By Calvin Biesecker
A new Information Technology (IT) Acquisition Task Force created within the Defense Department is examining new processes for acquiring information capabilities at a faster pace than currently using new management, funding and acquisition procedures to help it take advantage of the rapid introduction of new capabilities in the information age, according to a DoD report delivered to Congress earlier this month.
The task force, which is being chaired by Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn and led by Elizabeth McGrath, deputy chief management officer within the Office of the Secretary of Defense, includes five guiding principles that supports multiple deliveries of deployed capabilities every year to 18 months and also embraces iterative processes to allow for more timely testing, prototyping and the use of open architecture to achieve interoperability and easy integration.
DoD is also showing flexibility in how it implements the new process, with the aim of doing it incrementally as new policies are adopted, says the report, A New Approach for Delivering Information Technology Capabilities in the Department of Defense. The 61-page report is dated November 2010 and was released on Dec. 9.
Unlike typical military weapons programs that have longer procurement cycles, the task force recognizes that speed is important in all aspects of acquiring IT capabilities. On the management side, the report says the “new process will be moving from large multi-year programs to portfolios of short-duration projects,” requiring “a new approach to projects oversight,” including “more accountability on timely coordination, quicker decision making, and increased stakeholder involvement through more frequent performance-based in-process reviews.”
The report also recognizes that current budgeting practices used to fund most DoD acquisition programs are ill-suited for the rapidly changing commercial IT market. As such, it is exploring several different funding approaches to IT acquisition.
One approach is a “single IT appropriation” that could be aligned with portfolios that have been planned and programmed in advance of the business case. “Additionally, the single IT appropriation will contain provisions for performance-based metrics that must be established before funds could be obligated and would offer complete transparency to ensure accountability to oversight officials,” the report says.
Another possible approach is having a “revolving fund” that makes use of non-expiring funds that enables “incremental funding alternatives” within IT. The fund would still allow for congressional control over what can be paid for while still retaining “flexible scheduling” of projects, the report says.
A third option would allow “stable funding” funding to be realigned to meet “multiple time-boxed, overlapping projects in accordance with an approved roadmap,” the report says. “The resultant funding element would define desired IT capabilities–vice individual programs, as is typical today–and would require cost, schedule, and performance parameters to be created and baselined before a project would be authorized. Consistent funding of multiple IT projects will provide better schedule planning for delivering IT capability, better change responsiveness by rapid adjustments across interrelated projects, and a stabilizing influence in an otherwise dynamic IT environment.”
The report says that however DoD decides to fund IT procurements, it plans a pilot effort first.
As for acquisition processes, to help speed development the task force says that “development efforts will focus on what can be achieved in the short-term based on low-risk technology balanced with user-determine priorities.” It adds that typical milestone and program reviews in use would be redone or replaced with process reviews that are more frequent “at key decision points.”
The DoD report was required as part of the FY ’10 Defense Authorization Act. The report says that any legislative changes needed to institute the new IT acquisition policies will be sent to Congress in FY ’12.