Is defense acquisition at an ‘inflection point?’

Defense Systems  April 19, 2019
A new Center for Strategic International Studies report found that in just two years, fiscal 2015 through 2017, Defense Department’s contract obligations increased more than 13 percent, three points higher than non-defense contracting. DOD’s total obligation authority grew just 5 percent. Starting in FY 2018, DOD put its focus on reform efforts and major organizational changes, namely acquisition system reform, moving to a commercial cloud (JEDI), and the 2018 defense spending bill’s general push for information technology services. Overall, the CSIS report found that defense acquisition is at an inflection point that will likely transform the defense acquisition system and the supporting defense industrial base for the next 10 to 20 years. However, despite a two-year bounce back from sequestration and budget caps, future growth is uncertain and could impede recent years of acquisition reform efforts…read more.