Speaker: Mr. Richard M. Murray

Description: The FY18 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), §872 directed the Secretary of Defense to task the Defense Innovation Board (DIB) "to undertake a study on streamlining software development and acquisition regulations." The DIB submitted their final SWAP report to Congress on 3 May 2019, which included recommendations to address the most critical statutory, regulatory, and cultural hurdles facing the Department of Defense when modernizing software acquisitions.

The Software Acquisition and Practices (SWAP) report, "Software is Never Done: Refactoring the Acquisition Code for Competitive Advantage", articulated a possible path forward for Congress and DoD that would shift from requirements-based acquisition of software (DFARS/DoD 5000) to a process that enables rapid deployment and continuous improvement of software to the field that could provide increased insight to reduce the risk of slow, costly, and overgrown programs. Many of the recent reforms in DoD software acquisition policy can be directly attributed to the SWAP report.

Come join Mr. Richard Murray, Co-Chair of the SWAP Report, as he discusses the intent behind the report recommendations and how the report can guide a program to meet that intent. He will also engage in a dialog on why it is possible to use modern software practices in the DoD to improve software acquisition. There will be an opportunity for Q&A.