Theoretical Consideration of Acquisition Reform; Journal article

摘要

The federal government acquisition process is continually changing. It responds to constant shifts in national and international situations. Culver, in 'Federal Government Procurement -- An Uncharted Course Through Turbulent Waters,' gives a historical perspective of the U.S. procurement process, from colonial times onward (1985). It reflects continual turbulence and attempts to adapt to a changing environment. Placed in historical perspective, today's reforms continue the trends of the past 220 years. Paul G. Kaminski stated that acquisition reform ought to make us more efficient, improve our business practices, and allow us to buy more with less (1995). In this reform process, we must remember the forces that drive the current state of acquisition: protect military uses against poor workmanship, protect the public against fraud and abuse, and advance certain socioeconomic goals. Given the objective of acquisition reform and the forces that drive the acquisition process, it is no wonder the reform effort evokes such discussion, analysis, and review. The current government acquisition reform effort seems to model the industrial sector effort via the use of reengineering. But if we consider the federal acquisition process against a theoretical construct of systems theory, we can establish that factors and influences exist for government that are absent in the industrial sector. These factors may explain why reengineering is not working as quickly in government as in industry, and why the continual parade of acquisition reform efforts over time has failed to 'reform.' This article looks at the current acquisition reform effort. We'll consider the influence of the industrial reengineering movement in terms of the attempt to apply that process to government acquisition. The entire process will be viewed against a construct of system theory to assess influences that might exist beyond the reaches of the current acquisition effort.