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Governments, like individuals, can suffer from the effects of too much of a good thing. This is the case when it comes to the degree and intensity of competition for Pentagon contracts. The current leadership of the Department of Defense sees increased competition as a way of reducing costs. Unfortunately,
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Date:
4/22/2013
Competition has become the mantra of the Department of Defense’s (DoD) acquisition corps. The Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology & Logistics, Mr. Frank Kendall has gone on record saying “I think that nothing, nothing, works better than competition to drive cost down.” DoD has
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Date:
2/4/2013
Anyone in the Department of Defense in a position of responsibility for maintenance activities will tell you that rising costs have been “eating their lunch.” One reason for this is that we have a force structure half the size that it was at the end of the Cold War that is five times more active
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Date:
1/29/2013
The defense sector does not operate like a classic free market. There is a single monopsony buyer -- the government, a relatively small cadre of companies, many barriers to entry, controls over information, limits on profits and unconscionably long product cycle times. If anything, the top down,
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Date:
1/18/2013
In the early 1930s, Joseph Stalin, already the Soviet Union's dictator, desperately needed funds to support his plan for rapid industrialization. He acquired the needed resources by confiscating the produce of Russia's farms and selling abroad. This amounted to "stealing low and selling high." The
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Date:
10/15/2012
The Department of Defense has proposed a change in the way it buys goods and services that could have far-reaching and destructive consequences, not only for the nation's warfighters but also for the global competitiveness of the U.S. economy. As reported in Defense News this week, policymakers
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Date:
5/4/2012
A naval vessel has always been a complex instrument of war. Whether a sail-powered ship-of-the-line, coal-fired dreadnaught, oil-burning battleship or a modern nuclear-powered submarine or aircraft carrier, they have been a challenge to build, operate and fight. In addition to the growing complexity
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Date:
4/12/2012
Any way you look at it the current defense acquisition system is busted. New programs take too long to reach fruition and cost too much. Past and even present efforts to reform acquisition are examples of rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. The problem with most reformers is that they believe
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Date:
3/2/2012
What are the signs that the U.S. military is in decline? Stalemate on the battlefield. Withdrawal from long-occupied positions in the world. A shrinking force posture. By all these indicators, the U.S. military is in trouble.
An even more telling sign is when defense contractors defy their major,
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Date:
3/1/2012
Defense department officials and the chiefs of the military services have been reassuring anyone who will listen that the Pentagon has its act together when it comes to implementing the new defense strategy and creating a “leaner and more flexible” force structure. There will be cuts that are painful,
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Date:
2/10/2012
One of the legendary events in the history of U.S. defense planning is a dinner that was held in 1993 between senior officials of the Department of Defense and some fifteen CEOs of the major U.S. defense industries. The story, as recounted by Norm Augustine, then chief executive of Martin Marietta,
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Date:
11/29/2011
After spending the past three days with the Army’s latest Network Integration Evaluation (NIE), I can make three observations. The first is that today’s soldiers are absolutely amazing individuals. From privates all the way up to generals they demonstrate a combination of brains, initiative, determination,
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Date:
11/18/2011
Today, if you were given the choice between operating a company specializing in subprime mortgages or running a private defense company you might want to seriously consider the former. In the subprime mortgage business all you have to contend with is customers who often haven't the money for a reasonable
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Date:
11/15/2011
Pentagon policymakers keep saying they want contractors to be healthy and profitable, but their actions indicate otherwise. The latest installment in a litany of destructive measures is to threaten subpoenas if companies selling commercial items refuse to turn over competition-sensitive information
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Date:
10/5/2011
During his confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee on September 13, deputy defense secretary-designate Ashton Carter assured legislators that the Pentagon is working real hard to reduce a trillion-dollar bill for sustaining the F-35 fighter over its 50-year operational lifetime.
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Date:
9/14/2011
Deputy Secretary of Defense William Lynn claims that the Department of Defense (DoD) is taking a long-term view of its defense industrial base, one that seeks to ensure that the private sector remains profitable. According to an
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Date:
5/12/2011
In April, 2009 as part of his effort to change the culture in the Department of Defense, Secretary Robert Gates cancelled the competition for the VH-71, a new presidential helicopter. The preceding competition produced a vehicle that was overdesigned and way overpriced. As Gates said at the time,
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Date:
5/5/2011
In a recent speech, Army Under Secretary Joseph Westphal made public one of Washington’s worst kept secrets: the Army's acquisition system is broken. Over the past two decades, the Army has experienced a continuous record of failure in major acquisition programs. This has been particularly true
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Date:
4/28/2011
Pentagon acquisition chief Ashton Carter warned an audience at the Heritage Foundation last week that more cancellations of big weapons programs are likely to occur in the years ahead. The Obama Administration has already killed over $330 billion in planned weapons expenditures, from the Air Force's
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Date:
4/26/2011