In this week's newsletter: More RDER projects have been announced, bringing the total number to seven projects transitioned to the services. > These largely focus on surveillance and communications capabilities, both standalone features and others that enhance existing platforms such as the MQ-9. DISA Director Lt. Gen. Robert Skinner gave updates on the Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability contract's performance to date, plus hints of what JWCC Next will look like. > So far, DoD has awarded $996 million in contracts on JWCC. Skinner said the process is awarding contracts within weeks of releasing a task order, but the Next phase will work to pick up the pace even more. > Other priorities: increasing the number of companies and bringing on more capabilities like AI. A post from Phil Stiefel on LinkedIn details how DIU overcomes some of the familiar barriers interfering with DoD's ability to adopt the new tech DIU identifies. > Challenges he describes include contract vehicle problems, color of money issues, funding gaps, and end-of-year funds issues. The Navy CIO released Information Superiority Vision 2.0. It has three pillars: optimize, secure, and decide. Research from CSIS shows how defense contractors have become more specialized in defense since the 1960s, rather than having a diversified portfolio that includes a robust mix of commercial and defense capabilities and customers. Read it here: https://lnkd.in/dziFJEE #govcon #defenseinnovation #defenseindustry
Acquisition Research Program at Naval Postgraduate School
Armed Forces
Monterey, California 1,914 followers
Providing applied research in acquisition sciences & shaping the next generation of defense acquisition innovators
About us
The Acquisition Research Program at Naval Postgraduate School provides the real-time information and analytical capabilities needed by acquisition professionals and policymakers to deliver superior capabilities to America’s warfighters. ARP connects academia, industry, think tanks, and the Department of Defense. ARP research informs policymaking with data and analysis from the field, professionalizes the acquisition workforce, and improves the quality of warfighter capabilities. ARP provides these benefits through the continuous development and delivery of interdisciplinary and collaborative research that informs real-time defense acquisition policymaking. ARP amplifies other innovation efforts that are transforming DoD’s culture into an adaptive network of informed, empowered, and mission-driven individuals. Through this work, ARP helps position the Naval Postgraduate School as a recognized leader in defense acquisition research and inspires the next generation of acquisition professionals.
- Website
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https://my.nps.edu/web/acqnresearch/
External link for Acquisition Research Program at Naval Postgraduate School
- Industry
- Armed Forces
- Company size
- 11-50 employees
- Headquarters
- Monterey, California
- Type
- Government Agency
Locations
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Primary
1 University Circle
Monterey, California 93943, US
Updates
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Acquisition Research Program at Naval Postgraduate School reposted this
Calling all small businesses and innovators! Broad Agency Announcements (BAAs) DoD SBIR 24.3 & DoD STTR 24.C are NOW in Pre-Release! Head to the Defense SBIR/STTR Innovation Portal (DSIP) for more info. Check out our topics and get your proposals ready! https://lnkd.in/d8ZwSDa #DoDInnovates #SBIR #STTR
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Congrats to our acquisition superstar! Dr. Rene G. Rendon, CFCM, CPCM, CPSM, CPSD, C.P.M., PMP is an educator, scholar, and active member of the larger acquisition community. Naval Postgraduate School students can learn so much from him.
Congratulations to Dr. Rene G. Rendon, CFCM, CPCM, CPSM, CPSD, C.P.M., PMP on receiving the National Contract Management Association (NCMA) Lifetime Achievement Award, the organization's highest award. Why it matters: No submissions are accepted for this award. Instead, the winner is reviewed and selected exclusively by an NCMA awards team. This award is presented annually to a nationally renowned and distinguished NCMA member who has made a significant contribution to contract management and NCMA. It recognizes individuals with a remarkable reputation for professionalism and exceptional achievement in contract management. About our winner: Dr. Rene Rendon, CPCM, CFCM Associate Professor in the Department of Defense Management at Naval Postgraduate School Dr. Rene Rendon is an associate professor of acquisition management at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, where he teaches and conducts research for the Department of Defense. Before joining NPS, he retired from the Air Force as a contracting officer, working on programs such as the Peacekeeper ICBM and the F-22 Advanced Tactical Fighter. He also served as a Contracting Squadron Commander and earned the Air Force Outstanding Officer in Contracting Award. Rene joined NCMA in 1986, earning CACM (now CFCM) and CPCM certifications, and later the NCMA Fellow and Outstanding Fellow awards. He helped establish the NCMA Wyoming and Alamo chapters and has served on the NCMA National Board of Directors. Currently, he is Chair of the Certification Oversight Body and a member of the Standards Consensus Body. He also serves as Editor in Chief of the NCMA Journal of Contract Management. Rene has received numerous awards, including the NCMA W. Gregor MacFarlan Award for Excellence in Contract Management Research and Writing and the NCMA National Education Award. He also led the Naval Postgraduate School in earning the NCMA Contract Management Education Award. Dr. Rendon joins an illustrious list of previous awardees. (For those familiar with the work of the Section 809 Panel, you'll see several of the commissioners recognized here!) 2023 - Charlie E. Williams Jr. 2022- Darryl A. Scott MAJGEN (RET.) USAF Bill McNally, Fellow 2021 - Terry Raney, PhD 2019 - Laurence Trowel, CPCM, CFCM 2018 - Al Burman, Fellow 2017 - Elliott Branch, Fellow 2016 - Dee Lee Pictured below, left to right: Heather Gerczak, NCMA President, Rene Rendon, and Kraig Conrad, NCMA CEO. https://lnkd.in/gjUFdT4D Acquisition Research Program at Naval Postgraduate School
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New vision has three pillars: optimize, secure, decide. One of the focus areas: employ commercial technologies today.
#JUSTRELEASED: Information Superiority Vision 2.0 ISV 2.0 represents our continued commitment to securely move information from anywhere to anywhere to enable our warfighters to act at the speed of mission. The pivot from modernize, innovate and defend to Optimize, Secure and Decide reflects the learning that has occurred and the progress we have made in the last four years. These are the right vectors at this critical juncture where warfighter capability gaps, increasing threats and technology advancements require us to evolve to meet mission and capitalize on decision advantage. In our relentless pursuit of a World-Class Naval Information Ecosystem we will target and accelerate innovation and evolve our workforce to address gaps and opportunities across these vectors. Read the full ISV 2.0 from DON CIO Jane Overslaugh Rathbun below.
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This newsletter is out. This week: DoD has posted the proposed new Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) regulatory language and process for contractors to comply with the new requirements. CMMC compliance will be required at time of award. Heidi Shyu's office has announced the second annual Technology Readiness Experimentation (TREX) event, to be held Aug. 19-28 at Camp Atterbury, Indiana. Press will be allowed at the event on August 27, so look for stories coming out in a few weeks. TREX supports the Rapid Defense Experimentation Reserve (RDER) initiative with tactical scenario demonstrations. The next tranche of Replicator capabilities will include Anduril's large displacement unmanned undersea vessel (Dive-LD). Anduril has made news for betting big on industrial capacity, with a factory in Rhode Island underway to make more of this UUV and the recently announced megafactory Arsenal-1, intended to be capable of producing "tens of thousands of autonomous vehicles and weapons." The Space Force is continuing work with international partners to craft a strategy aimed at strengthening the space supply chain. Our top story looks at how two recent contracts show improvement at how DoD procures new technology, with this unsurprising revelation: success at getting new tech into the hands of warfighters requires understanding of military needs, the technology itself, AND the acquisition process. And in ARP news, we're excited to share news of a collaboration between students in the Department of Defense Management and the Navy's Force Resilience Office. Read the full newsletter here: https://lnkd.in/dziFJEE #govcon #procurement #defenseinnovation #defenseindustry
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Op-ed from Bill LaPlante outlining some successes of the Competitive Advantage Pathfinders, which have cut time to fielding new capabilities, especially for CJADC2. "A crucial advantage of CAPs is to adapt a technology capability used by one service and migrate it to another service without requiring a new program or budget cycle." Two examples: "CAPs enabled the Air Force to go from identifying operational need to developing a capability solution available for procurement within 18 months — a process usually taking several years for a new program. Additionally, a similar electronic warfare pathfinder has enabled the Army to potentially skip the development stage by leveraging a pre-existing Navy capability with minimal hardware and software changes." Great to see these success stories! Read more below. 👇
In today's rapidly evolving security landscape, the Department of Defense is working to better align three rigorous processes, each with its own priorities and prerogatives, to deliver capability at speed and scale: requirements, funding, and acquisition. "The main institutional obstacle here is not a particular acquisition regulation but the wider process established over time to direct resources prudently toward new military capabilities in ways consistent with overall strategic priorities and the needs of the Joint Force," Dr. William LaPlante, Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment, writes in an op-ed published today in National Defense Magazine. "We call it the 'three-legged stool' of defense modernization though, given the traditional rigidity of the process, the term “iron triangle” might be more appropriate. The goal is to flip the equation on process improvement: identify technology potentially useful to multiple military services stuck somewhere in or among the stool/triangle’s three legs. [Competitive Advantage Pathfinders] are demonstrating solutions to barriers in capability fielding by illuminating disconnects among these three 'legs'." 🔗 Read the full article below to learn more about how CAPs are breaking down barriers and accelerating acquisitions. 🔜 Join us this afternoon! Don’t miss Dr. LaPlante lead a panel discussion on the state of #DefenseAcquisition at the second annual National Defense Industrial Association - (NDIA) Emerging Technologies for Defense Conference. #EmergingTechETI | Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Acquisition
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In this week's newsletter: the Commission on the National Defense Strategy released its report, arguing that DoD, as well as the larger national security apparatus, is under-resourced and too bureaucratic to meet current threats and multiple potential war theaters. Yesterday the Senate Appropriations Committee passed the FY 2025 defense spending bill, with a topline of $852.2 billion. The DoD Inspector General announced plans to evaluate the #Replicator initiative, particularly "the effectiveness with which the Services and Defense Innovation Unit selected capabilities to meet the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command’s operational needs.” The Navy is standing up a new maritime industrial base program office focused on construction and sustainment. And in Air Force news, Secretary Frank Kendall announced this week that the NGAD is officially paused. In contrast, momentum continues on the Collaborative Combat Aircraft, with five companies selected to build the autonomy system. This is in addition to the two companies, Anduril and General Atomics, earlier selected to build prototypes of the aircraft itself. Read the full newsletter here: https://lnkd.in/dziFJEE #govcon #procurement #defenseindustry #defenseinnovation #research
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This team's thesis shares clear insights into what contracting actions are most correlated with trafficking in persons, along with actionable recommendations. Great to see it influencing larger conversations!
Another Acquisition Research Program at Naval Postgraduate School thesis ahead of its time: The Price of Slavery. This thesis was recently cited in GAO Report no. GAO-24-106973, HUMAN TRAFFICKING Agencies Need to Adopt a Systematic Approach to Manage Risks in Contracts. This is exactly why the team Willis Crouch Austin Morris and Kevin Peaslee studied this topic and wrote this thesis under the advisement of myself and Erik Helzer. They knew that the way we monitor and manage anti-trafficking in federal contracting was insufficient. Their recommendations were briefed to the assistant secretary of defense and secretary of state upon their publication. Wonderful to see the GAO using it to make their case. Huge kudos to the team who put this togehter. Bill Woolf Kai J. Munshi Human Trafficking Institute U.S. Department of Defense Combating Trafficking in Persons Office Alice T. Cameron Holt michelle veenstra johnson Dr. Rene G. Rendon, CFCM, CPCM, CPSM, CPSD, C.P.M., PMP Todd Lyons Thesis link: https://lnkd.in/eGp4XyFN GAO Report Link: https://lnkd.in/eDiJMDD5
GAO-24-106973 Highlights, HUMAN TRAFFICKING: Agencies Need to Adopt a Systematic Approach to Manage Risks in Contracts
gao.gov
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Acquisition Research Program at Naval Postgraduate School reposted this
Lt. Cmdr. Adam Johnson graduates in September with a degree in Defense Logistics Management and Supply Chain Management. He recently participated in the Innovation in Action Student Showcase on campus, where he found that the challenges driving his research project were shared by two Coast Guard officers he met that day. "This connection underscored the importance of knowing that we are not alone in facing these issues. Events like the student showcase are vital as they foster a sense of camaraderie and collaboration among students and faculty across different services and academic disciplines. "By connecting with others, we can share insights, support each other, and collectively work toward solving complex problems, setting a strong foundation for innovation and mutual support in our military and academic careers." Thanks to Naval Postgraduate School Foundation & Alumni Association for hosting this event connecting incoming students with those in the final stages of their degree programs at NPS. Connection drives #innovation! https://lnkd.in/gb56u9hG Acquisition Research Program at Naval Postgraduate School Naval Warfare Studies Institute at Naval Postgraduate School
Faces of NPS: Lt. Cmdr. Adam Johnson, USN
npsfoundation.org
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One of the lines of effort from the U.S.-Japan Security Consultative Committee meeting on July 28: The United States and Japan further accelerated work on co-production, co-development, and co-sustainment to advance innovation, strengthen their industrial bases, promote resilient and reliable supply chains, and invest in the strategic industries of the future. > The Ministers heralded the recent convening of the Forum on Defense Industry Cooperation, Acquisition, and Sustainment (DICAS), as well as its working groups on missile co-production, ship repair, aircraft repair, and supply chain resilience. > The Ministers welcomed high-priority efforts to pursue mutually beneficial co-production opportunities to expand production capacity of Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAMs) and Patriot PAC-3 Missile Segment Enhancement (MSE), in order to meet critical demands for such advanced systems, address timely procurement and readiness requirements, and deter aggression. > The Ministers supported Japan's revision of its Three Principles on the Transfer of Defense Equipment and Technology and its Implementation Guidelines, which supports efforts to leverage both countries' respective industrial bases to meet the demand for critical capabilities. https://lnkd.in/gmeUAw9N
Fact Sheet: Joint Statement of the Security Consultative Committee ("2+2")
defense.gov