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...phases and delineations of activity, and both the number and level of decision reviews have increased As result, program managers may now have fewer resources to manage their programs as they spend much of their time and budgets managing the bureaucracy. This same framework and its associated requirements for senior level reviews are opposed to the rapid and evolutionary policy espoused and are counter to appropriate management strategies for a transformational era.
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The issuance of Department of Defense (DoD) Directive 5000.1 (2003) and DoD Instruction 5000.2 (2003) is the third significant revision of acquisition policy in many years. Looking further back, these three revisions of regulatory guidance evolved from two previous versions in 1991 and 1996. Each had its major thrusts and tenets, and perhaps of most importance to program managers; each modified the "Defense Systems Acquisition Management Process" (Defense Systems Management College [DSMC], 2001) or "Defense Acquisition Framework" (DSMC, 2001), which is the broad paradigm of phases and milestone reviews in the life of an acquisition program. The purpose of this research was to examine the evolution of this framework and explain the explicit and implicit aspects of recent changes to the model to better understand its current form. Provided here is a synopsis of the most important findings. The full report of this research, examining both private industry and defense acquisition decision models is available for a more in-depth review (Dillard, 2003).
The very latest DoD 5000 policy changes came during a time of DoD transformation, which is chiefly focused on changes to force structure and weapons employment capabilities. The latest version of the 5000 series was actually drafted in the documents rescinding its predecessor. According to a memorandum signed by Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz on October 30, 2002, the series required revision "to create an acquisition policy environment that fosters efficiency, flexibility, creativity and innovation" (P. Wolfowitz, personal communication, October 30, 2002). Interim Guidance 5000.1, Attachment 1, (2002) was issued, along with the rescission, as a temporary replacement outlining principles and policies to govern the operation of the new Defense acquisition system. Among them:
3.1 Responsibility for acquisition of systems shall be decentralized to the maximum extent practicable (p. 2).
3.18 The PM shall be the single point of accountability for accomplishment of program objectives for total life cycle systems management, including sustainment (p. 4).
3.27 It shall be DoD policy to minimize reporting requirements (p. 5).
Though the 5000 series provides guidance for all levels or Acquisition Categories (ACAT) of programs, its language is particularly applicable to the largest, ACAT I, Major Defense Acquisition Programs (MDAP). In such cases, the Milestone Decision Authority (MDA) is the Defense Acquisition Executive, who also chairs the Defense Acquisition Board (DAB) as a decision-making body for program milestone reviews. There are in fact both a Component Acquisition Executive and Program Executive Officer in the hierarchy, and direct communication between the MDA and Program Manager (PM) is infrequent. Other top management stakeholders are Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) staff principals who sit in membership on the DAB, where milestone decision reviews are conducted. Communication between PM and OSD staff principals is more frequent, especially via the Overarching Integrated Product Team process (Office of the Under Secretary of Defense [Acquisition and Technology], 1998). As of this writing, there are a total of 25 MDAP programs in the DoD.
THE CHALLENGES OF DEFENSE PROGRAM MANAGEMENT
Defense systems projects in particular, known for their size and technological pursuits, are considered to be among the most challenging of projects. Owen Gadeken, building upon previous studies at the DSMC, concluded that the project...
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