LO-2: Legislative Acts Institutionalizing DoD Acquisition Community.
The history of DoD acquisition is far-reaching; several research types have detailed the DoD reforms' extensive chronological history. In the year 1982, congress introduced the Defense Authorization Act to improve the cost of growth in defense weapon programs. The amendment is widely referred to as Nun-McCurdy Act; it creates cost growth levels which require congress report on the programs that breach growth over 15 percent and program termination of growth over 25 percent. The Nunn- McCurdy legislation endured form 1983 until 2006 when the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) was established. NDAA offered two adjustments to the Nunn- McCurdy breach criteria ( Walter 2019) . First, it classified cost growth into significant and critical, and second, it introduces a baseline from which the breach is calculated. Therefore breaches were determined from the “current" that is at 25 percent critical and 15 percent for significant, and the original is 50 percent for critical and 30 percent significant baselines.
During 1980, the United States president Ronald Reagan restored the president's Blue Ribbon Commission through the Executive Order. The predominant objective of the Packard Commission was to reduce streamline and inefficiencies in the defense acquisition process ( Walter 2019) . Moreover, the defense ARJ founded on October 2018, was responsible for organizing the leadership structure of program executive office (PEO); Service Acquisition Executives (SAE); the Under the Defense Secretary, or USD(A), which later become the undersecretary of defense for acquisition in 2018 ( Walter 2019) . Lastly, the Packard Commission implemented rigorous testing of prototypes before invention.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Best Business Practices
The DoD can employ better and manageable business practices from its within by utilizing the private organization in its acquisition community. The Department is facing a confluence of management challenges due to cost and reduction in budget. However, the DoD should adopt the best business practice without degrading its core mission. After analyzing the DoD report, " Applying Best Business Practices from Corporate Performance Management to DoD," it is clear that DoD leadership needs to adopt a culture of cost management and do away with the current "spending management" culture. To sustain a culture of cost management DoD need to address three areas, which are the primary driver of DoD cost growth: Overhead and DoD Headquarters Staff, Personnel Costs, and Logistics. The Department can use the private sector downsizing approaches to meet the core mission despite decreased funding efficiently.
To sustain a culture of cost management, the SECDEF should initiate a downsizing process and emphasize the need to develop a detailed downsizing plan to supplement the strategic framework. For the program to be successful, the DEPSECDEF, who is the Department's chief management officer, should act as a project manager for the downsizing process. More than $ 270 billion are spent on DoD Headquarters staff, overhead, and infrastructure ( Kutz $ Rhodes, 2006) . The Department should aim to reduce the overhead budget from 42 percent to 25 percent within five years. The number of Headquarters personnel across OSD and DoD is estimated to be 61,750 personnel ( Best Business Practices DoD, 2002) . It leads to complexity, unclear authority, and sluggish process in decision making; thus, significant reduction to Headquarters personnel and overhead would be a practical approach in adopting a cost management culture ( Punaro 2010) . The Department spent nearly $263 billion yearly on civilian Staff and military. The cost spent on personnel has been increasing since the fiscal year 2001, the Department should reconsider reducing personnel cost by at least ten percent within five years. On the other hand, DoD spends around $170 billion on transportation, maintenance, and supply ( Kutz $ Rhodes, 2006) . Therefore, DoD needs to evaluate its logistic management organization for breaks to decrease overlap and make real savings established by the best business practices.
Private sectors that have a cost management culture are in a better position to improve the logistic enterprise. Offering improved service with fewer employees is the assurance of an effective downsizing. If DoD can utilize the downsizing process, they can provide enhanced service due to ease in management, elimination of complex and confusing authority, and faster decision making ( Kutz $ Rhodes, 2006) . Downsizing approach has been used effectively by most private companies to achieve a single objective of reducing payroll costs. If the DoD can implement downsizing plans, more than five percent saving on their annual budget will be realized. Moreover, with the reduced military budget, DoD needs a less complicated management structure that is cost-effective.
Although many people can view downsizing as a cynical plan, though cost-effective, it will maintain DoD operation without undergoing financial constrain. The decision-making process is critical for any department; with the current management structure, decision-making is time-consuming and less effective. DoD can reduce overhead by five percent and pave the way for a smooth, faster, and effective decision-making process ( Punaro 2010) . The DoD spending management culture cannot realize its goal for serving the American people effectively unless they reduce the payroll cost on overhead and DoD headquarters Staff, personnel costs, and logistics.
References
Applying Best Business Practices from Corporate Performance Management to DoD. (2002). Retrieved 9 July 2020, from https://dbb.defense.gov/Portals/35/Documents/Reports/2014/Implementing%20Best%20Practices.pdf
Kutz, G. D., & Rhodes, K. A. (2006). DOD business systems modernization: Navy ERP adherence to best business practices critical to avoid past failures . DIANE Publishing.
Punaro, A. (2010). Reducing Overhead and Improving DoD's Business Operations . Defense Business Board Washington United States
Walter, H. (2019). The Defense Industrial Base: How Idiosyncratic and Historical Influences Dictate Its Future. International Social Science Review , 95 (1), 4.
