COMMENTARY


dollar) acquisition efforts that delivered capability to warfighters within six months of identifying a requirement. On a much larger scale (on the order of hundreds of millions of dollars per year), as a colonel-level project manager, my project management office successfully ran the Army’s Rapid Fielding Initiative, which provided deploying Soldiers state-of-the-art individual clothing and equipment—first aid kits, ear plugs, flashlights, flame- resistant clothing—based on items available from the commercial marketplace.


TRIPLE CONSTRAINT However, the pressure to go faster within defense acquisition does not alter the fundamental principles of the PM’s triple constraint— cost, schedule and performance—which limits optimal solutions. Wanting a capability fast involves sacrificing performance and possibly accepting increased costs. Senior leaders fool themselves if they believe that things are somehow magically different with each reform initiative. My wife reminds me of this frequently: “Just saying it more emphatically won’t make it come true.”


Recent acquisition reform initiatives have emphasized the value of prototyping, experimentation, commercial technology, incentives for innovation, partnering with nontraditional defense contrac- tors and faster contracting approaches. Tese initiatives can and do have a positive impact for acquisition professionals. Although far from original (each of these practices has been around for decades), focusing on them allows PMs to use these tools more routinely and innovatively with less need for justification. Proto- typing and experimentation enable the acquisition enterprise to mature technology, as well as refine requirements and concepts of employment. Tis enables the delivery of limited capability to the warfighter as early as possible and sets up future programs of record for long-term success because the requirements, technol- ogy and funding are on firm footing.


FLEXIBILITY + EMPOWERMENT WORK BETTER THAN MANDATES Unfortunately, new initiatives often come with unintended pressure for PMs and often counterproductively limit flexibility


HIGH-DOLLAR SUCCESS


All the ingredients came together for the MRAP program to deliver good products quickly: The need was urgent, and the technology was mature. (Photo by Capt. Jason Welch, 3rd Cavalry Regiment Public Affairs)


https://asc.ar my.mil


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