The 8A program, designed to support disadvantaged businesses, is now used by Pentagon units to bypass the slow, official contracting process. While enabling mission completion under tight deadlines set by Congress, this workaround introduces massive inefficiency, as units pay a significant premium for speed, highlighting a fundamentally broken system.
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To attract innovation, the DoD is shifting its procurement process. Instead of issuing rigid, 300-page requirement documents that favor incumbents, it now defines a problem and asks companies to propose their own novel solutions.
The Department of Defense is moving from rigid, program-specific contracts to a portfolio model. New Portfolio Acquisition Executives can now reallocate funds from underperforming projects to more promising startups mid-stream, rewarding agility and results over incumbency.
Decades of adding regulations without subtracting have made the current defense procurement framework unsalvageable through minor adjustments. To achieve necessary speed and efficiency, policymakers must abandon the current system and start fresh, focusing on outcome-based contracts rather than process compliance.
US Under Secretary of War Emil Michael reveals that the procurement system was so broken that SpaceX, Anduril, and Palantir all had to sue the Department of War to secure their first contracts, a barrier he is now working to eliminate.
The government's procurement process often defaults to bidding out projects to established players like Lockheed Martin, even if a startup presents a breakthrough. Success requires navigating this bureaucratic reality, not just superior engineering.
The "land and expand" strategy in federal contracting involves winning an initial bid and performing well. This builds trust, leading agencies to offer additional, often unlisted projects directly, bypassing the competitive public bidding process for smaller contracts under a certain threshold.
The new strategy directs the CDAO to act as a "wartime CDAO" to eliminate blockers like lengthy authorization processes. A monthly "barrier removal board" is being established with the authority to waive non-statutory requirements, mirroring the rapid risk assessment seen in actual combat.
Challenging the myth of slow government procurement, the Department of Energy completed an eight-figure software deal with a brand new vendor in just five weeks. This speed was possible because the vendor presented a strong ROI and a solution to an urgent, high-level problem, proving that bureaucracy can move fast for clear priorities.
The defense procurement system was built when technology platforms lasted for decades, prioritizing getting it perfect over getting it fast. This risk-averse model is now a liability in an era of rapid innovation, as it stifles the experimentation and failure necessary for speed.
Government procurement is slow because every scandal or instance of fraud leads to new rules and oversight. The public demands this accountability, which in turn creates the very bureaucracy that citizens and vendors complain about.
