When war clouds began to darken in the late 1930’s America’s defense industry was a small, almost insignificant, factor in the economy. As the military began rapid expansion, feelers were put out to private industry; would they be prepared to … Continued
From 2016-2019 Strategic Institute in conjunction with Innovation Finance Group later 50lb Brain worked hard to drag DoD acquisition leadership and bureaucracy to water, to show them the way. We illustrated how the flexibility and freedom of contract inherent in … Continued
Most procurement lawyers, contracting officers and other acquisition professionals do not understand the relationship between highly regulated Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) contracts and Other Transaction (OT) contracts. This misunderstanding primarily stems from a false notion or premise, namely that … Continued
The ability of the Department of Defense and other Government agencies to avoid facing reality or learn obvious lessons would be amusing if it was not so critically important. The Department of Defense and other Government agencies are in need … Continued
Adherence to technology and industrial base policies can help alleviate supply chain disruptions and dependence on potential adversaries as sources of supply. In what might seem a minor change section 851 of NDAA 2024 added services and supplies to … Continued
The new (2023) Other Transactions Guide was waylaid by the DoD acquisition bureaucracy for a few years. Now out, the new guide, as expected, reflects business-as-usual thinking and a desire to limit the potential of these flexible acquisition authorities … Continued
A June 2023 Government Accountability Office report shows that DoD has a plethora of flexible authorities for more effectively pursuing and advancing knowledge and capability that are going unused or little used. Why? In this episode we try … Continued
For an intellectual, a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and reflection about the reality of society, and who proposes solutions for normative problems, it is vexing to ponder why federal acquisition for R&D remains stuck and wedded … Continued
Given the pitiful state of defense acquisition for R&D and delivering new capability that defers risk to the warfighter, wastes taxpayer funding, shrinks the industrial base, steals from the future, and is an obvious threat to national security, one would … Continued
The Department of Defense recently published “National Defense Science and Technology Strategy 2023” that contains ZERO consequential strategy and parrots what others have said ad nauseam. The document correctly identifies that there is a very serious problem … Continued