The State of the Defense Acquisition System, 2024: Statement before the Senate Committee on Armed Services Subcommittee on Readiness and Management Support on “An Update on the State of the Department of Defense Acquisition System" : American Enterprise Institute , March 20 , 2024
From the document: “Chairman Hirono, Ranking Member Sullivan, and other distinguished members of the subcommittee, I would like to thank you for the opportunity to testify this afternoon on the state of the Department of Defense’s (DOD) acquisition system, to include recent changes to the acquisition system, especially those made in response to congressional direction.
The defense acquisition system works as well as can be expected given the many, and oftentimes conflicting, mandates it must meet in law, executive orders, regulation, and policy. With enough time, the system can eventually provide demonstrated capability to the warfighter, account for the expenditure of taxpayer dollars, and guard against corruption. The acquisition workforce is stressed and overworked but is committed to complying to the best of their ability with all required mandates. The system is neither efficient nor cost effective, but it is for the most part fair and deliberate.
Still, DOD’s legacy acquisition system is too slow to be competitive and is only incrementally innovative. The industrial base and the overarching defense acquisition system (research, development, acquisition, contracting, requirements, budget, and logistics) have been optimized for a peacetime cadence after 30 years without a great power competition or conflict. This limited threat environment and a false assumption that US defense technological dominance will continue to exist has crowded out the importance of time in terms of decision-making, process, and innovation.”
Authors - Greenwalt, BillRelated Resources
