Change in Acquisitions Mentality in Regard to Engineer Kits within the Marine Corps

Abstract

Currently, the Marine Corps buys kits the same way that they buy other items, with one large buy or a few smaller buys. These buys are triggered from needs requests sent by the operating forces due to obsolescence of gear or a new requirement. This, in my opinion, leaves too much room for Marines to make do with what they have, leaving little room for improvement of tools and equipment that keeps pace with industry standards. In my capstone, I consider whether an evolutionary acquisitions approach would be beneficial to the performance and lifetime cost currently associated with engineer kits, which include carpenter, pioneer, and lineman’s tool kits; some explosive ordnance disposal kits and maintenance kits; Airfield Damage Repair kits; and Multi-Terrain Loader kits. By setting up incremental evaluations of the kits based on time rather than needs request, Program Manager Engineer Systems can better evaluate whether the Marine Corps equipment is keeping up with industry and the mission and create a forcing function for new equipment acquisition without having to replace all the other parts of the tool kit.