Large Lot Procurement for Munitions Acceleration: A Novel Acquisition Typology to Catalyze a Defense-Industrial Renaissance

Abstract

Large Lot Procurement (hereinafter, Large Lot or LLP) was designed to address one of the primary structural constraints in munitions production: the current misalignment between government and private sector incentives. The proximate goal of this contracting typology is to incentivize vendors, at the prime level as well as lower tiers, to invest their own funds into facilities, personnel, and R&D. Accomplishment of this immediate aim, from production efficiencies as well as this additional investment, is then leveraged for additional manufacturing of end items. While, as originally conceived, Large Lot Procurement was intended to catalyze munitions production and supply chain development, it could easily be applied to other categories of defense articles that are like munitions. This essay has eight sections: 1. The Need for Acquisition Transformation 2. Overview and Brief History of LLP 3. The American Arsenal of Democracy and Its Modern Discontents 4. Implementation Considerations 5. Recent Policy Decisions and Their Relevance 6. Modeling Why It Works 7. Large Lot Beyond Munitions 8. Lessons Learned: How to Spur an Acquisition Renaissance