Obstacles, and Possible Solutions, to the Analysis of Department of Defense Outsourcing for Goods and Services

Abstract

This paper is an attempt by the author to understand why research and analysis of the topic of outsourcing for goods and services by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) is extremely difficult. I have researched, written, and published on at least six different topics since receiving my PhD from the University of California at Berkeley in 1970, and this topic on DoD outsourcing is by far the most difficult. In the paper, I seek to explain this difficulty in terms of seven obstacles. The most important obstacles are the following: lack of an established literature on the topic; neglect of the importance of distinguishing classified and proprietary information; generally partial and thus unreliable data; complexity of the gigantic bureaucracy that is the DoD; lack of analysis of innovation, should there be any; unwillingness by those involved in outsourcing to share information; and a stultifying attitude towards innovation by large sectors of the acquisition workforce.