IMPROVING ACQUISITION: AN INDUSTRY PERSPECTIVE
the nation and the taxpayer—to go back to this approach.
LOOKING AT TOMORROW
Bell displays its “cockpit of the future” in fall 2015 at an Association of the United States Army trade show in Atlanta. Technology and innovation often move faster than the current acquisition system can support, Bell’s Snyder noted, and a stronger commitment to industry-government collaboration is one way to get the final product into the hands of the end user more rapidly.
acquisition management practices that worked in the past as well as introducing more agile and adaptive methods that will help streamline and simplify the process.
EMPOWERED
DECISION-MAKING From a general perspective, the defense acquisition system can very often be time-consuming, resource-intensive and bureaucratic. We believe that there are a number of ways to realize efficiencies and save time and the associated costs.
First, empowering the individuals clos- est to the work—on both the industry and
government sides—and thereby
engaging the entire team will allow us to develop more collaborative and innova- tive programs that can be implemented more efficiently. Tese core values apply to our partnerships, our programs and, in spirit, the acquisition process at large.
Secondly, we need to empower our best professionals and incentivize program managers to not only procure the most cost-effective solutions but also to deliver critical capabilities and requirements quickly to the warfighter. We must look at programs from a holistic perspective and understand the total cost of a solu- tion, including integration costs, training, maintenance, etc.—not just price at face
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value. Doing so will allow us to improve our agency review processes and evalua- tion cycles to be more in tune with urgent requirements and customer needs.
Finally, end-state equipment and its com- ponents should be separated in a manner such that the military can update design components easily with the introduc- tion of new technologies, without having to go through a multiyear, multiagency review of system upgrades or capabil- ity increases. Tis will greatly assist in getting advanced functionality to the ser- vices without waiting the 10-plus years it often takes to introduce a new product, and will help integrate new technologies more efficiently into existing fleets at half the cost and in half the time.
A few decades ago, the contracting pro- cess was different, and easier. Government and industry negotiators sat together and worked collaboratively to develop con- tracts that sought to meet both parties’ expectations. Tis type of open, robust dialogue and discussion ensured that all parties fully understood the require- ments and left little to chance. It helped streamline deliverables and eliminated
“scope (or requirements) creep.” Today, as we work together to find ways to make the acquisition process less complicated, it would serve us well—the warfighter,
A COLLABORATIVE PHILOSOPHY Industry and government partners are working hard to learn from one another, as we strive to create new processes from the ground up while continuing to increase transparency and agility within all of our respective organizations.
At the industry level, we recognize it takes time to conduct preliminary design concept studies, analyses of alternatives, requests for information, requests for proposals and other steps of the com- petitive process ultimately leading to production. While all of these are impor- tant elements of the overall acquisition process, they all consume time, which is a critical commodity. In our experience, the vast majority of program schedule lags between industry and the govern- ment result from lack of data sharing and waiting for responses to inquiries.
+ FASTER, BETTER
The Bell V-280s here will have more than twice the speed and range of current helicopter platforms. Speed is also important in the acquisition process, and Bell advocates incentivizing program managers to improve the time it takes to get critical capabilities and requirements to the warfighter.
Army AL&T Magazine October-December 2016
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