AT&L | The Contracting Education Academy

January 8, 2018 By AMK

‘Surprising capabilities’ guru tapped to lead Air Force acquisition

The Pentagon’s buyer-in-chief, who aims to improve overall military acquisition by mimicking its non-traditional weapons shops, is about to get some major help. That’s because the president today nominated Will Roper, the founding director of the secretive Strategic Capabilities Office, to become the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition.

Created in 2012, SCO helps the services modify existing arms and gear to produce “surprising new capabilities,” as then-Defense Secretary Ash Carter put it. Its best-known success stories are swarming Perdix micro-drones and an altered SM-6 missile that could sink ships.

Roper’s office — or perhaps, Roper himself — drew the eye of Ellen Lord, Trump’s first defense undersecretary for acquisition, technology and logistics. Last month, Lord brought him along to a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on acquisition reform, and pointed him out as she answered senators’ questions about her plans to speed up military purchasing.

**Relevant development, acquisition, and procurement agencies within the U.S. Air Force.**

Keep reading this article at: http://www.defenseone.com/business/2018/01/surprising-capabilities-guru-tapped-lead-air-force-acquisition/144940/

December 27, 2017 By AMK

Pentagon’s ambitious goal: Launch a weapons program in just 12 months

It’s time to make defense acquisition faster, the Pentagon’s top weapons buyer recently told lawmakers.

How fast? Request proposals, evaluate the options, and award a contract in 12 months or less, said Ellen Lord, defense undersecretary for acquisition, technology and logistics.

“Now that’s a first step, I would like to be on record to say,” Lord told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Dec. 8th.

There are various ways to measure how slowly the defense acquisition process moves, but whichever one you pick, Lord’s goal is ambitious. Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., noted that it can take the Pentagon long enough to acquire new technology that it can be out-of-date by the time the contract is signed. Rounds pegged the process at about two and a half years. Any project with software in it — be it a cellphone or high-end military capability — is likely going to evolve into its next iteration in that time, let alone before troops get their hands on it.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.govexec.com/defense/2017/12/pentagons-ambitious-goal-launch-weapons-program-just-12-months/144408

December 13, 2017 By AMK

AT&L reorganization will take two years to complete

The Pentagon plans to take two years to complete the reorganization of its acquisition, technology and logistics office, in order to avoid missteps as it creates two new replacement organizations.

Talking to reporters on the sidelines of the Reagan National Defense Forum, Ellen Lord, the final undersecretary for AT&L, described the plan as a phased process, which will include quarterly progress reports and feature at least some jobs that report to both the undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, and the undersecretary of defense for research and engineering.

“We are looking at structurally setting up the split so that there are some bridging positions where there will be certain individuals who report into both the under for A&S and the under for R&E, to be able to make sure we have continuity,” Lord said Dec. 2.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.defensenews.com/digital-show-dailies/reagan-defense-forum/2017/12/03/atampl-reorganization-will-take-two-years-to-complete/

October 26, 2017 By AMK

OTA contracts are the new cool thing in DoD acquisition

Other transaction authority (OTA) contracts seem to be the hip new thing in defense acquisition circles.

The Defense Department, the services and some of their components are all trying to jump on the OTA train as Congress continues to grant the military more authorities with the special contracts.

“This mechanism is just so much faster and so much more attuned to getting something quickly that we want today and not have to spend a couple years going through a protest, going through this huge process to get something we wanted two years ago,” Air Force Director of IT Acquisition Process Development Maj. Gen. Sarah Zabel said during an Oct. 19 speech at a Defense Daily event in Washington. “Everyone is very enthusiastic about OTAs. Still learning how to use them, still growing in the use, but they’re performing very well.”

For those unfamiliar, OTAs give DoD and the military services a work around for the traditional acquisition process. OTAs can take many forms, but are typically used to build prototypes of systems outside of the Federal Acquisition Regulations.

Keep reading this article at: https://federalnewsradio.com/acquisition/2017/10/ota-contracts-are-the-new-cool-thing-in-dod-acquisition/

October 23, 2017 By AMK

Defense acquisition workers seeing a new era in training

The Defense acquisition workforce may see a new era in training, recruiting and retainment as the Pentagon and military services change the way they view the value of their employees.

Both the Army and the Defense Department are making changes in how they evaluate and prioritize the experience and education of the acquisition workforce.

The Army recently released a directive focused on acquisition talent management.

“We want our people to have an appropriate set of experiences,” acting Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy said of the directive during a speech last week at an Association of the United States Army conference in Washington. “We want our program managers and officers to have fellowships with industry, masters degrees within certain disciplines. It’s also about the tenures for people in program management. We’re looking at tours of three-to-four years, so more continuity and the right set of experiences so that they have a broader perspective than the ones we’ve had previously.”

Keep reading this article at: https://federalnewsradio.com/contracting/2017/10/defense-acquisition-workers-seeing-a-new-era-in-training/

It’s time to make defense acquisition faster, the Pentagon’s top weapons buyer recently told lawmakers.

The Pentagon plans to take two years to complete the reorganization of its acquisition, technology and logistics office, in order to avoid missteps as it creates two new replacement organizations.

Other transaction authority (OTA) contracts seem to be the hip new thing in defense acquisition circles.

The Defense acquisition workforce may see a new era in training, recruiting and retainment as the Pentagon and military services change the way they view the value of their employees.

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