Speed and Agility: How Defense Acquisition Can Enable Innovation

Abstract

The Department of Defense (DoD) leadership demands a more agile, innovative enterprise that can rapidly integrate and deliver leading technologies. In its struggle to keep up with the rapid pace of change in both threats and technologies, the DoD is burdened by complex, bureaucratic processes, policies, and culture that hinder speed and agility. The disjointed budget, requirements, and acquisition domains compound the DoD's difficulties. Many acquisition professionals lack the requisite experience to navigate a disorganized knowledge enterprise to develop strategies and execute processes. Congress and DoD executives have instituted many initiatives to rapidly acquire and deliver capabilities to the warfighters, but these have varying maturity and success. The DoD can implement key enablers from the enterprise to the tactical levels to replicate the success of government and industry innovations. Schedule should join cost as a top priority for a DoD acquisition enterprise that builds upon and integrates many innovative organizations and initiatives into its activities. This requires bold leadership to reshape the culture and enable top talent to prosper. The DoD should restructure programs and portfolios to enable agile and iterative developments, continue partnerships with established industry, and engage the services of innovative new firms to maintain technological superiority.