnders, attempt to tackle these barriers and are an important step in reforming the current process. But we must go further and remove the struc- tural barriers so that heroic eforts are
40 | DEFENSE ACQUISITION | September-October 2025
Made with FlippingBook - Online Brochure Maker