Support to the Warfighter: Can Industry Do Better? 25 August, 2005 “Strengthening the Government-Industry Partnership”

Why Are We Here This is Industry’s chance to identify changes to facilitate their support to the warfighter This is the Government’s chance to identify Industry actions that would improve “supporting the warfighter”

Issue 1: Are Government requirements clearly articulated for Industry action? Findings: - Support to warfighter is key but the warfighter may not know / may not be able to articulate their requirement - Situation and requirements will change by the time metal bending begins and when the product is delivered Observations: - Acquisition system needs to be responsive - Spiral development; “plug and play” can contribute; - Possibilities: Flexible contract vehicles; more application of NRO processes/best practices; commercial practices - Industry has responsibility to discover/flesh out needs & provide solutions

Issue 2: Are we flexible enough to respond to needs of warfighter? Findings - Different systems prevent interoperability - System Engineer process essential (CDD  System Spec) - Requirements traceability must work both ways Observations - Need common set of processes/standards - Need forums to facilitate gov’t / industry interaction - Goal is to facilitate Joint and foreign warfighter support

Issue 3: Are we too focused on Systems vs Solutions Issue 3: Are we too focused on Systems vs Solutions? (What are we doing to suppress/address User/Operator requirements/needs) Findings - Industry focused on profit/fee - Customer needs more non materiel solutions - Everything has to have a Joint focus Observations - Industry fact of life is “making money and satisfying shareholders” - More analysis now required by Government due to JCIDS process; Not a timely process - Multiple Phase A study contracts followed by down select and development can help

Issue 4: How to get from an Idea to execution; more innovation/demos/experiments Findings - Limited contractor investment funds; expensive; ?payoff - ATD/ACTD/TTI/Rapid acquisition program exist - Need more process for transition to dev programs - Government wants “something: but Industry “solution” may not be what is needed—Industry can’t do this alone Observations - Industry and gov’t need to interact on requirements for future solutions/current needs - Need more government funded IR&D/CRAD - More Joint Experimentation - More extensive use of Battlelabs