The overall problem of acquisition is simply that there are too many people going to the same place on different roads. The solution would seem to be to construct an acquisition and procurement superhighway—a route to the war fighter for both buyers and sellers that is direct, quick, and has easy-to-navigate on and off ramps.
Great strides have been made in acquisition reform, but even our sometimes bold efforts have failed to keep pace. Over the past two decades, we have seen not only the defense industry but also most sectors of business merging into stronger, larger entities that are formidable business adversaries as well as formidable business partners. They bring an amazing wealth of talent to the drawing table and an equal ability to the bargaining table.
Yet, defense acquisition, which falls under the umbrella of the Under Secretary for Defense (Acquisition and Technology), is subdivided into different branches for each of the armed services, with each branch being responsible for its own unique procurement needs. Common items for all branches are purchased by the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) in a separate process. The success of the DLA in feeding, clothing, and equipping 1.5 million men and women is a story of cooperation and coordination in business that should not go unnoticed.
Another problem is the relatively short-term nature of political appointees. An incoming Secretary or Under Secretary, for example, usually will have the first months of his term taken up by confirmation hearings, additional months dedicated to being brought up to speed, and then a period of two years in which he can play an effective role, followed by a year in which he suffers as a lame duck if it appears the incumbent president will not be reelected.
An acquisition superhighway would bring the separate efforts of the services into a single operating unit—the Defense Material Procurement Agency—focused on those acquisitions valued at $250 million or more, to tighten the scope of the program to big-ticket, long-term systems that are vital to our nation's defense. This central buying command would be headed by the Chief of Defense Material Procurement, a newly created four-star billet to be filled by a flag officer with a proven track record in acquisition. We also might consider a position within the new agency for a high-ranking naval acquisition officer, answerable to the chief, whose sole duty is the acquisition of naval vessels. Ships and submarines are a key component of our military strategy and the only truly "unique" procurement. All other items of military acquisition are interservice connected—aircraft, missiles, electronics, none are so exclusive to a single branch as to require a separate procurement process.
The Chief of Defense Material Procurement would have the support of an executive order establishing the command and outlining the mandate for the agency. There is nothing like an executive order to get people focused and moving forward! The appointment would be a six-year posting, sufficient to ensure continuity through changes in administrations.
The new agency would be staffed with the best officers and enlisted personnel as well as the best of the civilian workforce from the current procurement service. We need to give DoD the firepower on the executive side to interface with the reorganized defense industrial base. When the reorganization is accomplished, we should easily see a 15-20% overall personnel reduction compared with the staffs now doing this work throughout DoD.
There will be considerable resistance to centralizing the acquisition command, but those who stand in the way must stand aside. The money at issue and the urgency of our times require it; good business sense demands it. Events and technology are moving much too quickly to stick to our guns literally or figuratively.
Admiral Platt was appointed under President Ronald Reagan as the first Competition Advocate General and was responsible for acquisition during the Navy’s 600-ship buildup. Retired from the Navy, he serves as a chairman of the Wornick Company, a supplier of combat and humanitarian rations to the Department of Defense. This is an edited excerpt from his book The Armament Tide—Rearming America (Granville Island, 2002).