NEED TO KNOW

Acquisition Research Program Newsletter

January 27, 2023       —       Issue 134

Military support for Ukraine took a turn this week: from a drawdown of existing supplies to contracting for 31 Abrams tanks plus related supplies. This $400 million Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative package marks the beginning of a contracting process to provide additional capabilities to Ukraine.

Last year saw a boom in foreign military sales, caused in part by a rebound after the pandemic slowdown and in part by the demand from the war in Ukraine.  Sales are expected to stay high as foreign partners and allies will need to restore their supplies. 

The United States will also need to replenish stockpiles. A recent CSIS study shows the results of wargaming a war with China in the Taiwan Strait: key munitions could run out in a week. 

DoD issued two new policy documents.

• The new small business policy has three objectives: 1. implement a unified management approach for small business programs and activities; 2. ensure the Department’s small business activities align with national security priorities; 3. strengthen the Department’s engagement and support of small businesses. 
• The updated autonomy in weapon systems establishes policy and guidance for the use of autonomy in lethal programs and the review process for such programs. This policy is also intended to protect against unintended engagements. It establishes an Autonomous Weapon Systems Working Group.

Our top story brings the latest update on the Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability, which will ask all four vendors to create a zero-trust cloud environment. 

Defense Innovation Unit's annual report for FY2022 shows continued progress, with 17 prototypes transitioning to production. 

In ARP news, we are thrilled to announce the keynote speakers for this year's symposium, coming up May 10-11.  The Honorable Nickolas Guertin, Director, Operational Test and Evaluation, has confirmed he'll be joining us, and the Honorable Dr. William LaPlante, Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment, has been invited. Many of our speakers and chairs have already chimed in to say how excited they are to return for an in-person gathering in Monterey.  Registration link and more details about the symposium are available online -- see the link in the ARP section below. 

This Week's Top Story 

JWCC vendors to test zero-trust concept in commercial cloud
Mark Pomerleau, Defense Scoop

The Department of Defense plans to leverage the four vendors that were recently awarded its major enterprise cloud computing contract to experiment with the implementation of so-called zero-trust principles in a commercial cloud environment.

Zero trust is a concept that essentially assumes networks are already compromised and requires organizations to validate users, devices and data continuously. The DOD released its zero-trust strategy in October, which outlines three courses of action: institute zero-trust modernization improvements on the existing network, engage in zero-trust commercial clouds, or engage in a zero-trust privately designed cloud.

It also defines a target level and advanced level of zero trust. The target level is the minimum set of capability outcomes to secure and protect data and requires the delivery of 91 activities. Advanced level requires a total of 152 activities.

The Pentagon plans to lean on Amazon Web Services, Google, Microsoft and Oracle — all of which were recently awarded the Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability (JWCC) contract worth up to $9 billion — to test if achieving zero trust to the “target level” in the cloud is possible, according to an official overseeing the effort.

When the DOD was looking at what commercial clouds exist, the zero-trust portfolio management office decided to ask the four cloud service providers — which will be competing for JWCC task orders — if they could implement zero trust at the target level within their cloud infrastructures, according to Randy Resnick, who leads that office.

ARP and NPS News

Symposium registration is now open

Join us in Monterey on May 10-11, 2023.  Symposium website has information about travel, hotels, and tips for presenting. 

Faces of NPS: Maj. Gen. Alice Treviño, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Contracting
MBA '07, Senior International Defense Management Certificate ‘21

Earning a Logistics MBA offered the opportunity to augment my contracting and acquisitions background with defense transportation, supply chain management and materiel specialization. Upon graduation, I’ve been able to leverage these skillsets in every position that’s followed, including with the US Transportation Command where we initiated the Northern Distribution Network to improve supply routes into Afghanistan .... Valuable connections like those the ARP fosters bring research, innovators and acquisition professionals together. By appreciating what we all may be going through from other perspectives, we can break down barriers and challenge ourselves to think differently about complex problems.  Read more. 
 

NPS Office of Research and Innovation will Accelerate Solutions from Idea to Impact
Rosemary Mena-Werth, Naval Postgraduate School

The Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) recently established the Office of Research and Innovation (OR&I) in response to the National Security Strategy and National Defense Strategy’s call to leverage emerging technologies and innovative design practices to accelerate the development of full spectrum capabilities in order to maintain decisive maritime advantage and hedge against uncertainty.  Read more. 

Acquisition and Innovation

With demand high in Ukraine, US Army ramps up artillery production
Jen Judson, Defense News

US arms export approvals soared in 2022
Joe Gould, Defense News

Watch: Software Defines Tactics: Fielding Transformational Capability without Transforming Acquisition
Hudson Institute
with James Guerts, Jason Weiss, Dan Patt, and Bryan Clark

‘Keep It Simple, Stupid‘—Senior Military Space Leaders Focus on Streamlining Acquisition
Chris Gordon, Air & Space Forces Magazine

Lawmakers want GAO to assess risk of government contractors working for China
Chris Riotta, FCW

Calvelli calls for stepped-up use of contractor watch list
Michael Marrow, Inside Defense

Commentary: Want to innovate for DoD? Pay close attention to Ukraine
Pete Newell, Defense News

DIU's FY22 Year in Review
Defense Innovation Unit

DIU asks industry for help getting hypersonic test jet closer to lift off
Theresa Hitchens, Breaking Defense

Research

Assessing Transfer of Department of Defense-Originated Dual-Use Technology
James Hasik, Benjamin McMartin, John Fargo, Rob Farley, Anthony Vatterott, Hina Kazmi, Lloyd Everhart, Katherine Vargas Medina, and Andrea Sanchez Zuniga  |  Baroni Center for Government Contracting

Empty Bins in a Wartime Environment: The Challenge to the U.S. Defense Industrial Base
Seth G. Jones, Center for Strategic & International Studies

Chinese Nuclear and Missile Proliferation
Congressional Research Service

Columbia Class Submarine: Program Lacks Essential Schedule Insight amid Continuing Construction Challenges
U.S. Government Accountability Office

Events

PPBE Reform Commission Open Mic: Reprogrammings
February 8, 2023  |  1300
Request a seat at ppbe_reform@ppbe.senate.gov to share your thoughts.

Policy

DoD Directive 3000.09: Autonomy in Weapon Systems
Department of Defense

DoD Releases Small Business Strategy
Department of Defense

Defense and Federal Government

In reversal, US to send 31 Abrams tanks to Ukraine
Joe Gould, Defense News

Pentagon’s annual weapon test report reverses classification, details major program challenges
Jaspreet Gill, Theresa Hitchens, Justin Katz And Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.  |  Breaking Defense

Navy Won’t Publicly Release Results of Amphibious Ship Study
Caitlin M. Kenney, Defense One

Commerce’s draft space traffic management service goes beyond DoD’s baseline
Theresa Hitchens, Breaking Defense

How China became the world’s leading exporter of combat drones
Zaheena Rasheed, Al Jazeera

Howard University becomes first historically Black university to lead a DOD research center
Doug G. Ware, Stars and Stripes

Is This New Microwave Weapon the Answer to Iranian Drones?
Patrick Tucker, Defense One

Commentary: Can we deploy hypersonic weapons before China and Russia outgun us? It’s up to Congress
Seth Cropsey, The Hill

Congress

House Oversight expected to create new IT and cybersecurity subcommittee
Nihal Krishan, Fedscoop

Colorado Dem threatens to hold Pentagon nominees over Space Command HQ
Bryant Harris, Defense News

Armed Services committee adds 11 members, quality of life panel
Leo Shane III and Bryant Harris, Defense News

One more thing...

Training and Education 2030
U.S. Marine Corps

Whiteboard visualization from Kayla Haas. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/kaylaolsen_yesterday-the-us-marine-corps-published-activity-7024024738788245504-f_5P

On professional military education:  As we prepare for the future fight, we need Marines who possess the intellectual ability to out-think their adversaries. We hone this ability through deep and active engagement with the brightest minds and the most challenging material, which forces Marines to contend with their assumptions, perceptions, and concepts. PME must be dynamic, relevant, portable, and fit within the time constraints of a Marine’s career. It must also reward intellectual curiosity and calculated risk-taking to maximize intellectual growth. To maintain our intellectual edge, we will increase the rigor and relevance of our PME, reinforce the culture of life-long learning, and modernize enlisted PME. Furthermore, we will deepen PME incentives and expand wargaming.  Read more. 

Michelle V. J. Johnson, PhD
Communications Manager, Contractor Support
Acquisition Research Program at Naval Postgraduate School
 e: michelle.johnson.ctr@nps.edu

NEED TO KNOW

Acquisition Research Program Newsletter

January 20, 2023       —       Issue 133

This week brings a bevy of stories about Ukraine. 

• Later today, Secretary Austin, General Milley and dozens of military leaders will meet as part of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group. Opening and closing remarks will be livestreamed.
• This meeting comes shortly after the latest announcement of additional supplies the US is sending to Ukraine, and it's a substantial show of support valued at $2.5 billion.  This comes in addition to the $113 billion already provided over the past year. 
• Check out the Joint Strategic Oversight Plan For Ukraine Response that gives a breakdown of Ukrainian supported provided thus far with a two-page list of specific capabilities and quantities, visualizations that analyze support based on agency, type of support, type of appropriations, and more. 

Two articles again take stock of Ukraine through a lens of lessons learned about modern warfare.

• Our top story argues that the conflict shows where acquisition priorities should focus on replenishing stockpiles of existing capabilities and where these priorities should shift to newer and commercial capabilities. 
• A related article covers how NATO's Defense Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA) is focusing on the core priorities of energy resilience, secure information sharing, and sensing and surveillance. 

The announcement of China's earlier-than-expected demographic decline and lower-than-expected GDP has raised questions about what this means for the PRC's posture in the geopolitical landscape.  Bret Stephens of the New York Times suggests it may make the PRC more inclined to risky actions in foreign relations.

In research, GAO has two new reports: one on JADC2 and another on persistent challenges in cybersecurity across the federal government.

In NPS news, NPS recently hosted the latest gathering of Naval AI task forces to advance the sea services’ thoughts on Naval AI training and education,  development and deployment pipelines, and more. And NPS has a new strategic framework that solidifies and amplifies NPS' standing as a crucial innovation connector for the Navy and DoD.

In ARP news, our latest student thesis evaluates the progress of colorless money for software acquisition, aka BA-8.

This Week's Top Story 

How to re-arm NATO for the post-Ukraine future
Joshua Huminski, Breaking Defense

As the war in Ukraine approaches its second year, the pressures on the weapon stockpiles of the West and NATO will continue, if not expand. This presents not just a challenge, however, but an opportunity.

It’s no secret that the industrial base of several countries is feeling the strain of producing weapons to be transferred to Kyiv, and meeting Ukraine’s demands while ensuring that the NATO alliance is well-armed and provisioned for other possible contingencies remains of paramount importance.

But the continued expenditure of Western arms on the battlefields of Ukraine and the lessons drawn from the fight is a chance to reassess NATO’s longer-term planning and its longer-term acquisition of weapons systems. A dual approach is critical as NATO must ultimately balance the meeting of Ukraine’s needs today (and in the mid-term) with the longer-term force modernization efforts.

ARP and NPS News

Cost Effectiveness Analysis of the use of Colorless Appropriations in Navy and DoD Software Development Pilot Programs
Lt Joshua O. Reed, Lt Alexander K. Shimizu, Lt Jonah C. Shifflett, USN

In appropriations, one modernization effort has been reform initiatives utilizing “colorless” appropriations for software-intensive defense acquisition programs. This thesis analyzes the effectiveness of this pilot reform through a cost-effectiveness analysis on both quantitative and qualitative aspects of these
programs. Specifically, the researchers evaluate the program’s historical performance under traditional colors of money appropriations, performance with colorless money, and the performance of a comparable control program. Evaluation metrics include delivery cadence, cost, and man-hours (specifically for budgeting). The researchers seek to identify what benefits to the DoD are gained by this colorless funding approach to software acquisitions and to provide recommendations for further future implementation of colorless appropriations. Read more.

Artificial Intelligence Summit at NPS Accelerates Critical Capabilities
Rosemary Mena-Werth, Naval Postgraduate School

The fourth quarterly Naval Artificial Intelligence (AI) Summit took place December 5-9 at the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS). More than 160 participants from the eight Navy AI Task Forces, Warfare and Warfighting Development Centers, the fleet, Fleet Marine Force and DOD engaged in-person and virtually at the summit co-hosted by the U.S. Navy Chief AI Officer (NCAIO) Brett Vaughan and NPS’ Naval Warfare Studies Institute. Read more. 
 

Strategic Framework: Cognitive Readiness and Intellectual Leadership For Decisive Maritime Advantage
Naval Postgraduate School

This Strategic Framework builds upon our NPS Next transformation effort and provides us with a shared vector for the future which combines our graduate education, research and innovation to generate cognitive readiness and intellectual leadership for the future force. Expert faculty, experienced in defense and security related issues, develop and enhance the cognitive readiness of our operationally experienced warrior-scholar students through interdisciplinary graduate education and fundamental research in support of advanced knowledge and skills. Cognitive readiness is the critical ability to adapt interactively to an unpredictable, complex, and dynamic environment. NPS education develops leaders with the intellectual competencies to think critically and deliver warfighting decision advantage in competition and conflict against 21st-century peer adversaries--this is intellectual leadership. Read more. 

Acquisition and Innovation

OFPP bringing all contracting officers under one training, certification standard
Jason Miller, Federal News Network

‘Pretty disruptive’: With DIANA pilots planned for spring, NATO leaders focus on software and C3ISR
Jaspreet Gill, Breaking Defense

Space acquisition office weighs mission priorities in case satellites go down
Theresa Hitchens, Breaking Defense

A cadre of experts to boost Army, contractors’ management of IP
Jason Miller, Federal News Network

NDAA’s cloud cyber-testing provision marks another hefty DOD compliance lift, analyst says
Chris Riotta, FCW

National Security and Defense Market Map
Michal Bloch

Research

Cybersecurity High-Risk Series: Challenges in Establishing a Comprehensive Cybersecurity Strategy and Performing Effective Oversight
U.S. Government Accountability Office

Defense Primer: Department of Defense Contractors
Congressional Research Service

Battle Management: DOD and Air Force Continue to Define Joint Command and Control Efforts
U.S. Government Accountability Office

Funding Defense Research vs Production
Pete Modigliani and Matt McGregor, Substack

Events

Ukraine Defense Contact Group Meeting: Opening Remarks from Sec. Austin and Post-Meeting Press Conference
January 20, 2022  |  10:00 am EST

On Acquisition: Featuring Dr. Bill LaPlante, Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment
Defense Acquisition University
January 20, 2022

Navy’s Project Overmatch - A conversation with the Senior Fellow and Director, at the Hudson Institute Center for Defense Concepts and Technology
Defense News
January 26, 2022  |  2:00 pm EST

Policy

Class Deviation—Section 890 Pilot Program to Accelerate Contracting and Pricing Processes
Defense Pricing and Contracting

Joint Strategic Oversight Plan For Ukraine Response
Inspectors General for DoD, State, and USAID

Defense and Federal Government

Air Force, Marine Generals Seen as Top Picks for Joint Chiefs Job
Nancy A. Youssef and Gordon Lubold, The Wall Street Journal

Biden Administration Announces Additional Security Assistance for Ukraine
DoD Press Release

Ping, Ping: Bringing autonomy to hydrography to map the undersea world for the Navy
Leidos, Breaking Defense

Drone Boats: Inside the U.S. Navy’s Latest Unmanned AI Tech
Shelby Holliday, The Wall Street Journal

Push for naval ‘interchangeability’ will require help from industry
Megan Eckstein, Defense News

China’s Decline Became Undeniable This Week. Now What?
Bret Stephens, The New York Times

Commentary: How a new commission will fix disputes over US Navy’s force structure
Everett Pyatt, Defense News

Congress

Fears of the next government shutdown loom months ahead of deadline
Leo Shane III, Military Times

Republicans eye Pentagon savings after McCarthy spending agreement
Bryant Harris and Leo Shane III, Defense News

Federal court executive sidesteps senator’s queries about ‘Fat Leonard’ escape
Greg Moran, The San Diego Union-Tribune

One more thing...

Plan 2023 with a giant cat calendar from the Army Corps of Engineers
Sarah Sicard, Military Times

As we watch the proverbial sands of time drain from our lives, what better way to mark that passage than with a calendar featuring oversized cats? That’s what the Army Corps of Engineers over in the Portland District thought, too. So, it published a 2023 calendar featuring big infrastructure projects as the setting for even bigger cats.  Read more.

Michelle V. J. Johnson, PhD
Communications Manager, Contractor Support
Acquisition Research Program at Naval Postgraduate School
 e: michelle.johnson.ctr@nps.edu