Understanding Acquisition Speed for the Defense Department’s Costliest and Most Complex Programs

Abstract

Acquisition reform occurs in cycles and the most recent cycle prioritized acquisition speed. Despite this recent focus, the acquisition research community lacks a comprehensive understanding of how quickly the Defense Department has historically fielded major defense acquisition programs (MDAPs), what factors drive that speed, and how future schedule estimates can be improved. To address these gaps, this project leveraged a database which contained over 200 MDAPs that were initiated between 1963 and the present. Using this data, the report describes how various programmatic, technical, and strategic factors affect acquisition speed. Based on these observations, the report also suggests how MDAP schedule estimates can be improved in the future.