On November 2, the School of Public Policy’s Center for Public Policy and Private Enterprise (CPPPE) hosted a panel discussion on acquisition reform within the U.S. Department of Defense.
The panelists for the event were Louis Kratz, vice president and managing director of focused logistics for Lockheed Martin Corporation; William Lucyshyn, research professor and director of research for CPPPE; and Stan Soloway, president and CEO of Celero Strategies, LLC. The discussion centered around CPPPE’s new research findings and report about how recent changes will impact acquisition planning, processes and strategies.
CPPPE Director B. David Mussington started the event by saying, “It’s important that future trends and processes be anticipated. This report makes recommendations on how the acquisitions process can run more smoothly.”
Kratz said, “For the last decade, we’ve gone through a series of reforms. The focus has been on cost control and cost reduction, not on the end user.” One of the questions brought up during the discussion was whether or not the linear process is still appropriate.
Lucyshyn went on to describe the research process for CPPPE’s new report. He stated that the research process included a series of workshops with people from a variety of areas, a comparison of the Department of Defense and the commercial sector, as well as a comparison between international programs. The team also identified key problem areas and recommendations for the new system.
“We have a huge structural problem,” Solloway said. “It’s not hard figuring out what’s wrong, but where’s the push going to come from to change?”
Following the panel discussion, the speakers answered questions from audience members about acquisition reform and CPPPE’s report.