DoD Strives for Better IT Acquisitions

Defense IT: Strategy, Implementation and Challenges, DoD has been striving over the last decade to improve services acquisition.  In 2001, (amended in 2006) Congress required DoD to implement a management structure for the acquisition of services.  DoD established new positions within its management structure to oversee and coordinate service acquisition, including senior managers within the office of the USD for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics (USD(AT&L)).  USD(AT&L) also created its Acquisition of Services Functional Integrated Product Team, in part, to determine how to address legislative requirements to provide training for personnel acquiring services. 

• Achieve Affordable Programs 
• Incentivize Productivity & Innovation in Industry and Government 
• Improve Tradecraft in Acquisition of Services 
• Eliminate Unproductive Processes and Bureaucracy 
• Promote Effective Competition 
• Control Costs Throughout the Product Lifecycle  
• Improve the Professionalism of the Total Acquisition Workforce?

In December 2013, as one of his last acts as deputy defense secretary, Ashton Carter distributed a memo to the acquisition workforce implementing new DOD Instruction 5000.02 directed at streamlining the acquisition process and tailoring the process to the product or service being acquired.  The instructions will serve as interim guidance while USD(AT&L) develops a legislative proposal to simplify the current body of law into a more user-friendly set of requirements. 

DoD will continue to evolve its acquisition methods to adapt to the rapidly changing technical environment.  The goal is to balance the acquisition method to the need.  Emergent needs require an agile acquisition approach that is rapid, responsive, flexible, and enable innovation.  Deliberate needs require acquisition methods optimized for delivery of complex systems to include checks and balances for accountable acquisition, and that provide oversight and synchronization.

Deltek's Defense IT: Strategy, Implementation and Challenges report also examines DoD’s strategic IT vision, environmental factors impacting execution, and the key technology priorities being deployed to support DoD’s mission and strategy going forward.  The report provides a view of the major drivers in the defense IT market with a focus on strategic direction, contracting preferences, contract opportunities and market forecasts for various major technology areas.?