Page 15 - Williams Foundation Integrated Force Design Seminar
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Designing the Integrated Force: How to Define and Meet the Challenge?
Acqusition and Sustainment of the Integrated Force
Traditional Contracting Approach
• CASG has traditionally used fixed or firm priced contracts to
constrain costs and transfer clear delivery responsibilities to
prime contractors.
• Inappropriate where requirements are unclear
• Costly if implementation is not studied
• Ineffective if a large amount of interfacing with
Government equipment/policy is required
• Industry engagement in the lead up to acquisition tends to be a
written response to an established set of requirements
To achieve a joint design outcome, it would be necessary to shape an engagement model in which industry
was a full partner. It was crucial as well to feed learning back into requirements generation as well.
Budgeting changes were required as well. “We don’t do enough funded work with industry to get a realistic
assessment of the domain of the feasible nor with regard to how to price evolving options and capabilities.
How do you price the evolution within the force of options and opportunities when you manage with fixed
priced contracts? You don’t.”
He argued the new engagement model would divide programs into three phases: a partnership, appraisal
and executive phase within which different approaches would be combined to deliver a capability.
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