The Section 809 Panel — which has a congressional mandate to recommend changes to the way the Defense Department procures technology — released its final report Jan. 15, stating the department must put its antiquated acquisition system on a “war footing” if it is expected to keep ahead of adversaries’ technological advances.
The third installment is the culmination of two years of work. It puts forth 58 recommendations that are added to the 40 recommendations released in volumes 1 and 2, plus one interim report. The ultimate goal of the recommendations is to create a new acquisition system that “will allow DoD to deliver and sustain technologically superior capability inside the turn of near-peer competitors and nonstate actors,” the report said. Volume 3 repeats what many have said: that the Defense Department’s “acquisition operates within a stovepiped management structure that values strict adherence to processes and procedures over meeting the mission.”
DoD’s Dynamic Marketplace Framework
Its industrial age principles do not work in a 21st century market, it added. “All too often, DoD is buying yesterday’s technology for delivery tomorrow at inflated prices, rather than buying tomorrow’s technology for delivery today at competitive market prices,” it said.
Panel Chair Dave Drabkin recommended that policymakers read the report “as a whole.” There might be individual recommendations that aren’t popular.
“Our recommendations individually might not seemed purposed, but they are and we identify that purpose in Volume 3,” he said.
Keep reading this article at: http://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/articles/2019/1/15/section-809-panel-final-report-put-defense-acquisitions-on-war-footing
See the 809 Panel’s final report here:
- Final Report – Part 1 – Sec809Panel_Vol3-Report_JAN19_part-1
- Final Report – Part 2 – Sec809Panel_Vol3-Report_JAN19_part-2
See the 809 Panel’s earlier reports here: https://section809panel.org/media/updates/
