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12 mars 2020 | International, Aérospatial

DoD Drafts New Acquisition Strategy For Commercial SATCOM

Space Force will ask for 2022 money for commercial satcom, but the funds will not be for buying services as industry would like -- rather for R&D.

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SATELLITE 2020: The Space Force is drafting a new Transformative Acquisition Strategy for buying commercial satellite communications capacity, Clare Grason, the chief of the service's Commercial Satellite Communications Office (CSCO), told a panel here today.

The new strategy is bouncing off of the new “Vision for Satellite Communications” signed Jan. 23 by Space Command head, and Space Force chief, Gen. Jay Raymond. It's designed to enable the creation of seamless web of communications capabilities to warfighters, even during conflict.

David Myers, president of Peraton's Communications sector, told me in an interview that CSCO will likely replace it's current program, known as the Future Commercial SATCOM Acquisition Program, “with something unique to Space Command that better suits this mission of interoperability between between commercial and government.”

Indeed, Peraton on March 3 announced they had been granted a $218.6 million contract to provide commercial satellite communications services for Africa Command (AFRICOM). According to the company's March 3 announcement, the “single award, blanket purchase agreement” is a first of its kind, whereby the company “will provide communications services leveraging satellites and emerging technologies from across multiple satellite fleet operators.”

At the same time, Grason told me afterwards, the office is in the process of putting together a funding request for 2022 for a newish, congressionally-mandated program of record to buy commercial satcom directly from operators — although she did not reveal the sum.

“We are POMing against the commercial satcom program of record,” she said. “We're going through that process right now.”

Congress created the independent program element for commercial satcom within the DoD budget in the 2019, putting $49.5 million into the pot. It added $5 million to the program in 2020, although DoD did not ask for funding. There is no money in the 2021 budget request, Grason explained, although she is working on an unfunded requirements request that might be able to fill that gap.

The program of record, however, will not be used — at least in the near term — to provide satellite communications services to military users in a manner similar to how terrestrial telecom providers like AT&T sell you a data plan for your phone, as a number of commercial satcom operators have been advocating.

Instead, those congressionally appropriated funds would be used “for research and development purposes, to assess capabilities that are emerging,” Grason told me. Once proven, new capabilities might be fed back into the operational program. “Or we could do isolated projects in cooperation with others,” she said. “There's a lot of flexibility and potential for the arrangement.”

CSCO is leery of crossing the working capital and congressionally appropriated funding streams, Grason explained. “It's key when it comes down to the program of record that those activities are outside of the scope of our core ... transactions,” she told me. “There are legalities there.”

Currently, the CSCO buys commercial satellite bandwidth using a DoD working capital fund — a kind of revolving fund that works a bit like a checking account. CSCO negotiates one-on-one contracts between a satcom provider and a military customer, Grayson said. At any one time, she told the Satellite 2020 audience, the office is negotiating about 30 different deals.

“Our office is responsible for connecting a customer to the marketplace,” she explained.

Under that system, DoD essentially leases commercial bandwidth for short periods of time — an acquisition model that has been widely disparaged by commercial satcom operators. Indeed, Congress in the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) shifted Grason's office from its original home within the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) to Air Force Space Command. That, of course, has now been subsumed by the new Space Force.

The goal of the new acquisition strategy, Grason said, is to streamline that process via a kind of bundling of current contracts with providers.

“We do have a Transformative Acquisition Strategy under development now, that will evolve how we acquire and deliver commercial satcom on an aggregated basis through a smaller number of contracts,” she said, that will “centralize procurement with industry.” CSCO will then turn around and sign so-called ‘service letter agreements' with military customers that, in effect, make them subscribers to commercial services.

“So in essence we'd become like a Direct TV with different cable plans,” she told me, and would managing the relationship between the user and the providers. “It's a challenging objective, but we believe the benefit lies in the fact that we're aggregating buying power, we won't have duplication, we'll have [broad] coverage, and the ability to shift resources without having to set up new contracts.”

A first draft of which is due at the end of the year, she said.

DoD currently contracts for satcom bandwidth with a number of providers, such as Peraton and Intelsat, which has been vocal in pushing the Pentagon to move to a ‘satellite-as-a-service' model.

“There's going to be a very significant change required in the mindset,” Rebecca Cowen-Hirsch, senior vice president for government strategy and policy at Inmarsat Government, told the panel.

But the bulk of DoD's satcom services and bandwidth comes via the Enhanced Mobile Satellite Services (EMMS) program, for which Iridium Communications was awarded a $738.5 million, seven-year, fixed-price contract in December 2019.

The US military is heavily reliant on commercial satcom, given the fact that military comsat networks, such as the Advanced Extremely High Frequency satellites built by Lockheed Martin and the Wideband Global SATCOM satellites built by Boeing, have limited bandwidth to go around.

In fact, Grason told me, access to milsatcom bandwidth is granted via a “prioritization scheme that customers generally speaking are highly dissatisfied with.”

That said, she admitted that military users of CSCO's services are naturally a bit skeptical about a new approach.They want to know “how are you going to ensure that the capabilities that we're getting today are not degraded?” she said. “The linchpin is that the customer will pay for the capability in the form of a service level agreement with us.”

Myer said one model DoD might want to think about is “buying a pool of capacity that gives them portability to move capacity around.” This would it to leverage buying power, he said.

https://breakingdefense.com/2020/03/dod-drafts-new-acquisition-strategy-for-commercial-satcom

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  • Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - March 12, 2020

    13 mars 2020 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité

    Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - March 12, 2020

    NAVY Fluor Marine Propulsion LLC, Arlington, Virginia, is awarded a $1,775,605,000 cost-plus-fixed fee modification to previously-awarded contract N00024-18-C-2130 for naval nuclear propulsion work at the Naval Nuclear Laboratory. Work will be performed in Schenectady, New York (52%); Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (31%); Idaho Falls, Idaho (11%); and Charleston, South Carolina (6%). Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance (Navy); fiscal 2019 and 2020 research, development, test and evaluation; and fiscal 2019 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funding in the amount of $290,784,372, will be obligated at time of award. Funding in the amount of $207,961,972 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity. Alliant Techsystems Operations LLC, Northridge, California, is awarded a $164,954,564 modification (P00004) to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract (N00019-19-C-0049). This modification exercises an option to procure Lot Nine, full rate production of Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missiles (AARGM). This modification includes the conversion of Advanced Guided Missle-88B High Speed Anti-Radiation Missiles into 253 AGM-88E AARGM all up rounds for the Navy, and two Captive Air Training Missiles for the government of Germany. Work will be performed in Northridge, California (80%); and Ridgecrest, California (20%), and is expected to be complete by March 2023. Fiscal 2020 weapons procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $159,104,175; fiscal 2019 weapons procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $4,599,179; and Foreign Military Sales funds in the amount of $1,251,210 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., San Diego, California, is awarded an $86,225,713 modification (P00010) to a previously awarded cost-plus-fixed-fee contract (N00019-19-C-1020). This modification exercises options to provide sustainment, engineering, logistics and test support for MQ-4C Triton aircraft mission control and operator training systems. Work will be performed in Patuxent River, Maryland (45%); Jacksonville, Florida (25%); Andersen Air Force Base, Guam (20%); and Point Mugu, California (10%), and is expected to be complete by March 2021. In addition, this effort includes procurement of field service representative's technical support to ensure that the MQ-4C unmanned surveillance aircraft are mission-capable for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions supporting early operational capability. Fiscal 2020 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $55,500,000; fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance (Navy) funds in the amount of $5,813,000; and fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $200,000 will be obligated at time of award, $5,813,000 of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. Lockheed Martin Corp., Rotary and Mission Systems, Moorestown, New Jersey, is awarded a $65,008,190 cost-plus-incentive-fee and cost-only modification to previously-awarded contract N00024-19-C-5603 for Ship Self-Defense System combat system engineering support. Work will be performed in Moorestown, New Jersey, and is expected to be completed by June 2022. Fiscal 2020 and 2019 operations and maintenance (Navy); fiscal 2020 and 2019 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy); fiscal 2020 and 2019 other procurement (Navy); and fiscal 2018, 2017 and 2016 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funding in the amount of $4,707,191 will be obligated at time of award. Funds in the amount of $727,389 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity. R. A. Burch Construction Co. Inc.,* Ramona, California, is awarded $56,433,432 for a firm-fixed-price task order (N62473-20-F-4334) under a multiple award construction contract for the design-build construction of an alert force complex at Travis Air Force Base. Work will be performed in Fairfield, California, and is expected to be completed by May 2022. The work provides design and construction of a new alert force complex, including an alert force and security facility, military strategic and tactical relay facilities and aircraft maintenance repair and storage facilities. The project will construct a low-rise alert force facility with reinforced concrete masonry unit with filled cells for exterior walls, some interior walls, plaster exterior finish, reinforced concrete floors and a sloped standing seam metal roofing system over a concrete roof structure. The project also includes demolishing existing facilities, utilities and site elements, concrete pavement, new overhead tail pipe vehicle exhaust system, new air compressors and additional asphalt drives. Fiscal 2020 military construction, (Navy) contract funds in the amount of $56,433,432 are obligated on this award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Two proposals were received for this task order. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Southwest, San Diego, California, is the contracting activity (N62473-18-D-5852). BAE Systems Information and Electronic Systems Integration Inc., Nashua, New Hampshire, is awarded a $12,697,209 modification (P00004) to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract (N00019-19-C-0052). This modification exercises an option to procure four OE-120B antenna groups, three retrofit kits and three delta installation and checkout kits for the Navy in support of the Air Traffic Control and Landing program office. Work will be performed in Nashua, New Hampshire, and is expected to be completed in May 2023. Additionally, this modification provides for the procurement of two OE-120B antenna groups for the government of Japan. Fiscal 2016 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funds in the amount of $1,892,148; fiscal 2017 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funds in the amount of $170,058; fiscal 2018 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funds in the amount of $340,116; fiscal 2020 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funds in the amount of $5,676,444; fiscal 2020 other procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $834,147; and Foreign Military Sales funds in the amount of $3,784,296 will be obligated at the time of award, $1,892,148 of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. (Awarded March 9, 2020) Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Bethpage, New York, is awarded an $11,467,560 firm-fixed-price and fixed-price incentive (firm target) modification to a previously awarded contract (N00024-17-C-6311) for Airborne Laser Mine Detection System/Airborne Mine Neutralization System kits, Common Support Container Kits, and 20ft Reduced Weight Basic Outfitting Assembly to support the Littoral Combat Ship Mission Modules Program. Work will be performed in Portsmouth, Virginia (67%); and Bethpage, New York (33%), and is expected to be complete by November 2022. Fiscal 2020, 2019 and 2018 other procurement (Navy) funding in the amount of $11,467,560 will be obligated at time of award. Fiscal 2018 other procurement (Navy) funding in the amount of $1,363,591 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity. T.E. Davis Construction Co.,* Jacksonville, North Carolina, is awarded $9,715,000 for a firm-fixed-price task order (N40085-20-F-4764) under a multiple award construction contract for renovations to four buildings at Camp Johnson, a satellite camp of Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune. Work will be performed in Jacksonville, North Carolina, and is expected to be complete by August 2022. The work provides for complete renovation of four buildings, including site work, mechanical systems, plumbing, electrical, finishes, doors, windows, fire protection and incidental related work. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance (Marine Corps) contract funds in the amount of $9,715,000 are obligated on this award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This task order received six proposals. Naval Facilities Engineering Command Mid-Atlantic, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity (N40085-16-D-6305). Raytheon BBN Technologies Corp., Cambridge, Massachusetts, is awarded a $9,321,564 performance based, cost-plus-fixed-fee, completion contract (N65236-20-C-8009). This contract is for research logistics and supply chain automated reasoning and information fusion, real-time demand forecasting and system resilience assessment. Work will be performed in Cambridge, Massachusetts (67%); Menlo Park, California (13%); Minneapolis, Minnesota (12%); Potsdam, New York (4%); and Tucson, Arizona (4%). Work is expected to be complete by September 2021. The contract will provide a distributed system that learns the logistics enterprise, estimates its operational state and provides predictive analytics to answer key diagnostic and prognostic questions about logistics performance, resilience, flexibility and survivability under a range of what-if scenarios. The contract includes an 18 month base period. Contract funds in the amount of $455,000 will be obligated at the time of award. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The contract was competitively procured by full and open competition under the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Strategic Technology Office broad agency announcement (HR0011-19-S-0053) via the Federal Business Opportunities website, with nine timely offers received. The Naval Information Warfare Center Atlantic, Charleston, South Carolina, is the contracting activity. Siemens Industry Software Inc., Milford, Ohio, is awarded an $8,651,400 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract to provide various commercially-available Situation, Task, Action, and Results – Computational Continuum Mechanics software and add-on Hierarchical Evolutionary Engineering Design System and Amesim packages in support of the Aeromechanics and Thermal Analysis branch at the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division (NAWCWD), China Lake, California. Work will be performed at the NAWCWD China Lake, California, and is expected to be completed in March 2025. Fiscal 2020 working capital (Navy) funds in the amount of $269,868 will be obligated at the time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured pursuant to 10 U.S. Code 2304(c)(1). The NAWCWD China Lake, California, is the contracting activity (N68936-20-D-0008). (Awarded March 9, 2020) AECOM Management Services Inc., Germantown, Maryland, is awarded an $8,161,962 modification (P00004) to a previously awarded cost-plus-fixed-fee, cost reimbursable contract (N00019-18-C-1038). This modification exercises options to provide intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance support to the U.S. Central Command, the U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, and the Commander Task Force 57 in forward deployed locations to support on-going overseas contingency operations. Work will be performed in Patuxent River, Maryland, and is expected to be completed in March 2021. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance (Navy) funds in the amount of $8,161,962 will be obligated at the time of award, all of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. The Boeing Co., St. Louis, Missouri, is awarded an $8,006,737 modification (P00006) to a previously awarded cost-plus-incentive-fee contract (N00019-18-C-1057). This modification exercises an option to continue phase one design maturity, analysis and test planning for the Stand-off Land Attack Missile - Expanded Response (SLAM-ER) production line in support of the government of Saudi Arabia. Work will be performed in St. Charles, Missouri (61%); Indianapolis, Indiana (15%); Melbourne, Florida (9%); Walled Lake, Michigan (8%); Windsor Locks, Connecticut (3%); and various locations within the continental U.S. (4%), and is expected to be completed in March 2020. Additionally, this modification replaces obsolete, nearly obsolete, or uneconomical parts to support production and improve future sustainment as part of the SLAM-ER obsolescence redesign program. Foreign Military Sales funds in the amount of $8,006,737 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY Alliant Enterprises LLC, doing business as Alliant Healthcare Products, Grand Rapids, Michigan, has been awarded a maximum $43,750,000 fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for laboratory supplies and wares. This was a competitive acquisition with 15 responses received. This is a five-year contract with no option periods. Location of performance is Michigan, with a March 11, 2025, performance completion date. Using customers are Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and federal civilian agencies. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2020 through 2025 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE2DE-20-D-0007). Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, has been awarded a minimum $40,725,593 modification (P00001) to a four-year base contract (SPRTA1-19-D-0001) with one five-year option period adding pricing for the manufacture of B-2 aircraft liner production units. This is a firm-fixed price, indefinite-quantity contract. Locations of performance are Oklahoma, Utah and California, with a Sept. 1, 2023, performance completion date. Using military service is Air Force. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2020 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Aviation, Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma. Old North Utility Services Inc., San Dimas, California, has been awarded a maximum $29,083,224 modification (P00250) to a 50-year contract (SP0600-07-C-8258) with no option periods for the water/wastewater utility service charge. This is a fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment contract. Locations of performance are California and North Carolina, with a Feb. 28, 2058, performance completion date. Using military service is Army. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2020 through 2058 Army operations and maintenance funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Energy, Fort Belvoir, Virginia. C. E. Niehoff & Co., Evanston, Illinois, has been awarded a maximum $11,199,440 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-quantity contract for engine regulators and generators. This is a sole-source acquisition using justification 10 U.S. Code 2304 (c)(1), as stated in Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1. This is a three-year base contract with two one-year option periods. Location of performance is Illinois, with a March 9, 2023, performance completion date. Using military services are Army and Marine Corps. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2020 through 2023 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Land and Maritime, Columbus, Ohio (SPE7LX-20-D-0084). American Autoclave Co., Jasper, Georgia, has been awarded a maximum $7,425,759 firm-fixed-price contract for gas autoclaves. This was a competitive acquisition with two responses received. This is a one-year, three-month contract with no option periods. Location of performance is Georgia, with a May 22, 2021, performance completion date. Using military service is Air Force. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2014 (non-expiring) defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Aviation, Richmond, Virginia (SPE4A8-20-C-0001). DEFENSE THREAT REDUCTION AGENCY Booz Allen Hamilton, McLean, Virginia, is issued a contract modification (HDTRA1-16-C-0012-P00036) to exercise Option Period Four line items with a ceiling value of $37,892,180, with an effective date of May 27, 2020. This does not include the value of the unexercised options. This contract is for advisory and assistance services in support of the Program Integration Division of the Cooperative Threat Reduction Program. Performance of this contract will take place at Lorton, Virginia; Fort Belvoir, Virginia; and at various locations throughout the world. The anticipated completion date of this option period is May 26, 2021. The contract was a competitive acquisition; the government received one offer. The Defense Threat Reduction Agency, Fort Belvoir, Virginia, is the contracting activity. ARMY General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc., Poway, California, was awarded a $14,916,728 modification (P00037) to contract W58RGZ-19-C-0027 for instructor operators for the Gray Eagle performance based logistics contract. Work will be performed in Poway, California, with an estimated completion date of April 23, 2024. Fiscal 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 operations and maintenance funds, Army in the amount of $14,916,728 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity. BFBC, Bozeman, Montana, was awarded a $12,613,244 modification (P00009) to contract W912PL-19-C-0014 for wall structure on a 100 year flood event assumption for the Yuma 1 bollard wall alignment. Work will be performed in El Centro, California, with an estimated completion date of Dec. 31, 2020. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance, Army funds in the amount of $12,613,244 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Albuquerque, New Mexico, is the contracting activity. (Awarded March 9, 2020) DEFENSE INFORMATION SYSTEMS AGENCY General Dynamics Information Technology, Fairfax, Virginia, was awarded a firm-fixed-price task order (HC1013-20-F-0073) to support the Air Force Air Defense Communication Services (ADCS). The face value of this action is $7,171,537, funded by fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance funds. The total cumulative value of the order is $14,486,526. This task order was awarded under the competitively awarded, single-award blanket purchase agreement (HC1013-15-A-0004) against General Services Administration's Information Technology Schedule 70 contract for ADCS. The place of performance is throughout the continental U.S., as well as Alaska, Hawaii and Guam. The period of performance for this action is April 1, 2020, to March 31, 2021. There are two six-month option periods from April 1, 2021, to March 31, 2022. The Defense Information Technology Contracting Organization, Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, is the contracting activity. *Small Business https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2110663/source/GovDelivery/

  • Meta Exposes Iranian Hacker Group Targeting Global Political Figures on WhatsApp

    25 août 2024 | International, C4ISR, Sécurité

    Meta Exposes Iranian Hacker Group Targeting Global Political Figures on WhatsApp

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  • Opinion: How To Break Exponential Pentagon Cost Growth

    16 septembre 2020 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Autre défense

    Opinion: How To Break Exponential Pentagon Cost Growth

    James Chew The recently published viewpoint “Can the Pentagon Spend More Smartly?” (AW&ST Aug. 31-Sept. 13, p. 58) highlights the consequences of increased dependence on technology to maintain an edge. In fact, the core issue of the exponential growth in cost associated with the linear growth in technology capability is highlighted in Norman Augustine's 1982 book Augustine's Laws. Specifically, two of “Augustine's laws” focus on what needs to be avoided within the Defense Department acquisition community. One of the laws states: “In the year 2054, the entire defense budget will purchase just one aircraft. This aircraft will have to be shared by the Air Force and Navy three and a half days each per week, except for leap year when it will be made available to the Marines for the extra day.” Additionally, the book highlights the Defense Department's growing dependence on electronic systems with this law: “After the year 2015, there will be no airplane crashes. There will be no takeoffs either, because electronics will occupy 100% of every airplane's weight.” Even if these laws seem outlandish, the book's underlying lessons still ring true today. For decades, the Pentagon was the driving force behind the development of microelectronics until, interestingly, the commercial sector ultimately ended up in the driver's seat. To share a little history, the Army-funded Micromodule project was the precursor of the integrated circuit and the Very-Large Scale Integration project created today's electronic design automation companies and resulted in the development of multichip wafer fabrication technology. The fact is, today's microelectronics technology would not exist, or would almost certainly be less sophisticated, if not for a few brave and visionary Defense Department project officers. The electronics industry is likely the most visible and significant example of a commercial market that not only transitioned from but significantly advanced technology developed by the U.S. military. Without the government investment, the device on which I am writing this article, and the one on which you are reading it, would perhaps not exist. There are lessons to be learned from both the public and private sectors, and best practices from each can certainly be applied cross-functionally to optimize outcomes. For example, the commercial electronics industry has enabled electronic systems companies to develop high-quality, sustainable and modernizable products on a “can't-miss-Christmas” schedule. Much of the industry's success is due in large part to an adherence to “first-pass success” and the computational software tools and processes that enable it. These tools and processes have been developed by companies that invest significant portions of their annual sales—some up to 40%—into research and development (that is “IR&D” to you in the Pentagon) and are a result of the intense competition within the unforgiving consumer electronics market. These tools and processes, which have institutionalized the product development practice of “emulate before you fabricate,” make up the foundation of on-schedule, on-cost product development. The best-case scenario is that the current Defense Department and defense industry electronic development process matches up with the commercial electronics development process, where they both seek to achieve “first-pass success.” Even if all things were equal, which they aren't, the commercial timeline would still be around 30% that of the defense timeline. Eliminating the need for prototype hardware and the associated tests and reworks is a major reduction in design time and cost. So, after so many years of funding research into electronic design and development, why have the Defense Department and defense industry turned away from the commercial processes that stemmed from that investment? Why aren't these processes being adopted? Congress appreciates that transitioning to commercial electronics best practices is the basis for the much-desired firm, fixed-price acquisition. The fiscal 2017 National Defense Authorization Act, reinforced by the fiscal 2021 Defense Appropriations Act, has an entire section on transitioning to commercial electronics best practices. Program offices and some individuals within the defense industrial base are seeking to better understand the commercial industry-proven way to design electronics that reduce design schedules by at least 70%, producing “first-pass success” electronic system designs that are immediately sustainable and agilely modernizable. The answer is out there—adopt commercial best practices to save time and money. With nontraditional companies entering the picture (what's the name of that space company?), the public sector should have plenty of motivation to implement tools and processes that are prevalent and successful in today's private sector. https://aviationweek.com/defense-space/budget-policy-operations/opinion-how-break-exponential-pentagon-cost-growth

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