Frank Kendall, US undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics (AT&L), oversees hundreds of billions of dollars in procurement programs. But that has not stopped him from taking on some side projects. He recently rewrote the Pentagon’s acquisition bible, known as Defense Department Instruction 5000.02. The new guidance implements “Better Buying Power” initiatives developed by Kendall and his predecessor, Ashton Carter.
Q. Can you talk about the update to DoD 5000.02?
A. I found a couple of gaps that I thought we needed to close that were fairly significant. Also, there were a number of laws that had been passed that needed to be implemented into the [Department of Defense Instruction] somehow. And we had done some things under Better Buying Power that I thought needed to be reinforced through 5000.02.
The gaps have to do largely with the need for a requirements decision point during what is the risk-reduction phase, the technology demonstration phase. Essentially, what we were doing is writing a draft requirements document when we first came through before Milestone A. That Milestone A kicks off a number of risk-reduction activities with industry, usually competitively. Then we were setting up Milestone B, the entry into full-scale development, after the preliminary design review. But nowhere in between was there a place to finalize the requirements. So we added a new decision point, which I’ll participate in for major programs, but it’s largely a Joint Requirements Oversight Council, Joint Staff, service, requirements community decision.
Keep reading this interview at: http://www.defensenews.com/article/20140108/DEFREG02/301080018/Interview-Frank-Kendall-US-Defense-Acquisition-Chief
