Intervention strategies for the department of defense acquisition process

The Department of Defense (DoD) acquisition system is often challenged by schedule overruns that can be attributed to a complex acquisition process. This process drives great research interests in exploring intervention strategies that would help reduce program development delays. Recent studies indicate that policies that address (1) scope growth, (2) acquisition process variability and (3) program technology maturity should be investigated as they may have significant impact on reducing program completion time. However, quantitatively evaluating the impact of a new policy has been limited due to the lack of system models with appropriate fidelity. The application of a simulation model to address this challenge thus becomes a promising approach. In this research, we explore the benefits of the Enterprise Requirements and Acquisition Model, a discrete event simulation of the DoD acquisition system to quantitatively examine the temporal effects of scope growth, technology maturity, and decreased variation and means process times in post-Design Readiness Review contractor activities. The insights gained from the simulation experiments can potentially help formulate new policies to improve the complex DoD acquisition process.