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Acquisition Research Program Newsletter

December 10, 2021       —       Issue 81

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The National Defense Authorization Act has cleared big hurdles this week, skipping the typical conference process as the House passes a version agreed to by the HASC and SASC. The Senate should pick it up in the next few days. We gloss some of the provisions for you in this week's top story, and we're sharing the acquisition-related provisions at the bottom of this newsletter. Thanks to our friend Pete Modigliani for pulling those together! The call for a commission on reforming the Planning, Programming, Budgeting and Execution process remains, and we'll all be watching to see how that effort moves. 

This week the White House released an Executive Order on Clean Energy. A few acquisition highlights are the launching of a “buy clean” initiative for low-carbon materials and a federal government prioritization of the purchase of sustainable products. DOD is developing low-carbon purchasing guidelines that will become part of its standard operating procedures. Last week another Executive Order was signed focused on equity in federal contracting. Key goals there are to increase numbers of small disadvantaged businesses (from 5% to 11% goals) and increase transparency on federal contracting spend by releasing data on race/ethnicity of business owners.

The new position of the Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Officer at DoD was officially announced in a memo this week. The new office will replace the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center and oversee the Defense Digital Service. 

In ARP news, we're thrilled to share a special edition of the Naval Engineers Journal that showcases three articles from this year's symposium. If you missed seeing these presentations, take a look at these smart research reports. Two are authored by NPS faculty, and a third comes from longtime ARP collaborator Nick Guertin, nominated to be the next Director of Operational Test and Evaluation. 

Finally, in honor of Saturday's football game, Go Navy, Beat Army!

This Week's Top Story 

House passes NDAA compromise bill
Lauren C. Williams, FCW

In a race to pass the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act before the New Year, the congressional defense committees pushed out a compromise version of the bill on Dec. 7 that authorizes $740 billion spending level for the Defense Department in fiscal 2022. The bill passed the House of Representatives on a vote of 363 to 70 on Tuesday night. The move now moves to the Senate, which, in a break with typical practice, never passed its own version of the NDAA ahead of the conference process. The bill, which supports $778 billion for national security spending, was filed in lieu of a traditional conference report and combines the text passed by the Senate Armed Services Committee in July and the House bill passed in September. The major, must-pass policy bill has hit a number of roadblocks this year, but the final version has some key initiatives and potential changes for the way the Defense Department handles budget IT, acquisition requirements, and even calls for a joint zero trust strategy.

ARP and NPS News

Special Section of Naval Engineers Journal—NPS 18th Annual Acquisition Research Symposium

ARP is excited to share this collection of articles from the 2021 symposium as curated and published by Naval Engineers Journal. Articles are introduced by VADM (Ret.) David H. Lewis, NPS Acquisition Chair, and include three papers from NPS faculty as well as long-time symposium participants:  Using Value Engineering to Propel Cyber-Physical Systems Acquisition Alfred R. Schenker, Nickolas H. Guertin  Framework for Augmenting Current Fleet with Commercially Available Assets for Logistics Support in Contested Environment Dr. Aruna Apte, Dr. Ken Doerr, Dr. Uday Apte Risk-Based Modeling of Life-Cycle and Total Ownership Cost Dr. Johnathan Mun, LT Eliah Ledbetter (USN), LT Katelyn George (USN) Read the full issue.

NPS’ Modeling, Virtual Reality Center Reimagines Navy Training
Rebecca Hoag, Naval Postgraduate School

The Modeling, Virtual Environments and Simulations (MOVES) Institute is an interdisciplinary academic center at the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) that works to make it easier for military groups to wargame and practice maneuvers through combined simulation strategies and the integration of artificial intelligence (AI). The institute fosters an open environment for its faculty to explore topics important to the Navy and DOD at large. Fitzpatrick and his team of students are trying to figure out how to integrate live simulations, like running a drill, within constructive and virtual simulations.

Acquisition and Innovation

Give $100M to DOD for innovation fund, top GOP appropriator says
Jackson Barnett, Fedscoop

Accounting for software in weapons systems
Lauren C. Williams, FCW

Judge blocks Biden vaccine mandate for federal contractors
Geoff Mulvihill and David A. Lieb, AP & Defense News

Kendall’s Top Seven Priorities to Cope With Peer Adversaries Include Two New Aircraft
John A. Tirpak, Air Force Magazine

Research

2021 Defense Acquisition Trends: Topline DoD Trends after a Half Decade of Growth
Won Joon Jang, Gregory Sanders, & Alexander Holderness  |  Center for Strategic & International Studies

Detect and Understand: Modernizing Intelligence for the Gray Zone
Jake Harrington & Riley McCabe  |  Center for Strategic & International Studies

Policy

Fact Sheet: President Biden Signs Executive Order Catalyzing America’s Clean Energy Economy Through Federal Sustainability
The White House

Executive Order on Catalyzing Clean Energy Industries and Jobs Through Federal Sustainability
The White House

Class Deviation—Pilot Program for Streamlining Awards for Innovative Technology Projects
Principal Director, Defense Pricing and Contracting

Memorandum on Establishment of the Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Officer
Deputy Secretary of Defense

FACT SHEET: Biden-⁠Harris Administration Announces Reforms to Increase Equity and Level the Playing Field for Underserved Small Business Owners
The White House

Defense and Federal Government

Austin Emphasizes Need to Help New Tech Cross ‘Valley of Death’
Jon Harper, National Defense Magazine

Budget Impasse Could Derail Pentagon’s New Tech Experimentation Campaign
Jon Harper, National Defense Magazine

How a 221-year-old shipyard is leading a US Navy modernization effort
Megan Eckstein, Defense News

Vice chief nominee pledges to drive acquisition reforms
Joe Gould, Defense News

Pentagon to reshuffle leadership roles for AI, data, digital services
Jared Serbu, Federal News Network

New National Defense Strategy to Be Released Early 2022
Caitlin M. Kenney, Defense One

Commentary: Is America Still Born to Rule the Seas?
Claude Berube, War on the Rocks

Congress

Sweeping military justice reforms, plan to add women to draft dropped from compromise authorization bill
Leo Shane III and Joe Gould, Defense News

S. 1605 - National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022
House Committee on Rules

NDAA at a Glance

Acquisition provisions of note in the National Defense Authorization Act
Compiled by Pete Modigliani, MITRE Corporation

Congress published the FY22 NDAA Compromise Bill this week and the House already approved it. The following are notable acquisition and budget elements among the 79+ sections.

Sec. 801. Acquisition workforce educational partnerships.

• DAU President to create a program to partner with outside entities to augment DAU curriculum
• Establish formal partnership with outside faculty and require annual report on legislative proposals and recommendations related to emerging acquisition policy issues.

Sec. 802. Prohibition on acquisition of personal protective equipment from nonqualified foreign nations.

• Don’t buy > $150K of PPE from China, North Korea, Russia, or Iran

Sec. 803. Authority to acquire innovative commercial products and commercial services using general solicitation competitive procedures.

• Makes Commercial Solutions Opening (CSO) pilot permanent

Sec. 805. Two-year extension of Selected Acquisition Report requirement.

Sec. 806. Annual report on highest and lowest performing acquisition programs of the DoD

• USD(A&S) and SAE will determine criteria for rankings. The decision authority for each of the 5 lowest ranked programs shall submit a report as to the factors, underlying causes, and get-well plan .

Sec. 807. Assessment of impediments and incentives to improving the acquisition of commercial products and commercial services.

• USD(A&S) and VCJCS shall jointly assess impediments and incentives to [statute] regarding preferences for commercial products and services

Sec. 817. Repeal of preference for fixed-price contracts.

Sec. 823. Pilot program on systems engineering determinations.

• DIU, SCO, and DARPA must each have 2 pilot programs using OTAs or 2373s with a complex follow-on process, SEPs, and Congressional reporting on the prototypes and transitions.

Sec. 824. Recommendations on the use of other transaction authority.

• Review current use of OTAs, regulations, and policies and offer recommendations to modify

Sec. 836. Cadre of software development and acquisition experts.

• USD(A&S) shall establish a cadre of experts in software development, acquisition, and sustainment to improve the effectiveness of DoD SW development
• Preference for DoD civilians; authorized to use HQEs, IPAs, Industry exchange, and contractors.

Sec. 854. Requirement for industry days and requests for information to be open to allied defense contractors.

Sec. 865. Report on unfunded priorities of the Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer program.

Sec. 866. Report on Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification effects on small business.

Sec. 1004 Commission on Planning, Programming, Budgeting, and Execution Reform

• Establish a commission to be composed of 14 civilian individuals not employed by the Federal Government who are recognized experts and have relevant professional experience.
• Compare the DoD PPBE including the development and production of documents including the DPG, the POM, and the BES with similar processes of private industry, other Federal agencies, and other countries.
• Conduct a comprehensive assessment of the efficacy and efficiency of all phases and aspects of the PPBE process
• Develop and propose recommendations to improve the effectiveness of the PPBE process.

See the details here:

Bill Language

Joint Explanatory Statement (JES)

Michelle V. J. Johnson, PhD
Communications Manager, Contractor Support
Acquisition Research Program at Naval Postgraduate School
p: (704) 689-5998   |   e: michelle.johnson.ctr@nps.edu