On Acquisition - Featuring Hondo Geurts 09.06.2022

The focus of this discussion is on the Defense Industrial Base (DIB) and their interaction directly with PMs. The communications vehicle for this relationship is a contract that assigns accountability. This inherently restricts execution of changes resulting from dynamic thinking.
Getting to scale from the DIB perspective involves making profit by optimizing the process for delivering a consistent product. Getting to scale form the PM perspective seems to involve getting a product evolved from lessons learned to the warfighter in great numbers. If the Program leverages getting an evolved product by controlling the funding promised to the DIB member, then the DIB loses the potential profit associated with optimizing the consistent product. The DIB has adapted and now optimize the profit made by adapting to the change, consequently the cost of making changes has increased and throttles the ability to evolve.
Achieving a mutual understanding in DIB and government means more than just the Acquisition arena. It is the government technical workforce understanding of equipment, systems platforms and processes and healthy sustainable organizational technical capabilities that leads to DIB respect at the bargaining table.
The Acquisition workforce and Technical workforce within the government must be coupled for a successful technical acquisition. This means knowledge management and capability in BOTH sectors. The DAU is doing a great job a building the capability of the Acquisition workforce. However, there is not a parallel effort for building and maintaining the technical workforce. We hire good STEM talent, but the transition of institutional technical knowledge is not a resourcing priority. Actual Technical capability at the individual level or organizational level is not being measured or monitored. It is this workforce that has the ability to rapidly “Pull” the new technologies and innovative research that industry is “Pushing” to government.
PMs need to work with the internal government technical teams to help them build the desired technical capability, not work around them or try and do the technical part of the acquisition themselves or with dedicated acquisition people.
DAU should look at their DOD customers and determine how they can help improve this situation, not treat it like an “out of my swim lane” issue.