File Number:  UMD-AM-05-021

Author: Jacques S. Gansler and William Lucyshyn

Title: A Strategy for Defense Acquisition Research

Published: August 2005

Sponsored by: Acquisition Chair, Naval Postgraduate School

Full Text URL: http://www.acquisitionresearch.net/_files/FY2005/UMD-AM-05-021.pdf

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Abstract:

Fifteen years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the world is again experiencing a major shift in the geopolitical landscape. The collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of theCold War have profoundly changed the nation’s security environment. However, as theSeptember 11th attacks demonstrated, new deadly challenges have emerged from terrorist networks and rogue states. Although none of these threats equal the destructivecapabilities of the Soviet Union, their determination to obtain, and the greater likelihood that they will use, weapons of mass destruction, creates a more complex and dangerous security environment.

The Department of Defense (DoD) has also entered a transformative period—leveraging emerging technologies to develop a net-centric warfare capability—whileactively conducting military operations, throughout the spectrum of conflict, in support of the global war on terror. As a result, DoD is struggling to meet these competingrequirements and reconcile the spending between traditional and new programs.Therefore, creating a more efficient acquisition system is a top priority. High-qualityresearch in the area of acquisitions is necessary to catalyze positive and lasting changes to
improve performance, reduce acquisition cycle times, and reduce the costs of DoD acquisitions, even as the Department confronts rapidly changing external and internalenvironments. This report highlights some the forces that are acting to change theenvironment including: budget constraints, a changing threat environment, technological innovations, force transformation, human capital management, a shrinking industrialbase, and ethics; and then develops a strategy for acquisition research.

Keywords: Acquisition processes, project management, system engeneering, logistics, human capital, logistics, human capital, idustrial base, market-based sourcing, spiral development, commercial off-th-shelf, lifecycle, cost estimation, schedule estimation

About the Authors:

Jacques Gansler, Ph.D., former Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, is the first holder of the Roger C. Lipitz Chair in Public Policy and Private Enterprise. As the third ranking civilian at the Pentagon from 1997 to 2001, Professor Gansler was responsible for all research and development, acquisition reform, logistics, advanced technology, environmental security, defense industry, and numerous other security programs. Before joining the Clinton Administration, Dr. Gansler held a variety of positions in government and the private sector, including Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense (Material Acquisition), Assistant Director of Defense Research and Engineering (Electronics), Vice President of ITT, and engineering and management positions with Singer and Raytheon Corporations. Throughout his career, Dr. Gansler has written, published and taught on subjects related to his work. He is the author of Defense Conversion: Transforming the Arsenal of Democracy, MIT Press, 1995; Affording Defense, MIT Press, 1989, and The Defense Industry, MIT Press, 1980. He has published numerous articles in Foreign Affairs, Harvard Business Review, International Security, Public Affairs, and other journals as well as newspapers and frequent Congressional testimonies. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration. 

William Lucyshyn, is the Director of Research and a Senior Research Scholar at the Center for Public Policy and Private Enterprise in the School of Public Affairs at the University of Maryland.  Previously, Mr. Lucyshyn served as a program manager and the principal technical advisor to the Director, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), on the identification, selection, research, development, and prototype production of advanced technology projects.  Prior to this appointment, Mr. Lucyshyn completed a 25-year career in the US Air Force serving in various operations, staff, and acquisition positions.  Mr. Lucyshyn received his Bachelor Degree in Engineering Science from the City University of New York and his Master’s Degree in Nuclear Engineering from the Air Force Institute of Technology. 

William Lucyshyn

Director of Research

Senior Research Scholar

Center Public Policy and Private Enterprise

School of Public Policy

University of Maryland

Tel: (301) 405-8257

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The research presented in this report was supported by the Acquisition Chair of the Graduate School of Business & Public Policy at the Naval Postgraduate School.
 
To collaborate on Defense Acquisition Research or to become a research sponsor, please contact:
 
RADM James B. Greene, USN, (Ret), Acquisition Chair
Tel: (831) 656-2092
Fax: (831) 656-2253
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