IT Acquisition: Expediting the Process to Deliver Business Capabilities to the DoD Enterprise

Abstract

Information technology (IT) offers inestimable capability and has been leveraged extensively by the Department of Defense (DoD) to build national security systems, business systems, and virtually all of today's weapon systems. As the DoD continues to transform its forces and business systems to meet the challenges of the 21st century, it will continue to rely on the increased functionality that IT delivers, even as its cost decreases. The DoD's goal is to acquire IT systems quickly and cost effectively. However, this goal is rarely achieved because the deliberate process through which the DoD acquires IT systems does not and can not keep pace with the rapid development that is occurring in today's information age. The DoD relies upon a singular, one-size-fits-all process to acquire its systems and services. As a result, IT systems are subject to excessive risk-reduction strategies, suboptimal test and evaluation (T&E) protocols, and inflexible requirements. Improving the acquisition process for IT is critical if the DoD is to reduce costs and improve the effectiveness of its systems. The DoD has made several revisions to its acquisition policies in an attempt to shorten the acquisition cycle-time. These revisions, however, consist of little more than changes to the traditional acquisition model. Unsurprisingly, these reform initiatives have generally not had much impact the time line for IT acquisitions remains incredibly long. A 2010 House Armed Services Committee (HASC) Panel on Defense Acquisition Reform found that the delivery of defense IT systems requires between 48 and 60 months. Considering that commercial IT is on a 12- to 18-month upgrade cycle, it is often the case that the DoD's new IT systems are outdated often by several generations by the time they are implemented.