Re-Architecting the DOD Acquisition Process: Transition to the Information Age

摘要

The military is in the midst of significant change due to the Department of Defense (DoD) Transformation Planning Guidance, a significant part of which is the implementation of Network-Centric Warfare (NCW) theory. Unfortunately, the existing DoD acquisition process poorly develops the weapons and other systems needed to realize the full potential of transformation in NCW. The current military acquisition process was designed around, and was effective for, the pre-transformational platform-centric military structure. The military's fundamental shift to network-centric systems, made possible by the information age, will require broad changes in both the organization and policy of the DoD development process. The goal of this paper is to present a new acquisition system that will align the DoD development process with the transformation guidance, while integrating state-of-the-art business practice and technology solutions. This paper reviews the DoD Transformation Planning Guidance and the NCW transformation goal, and compares them to the transformation roadmaps of the Army, Navy, and Air Force. J. Forrester type system dynamics models are used to describe the various existing acquisition systems. Finally, the process yields a recommended alternative acquisition architecture to efficiently implement DoD transformation guidance while supporting the development of net-centric capabilities.