DoD Mgt Needed to Overcome Challenges with Services Contracts & Weapon Systems Acquisitions

LuckyBogey's Blog ^ | July 6 | LuckyBogey

[luckybogey]

DOD’s major weapon systems programs continue to take longer to develop, cost more, and deliver fewer quantities and capabilities than originally planned. DOD also continues to face long-standing challenges managing service contracts and contractors. For example, the oversight of service contracts has been recognized as a material weakness in the Army...

Several underlying systemic problems at the strategic level and at the program level continue to contribute to poor weapon systems acquisition. The total acquisition cost of DOD’s 2007 portfolio of major programs has grown by 26 percent over initial estimates... DOD largely continues to define warfighting needs and make investment decisions on a service-by-service basis and assesses these requirements and their funding implications under separate decision-making processes...

In fiscal year 2008, DOD obligated about $200 billion for contractor-provided services, more than doubling the amount it spent a decade ago when measured in real terms... the lack of well-defined requirements, difficulties employing sound business practices, and workforce and training issues hinder efforts to effectively manage and oversee contracts and contractors...

DOD estimated that more than 200,000 contractor personnel were engaged as of July 2008, exceeding the number of uniformed military personnel there...

U.S. military has been adapted to an environment in which contractors are an indispensable part of the force. In that regard, DOD estimated that more than 230,000 contractor personnel were supporting operations in Iraq and Afghanistan as of October 2008...

[luckybogey]

Posted In Bloggers Section - GAO Testimony Before the Subcommittee on Defense, Committee on Appropriations, House of Representatives - GAO-09-362T

[rahbert]

what does one have to do with the other?

[centurion316]

Contracting Officers are largely inexperienced and incompetent. Program Managers are risk adverse to a point of stagnation. Captains and Majors don’t learn how to do anything any more because they now just assign tasks to their contractors.

However, we are going to solve all of these problems by turning all of the contractors into government civilian union members. Yesiree.

[Hawk1976]

Part of the problem with the Air Force acquisitions program, from the perspective that I saw, was that officers were put in the Program Management slot for one year before being moved on to a different post.

What this means is that if you have a developmental system project that is scheduled to last more than one year, you will likely see at least three different government PM’s, each needing to add his little bit to the project to make sure he gets a good review. Each little bit may push an entire redesign in your project. Eventually that eats a hole in the budget, and the Air Force is then required to either kill the project, or find money somewhere to cover the shortfall.

It is much better to work with civilian Program Managers like the Army and Navy uses.

[mbynack]

It is much better to work with civilian Program Managers like the Army and Navy uses.

I was just thinking about a situation like this. I was a contractor working on a Navy contract years ago. They sent me and my boss to the "kickoff meeting" in another city to discuss the expectations of the customer and fine tune what we were going to deliver. The customer, a Navy Senior Chief, asked for things that were outside the scope of the contract and my boss readily agreed to provide them.

On the ride back home I told him that there was no way that we could provide what they wanted using our software and methods. He said, "Don't worry about it. Those guys will all be on sea duty by the time we deliver and none of the new guys will know what was said at this meeting."

That seems to be the theme in politics, too. Promise them anything just to get into office.

[Hawk1976]

My first assignment as a project manager was the equivalent of being promoted to captain of the Titanic after it hit the iceberg. All I could do was save some of the people on the contract.