Systemic Inertia: A Comprehensive Analysis of Structural, Legal, and Cultural Impediments to Agile Software Acquisition within the German Defense Procurement System

Abstract

This thesis examines why agile software acquisition remains difficult within the German defense procurement system and argues that these difficulties result from the interaction of structural, legal, and cultural constraints rather than from any single rule or institution. Using structured document analysis and a comparative assessment of German procurement reforms and U.S. defense acquisition practices, it evaluates both the sources of systemic inertia and the transferability of selected U.S. mechanisms to Germany. The findings show that recent reforms, including acceleration measures and the 2024 PBN framework, improved procedural speed but did not overcome deeper barriers to agile software acquisition. These barriers include fragmented software governance, hardware-oriented process logic, limited specialized capacity, and an oversight model that still prioritizes ex ante control. The thesis concludes that Germany should treat software acquisition as a distinct procurement problem. It recommends consolidating software governance within BAAINBw and clarifying a software-specific path under PBN, making agile practice more tangible through an internal software playbook and pilot projects, and using rapid and IT-specific routes more deliberately for software-intensive procurement.