In olden, golden days if a Federal contractor wanted to get the attention of the acquisition professional they would write an elaborate and unsolicited proposal. Even when accepted there was always a chance that the government may not do anything with the whitepaper but by the FAR Subpart 15.6 definition they must be “innovative and unique”. Sometimes these new and innovated ideas found their way into an RFP or if you were really lucky a Sole Source Proof of Concept Contract no matter the cost suggested in the whitepaper.

With Frank Kendall’s Better Buying Power 3.0 announced on 09/19/14 there is shift from “innovative and unique” to a continued emphasis on “cost consciousness” and “understanding and controlling cost as a fundamental definition of success”.

The DOD mandate is clear:

  • Achieve affordable programs
  • Incentivize Productivity in Industry and Government
  • Incentivize Innovation in Industry and Government
  • Promote Effective Competition
  • Improve Tradecraft in the Acquisition of Services
  • Eliminate Unproductive processes and Bureaucracy
  • Improve the Professionalism of the Total Acquisition Workforce

For many, this continuation of “do more with less” mentality sounds good on paper, but for anyone in the DC metro area who have owned a home for 15 years or more, the ability to purchase the same level of housing is impossible to achieve even with our real estate bubble. Tangible things have a way of costing more in the future than they did the past.

Mr. Kendall’s task is to find a way to “technical excellence” with another round of sequestration looming in 2016.  

Dr. Kendall invites all to join the conversation at OSD.ATL.BBP@mail.mil. BBP resource materials can be found at bbp.dau.mil.

Good luck with being “innovative and cost conscious” at the same time. My sense is that DoD may need to learn to “do less with less”.

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