FAR/NOT FAR


The Army's acquisition enterprise, after a string of losing seasons, is a home team that’s started to win again.


When we think of alternative acquisition, that tends to be other-transaction author- ity and middle-tier acquisition.


BOUNDARY CONDITIONS


For Etherton, these prototyping mech- anisms amount to a “lot of really cool fun stuff,” but it's all weighted toward the beginning of the process. “Move. Do it quick, and all this kind of thing. But when you talk about doing something to scale, where it becomes a major capability, [it] looks to me a lot like the old system.” Because of the program focus of planning, programming, budgeting and execution (PPBE), everything that gets funded as an official, enduring program has to be a program of record. So, sooner or later, everything has to turn to the FAR.


REFORM STILL NEEDED With the current optimism, is this a pivotal moment in Army acquisition history?


For Eric Lofgren, a senior research fellow at the George Mason University Center for Government Contracting, the answer could be no. We are, he said, at the maxi- mum swing of the pendulum of “that decentralized delegation, speed kind of aspect of the pendulum, and we're just going to swing right back. Tat's the most likely answer.” Which means that, while


According to Jon Etherton, an acquisition expert and former Senate staffer, defense acquisition is beset by unfortunate conditions that it can do very little to change and must work around. (Photo by U.S. Marine Corps Systems Command Office of Public Affairs and Communication)


SAME OLD


For acquisition expert Eric Lofgren, until the Soviet-style PPBE system goes away, defense acquisition is not going to be as conducive to innovation as the acquisition system needs to be. (Photo by Stephen Gosling)


12


Army AL&T Magazine Winter 2022


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92