COMMENTARY DONE THAT BEEN THERE,


BEWARE the RUSH to FAILURE


Flexibility in contracting and scheduling delivers capability to warfighters in the optimal time—not necessarily the shortest time.


by Robert F. Mortlock, Ph.D., Col., USA (Ret.) “S


chedule-driven programs usually fail,” a seasoned acquisition professional and mentor cautioned me as he prepared to retire after a long, successful program management career. I was an inexperienced but highly trained and motivated new acquisition professional working on the program schedule for an urgently


needed warfighter capability to detect biological warfare agents.


In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the possible use of biological weapons on the battle- field was a real threat, driving the need for a biological standoff detection system. Te warfighters needed the system as soon as possible, and my acquisition team planned a development, testing and procurement strategy that met the warfighter’s need on the battlefield. Despite the urgency, the desire for a responsive acquisition approach, and avail- able resources and funding, the underlying laser technologies did not work reliably outside of a controlled laboratory environment. Te program proceeded anyway, but languished in the “valley of death” and never led to a fielded, militarily useful product. Te valley of death refers to the gap that often occurs between technologies that work in a controlled laboratory environment on a small scale in prototypes, and technologies that work for warfighters in a combat environment on a large scale in manufactured products. Even now, decades later, the technologies that might enable use of lasers to detect and iden- tify biological agents at a distance can’t be relied on to alert Soldiers to potential danger.


https://asc.ar my.mil 79


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