The Defense Department’s existing acquisition process is too cumbersome and sluggish to keep pace with advancements in information technology, according to its Chief Information Officer (CIO).
To ensure the military is equipped with relevant IT and cyber security systems, the Pentagon will need a speedier acquisition system for information technology systems and software, CIO Terry Halvorsen said Feb. 3 during a lunch hosted by the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association outside Washington, D.C.
“The speed at which all this is changing is only going to get faster,” he said. “That means our processes have to get more agile. … We need to think about a way to acquire IT and cyber that is different from the way we acquire other things.”
Terry Halvorsen, Defense Department Chief Information Officer (CIO) hosts the 2016 Department of Defense (DoD) Chief Information Officer Awards for Cyber and Information Technology Excellence ceremony. Photo: Army, Sgt. Alicia Brand.Terry Halvorsen, Defense Department Chief Information Officer (CIO) hosts the 2016 Department of Defense (DoD) Chief Information Officer Awards for Cyber and Information Technology Excellence ceremony. Photo: Army, Sgt. Alicia Brand.
As the military increasingly introduces electronic, networked vehicles, weapons and gear, there has been a push to procure software updates outside the system through which the Pentagon buys tanks and missiles. IT systems especially are advancing at a rate that leapfrogs attempts to keep them updated through the current acquisition system.
Gary Wang, CIO for the Army, sounded the same note during the AFCEA event. The Army, for instance, has bought a suite of tactical radios in thousands of units that will need consistent, rapid software upgrades to remain technologically relevant, he said.
“The biggest problem is still how we buy stuff,” Wang said. “That’s still a problem…Sometimes we are our own worst enemy. I really believe in commercial-off-the-shelf, so I think all of our back-office stuff should be, really, no different than industry’s back office.”
Reliance on commercial products should increase, but the Defense Department should not turn around and demand extra features or other requirements from industry, Wang said. The military services should be disciplined in their selection of commercial technology and contain their expectations, he added.
Halvorsen said the fundamental hurdle to increased cooperation between the IT industry and the Pentagon is personnel exchange. His office launched the Information Technology Exchange Program to foster a revolving door professionals can use to move between industry and the government. ITEP, not be confused with the Improved Turbine Engine Program seeking a more efficient rotorcraft engine, should expand to about 50 people each from government and industry in 2017, he said.
“There ought to be a better way for us to have what I call dual-career between industry and government,” Halvorsen said. “We need to have more dialogue about capabilities and not requirements,” he said. “The requirements process today…keeps us from talking to each other and contributes to us talking at each other.”
Halvorsen has worked to improve the Pentagon’s relationship with the commercial tech industry, echoing a hallmark policy of former Secretary of Defense Ash Carter. Inroads have been made during his tenure as CIO and that work should continue under the Trump administration, he said.
“Do I think our relationship with industry and government has improved? I do,” Halvorsen said. “I hope we will continue. The biggest thing is to absolutely continue the growing relationship between government and industry,” Halvorsen said. “That has to get better.”