I have seen plenty of examples of contracts going to small companies in order to meet congressionally mandated quotes and then the small company being unable to perform.
There is no simple solution to the acquisition system. A lot of the issues stem from the military having little concept of how development works and adding all sorts of ridiculous ‘addons’. Go watch the Pentagon Wars and you will notice all the contractor did was say, “WTF? Ok sure we can build whatever you want.” It was the military customer that could not figure out what the heck they wanted the system to be.
I work for a company that is smaller, more agile and innovative. But it is awfully hard to do those things when customers can’t make up their minds and the contractor can’t tell them ‘no, we can’t do that for free, or to that schedule.’
I am tired of contractor companies getting the rap for everything being so messed up. We make whatever the military asks for, following the processes and procedures they insist on while meeting the legal requirements congress levies on us. That is it. Doing all those things mean we pat our head and rub our tummy while dancing on a flaming tight rope and singing the national anthem. Don’t blame us. We do what we are told and try to make money doing it.
Look, I agree. the Defense Acquisition process is a process owned by the DOD. I am not blaming private companies here, though there is plenty of blame, greed and crony profiteering to go around.