IMPROVING ACQUISITION
The Army Acquisition Review is a start to fixing acquisition, he said. “We see this study as a useful framework for our inter- nal reform efforts, and we will address each issue in some way.”
LIMITING PARAMETERS Among the recommendations the Army will implement is to limit the number of key performance parameters and key system attributes (KSAs) in acquisition programs.
In its report spelling out which of the Decker-Wagner recommendations it will implement, the Army acknowledges that
“the number of key performance parameters and key system attributes in requirements documents has a significant impact on cost and schedule.”
The Decker-Wagner report recommends giving industry the flexibility to provide the government cost-effective and timely designs by making KSAs “tradable.” Industry might be able to say, for instance, that if the Army were willing to accept a
MULTIYEAR PROGRAMS
The Paladin Integrated Management program is expected to implement multiyear contracts in FY12. The Decker-Wagner report recommends using multiyear contracts for stable programs. (U.S. Army photo by Office of the ASAALT.)
design that didn’t meet all of its require- ments, a design could be produced at less cost or in a more timely manner than if all KSAs had to be met.
“Industry must have flexibility in trading KSAs in order to drive designs to cost- effective proposals that can be achieved on realistic timetables,” the Army wrote in its report. “In developing requests for proposals for future systems, the Army must carefully tailor KSAs that support the acquisition strategy by establishing threshold and objective values for each.”
REALISTIC REQUIREMENTS Heidi Shyu, Acting Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology, spoke specifically about the requirements for developing Army sys- tems. She said it is important for the Army to keep in mind what is possible when developing requirements documents.
“What we are doing now that’s different is looking at the trade space before we say we want this capability,” Shyu said. “The Army is absolutely dedicated and com- mitted to an affordable, achievable, and realistic approach to acquisition.”
Shyu said that when asking for capabili- ties in a new system, the technology might not be mature enough to support them.
“[When] you are pushing the envelope to achieve the capability you’d like to have with immature technologies, that takes time to develop,” she said. “The sched- ule stretches, and you have an optimistic schedule you can’t achieve.”
Schedule slips cost money, she said.
“What are the knobs we can turn to dial down our appetite? Understanding that is absolutely tantamount to designing and developing a program that is achievable and affordable and realizable.”
98 Army AL&T Magazine
C. Todd Lopez is a DOD civilian who writes about Soldiers, Army programs, and Army policy inside the National Capitol Region for the Defense Media Activity-Army.
EFFORTS UNDERWAY The Army is already engaged in practices to overhaul its acquisition programs, Shyu said, adding that the Army welcomes the Decker-Wagner report’s findings.
Among efforts already underway is an increase in competitive prototyping before acquisition Milestone B decisions. This means that competing vendors on a project might provide prototype vehicles for extensive evaluation before the Army downselects to fewer vendors on a con- tract. Thus, any bugs can be worked out before a program moves into production.
Also underway is an increase in the purchase of technical data packages (TDPs) from defense contractors. The TDP is the body of technical, scientific, research, and engineering data and schematics that industry has produced in develop- ing a product. The Army can purchase the TDP and, with full ownership, can recompete for production at lower costs.
Shyu also cited the Army’s Capability Portfolio Reviews (CPRs) as a cost-cutting measure. CPRs look at the entire range of what the Army already has in a given capability area to find redundancies.
Another Army effort is looking to industry for capabilities that are already developed, such as commercial-off-the-shelf technologies.
“There are things we can leverage from the commercial industry,” said Shyu. Computer processors would fall into that category. But munitions, for instance, are something that she said only the Army has a real interest in developing.
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