Message From A Defense Contractor CEO
Started by Vern Edwards · Jan 27, 2025 · 7 replies
- VOriginal post
Vern Edwards
Jan 27, 2025 · 1y ago
I received an email this morning that contained the following:
Quote
Selling to government is like fighting a toddler. Just as a toddler needs food and sleep to survive and thrive, the Defense Department has clear requirements for what it needs to deter and win wars, and thereby allow the country to survive and thrive. Yet, navigating that process is exasperating and maddening — like negotiating with a toddler in the middle of a tantrum.
Ultimately, this comes down to people and their incentives. It’s not technology, it’s not insufficient authorities — it’s people, pure and simple.
Too few civil servants in the Defense Department are willing to break free of the constraints of “business as usual.” Due to a mixture of ignorance, fear, and sclerosis, the bureaucrats who America relies on to buy the future of the U.S. military have too many reasons to say no and vanishingly few reasons to say yes. To be sure, plenty of people in the system are ready to push for change and are fighting every day to drive innovation. They win some important battles, but they’re still losing the war against the status quo. As a result, the path that innovative companies must travel to cross the “valley of death” are littered with mines laid by bureaucracy. And the critical war-winning technologies that the country needs remain out of reach because of it.
I am not talking about buying aircraft carriers but rather best-in-class commercial and emerging technologies. Traditional government approaches to buying such products are not appropriate. The technology moves too quickly — and that is a speed that the Department of Defense needs to be able to match by leveraging the authorities available to it today.
- R
Retreadfed
Jan 27, 2025 · 1y ago
Vern Edwards said:
Too few civil servants in the Defense Department are willing to break free of the constraints of “business as usual.”
I now consult with contractors on doing business with the government. Many times when they are questioned about their processes, the response I get is "that is the way we have always done it." Thus, I think this is a problem for both parties.
- C
C Culham
Jan 28, 2025 · 1y ago
I have no analogy other than to say this.
My career paralleled to some extent the addition of FAR part 12 to the FAR. I watched it unfold not into the grand idea that could lead Federal contracting in a new direction but rather it was parsed and smashed back into business as usual. In my view Part 12 was an attempt to lead both sides into a new way of doing business and the government side failed miserably in being the leader to effect the change the opened door could bring. Clearly not the best example yet I always wondered why an agency could not adequately explain to a contractor why the contractor should not protest to GAO a service that was then being procured as a "commercial service" and the advantages it would bring to both sides of the table?
PS - The protest was denied and the determination of commercial upheld but protest never should have gotten as far as it did.
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formerfed
Jan 28, 2025 · 1y ago
Yes, maintaining the status quo is important to large segments of the government and industry. On the industry side, the status quo presents a huge maze that newbies can’t begin to navigate. So the “old boy” pool keeps the competition to themselves. On the government side, major change upsets jobs. Some employees can’t handle it, and they know it. The status quo keeps management in power with all their prescribed rules, processes, and procedures they put in place. An enthusiastic employee who wants to try something different runs into a stone wall.
- F
FrankJon
Feb 5, 2025 · 1y ago
On 1/28/2025 at 2:59 PM, formerfed said:
An enthusiastic employee who wants to try something different runs into a stone wall.
A warranted CO who wants to try something different is usually empowered to make the ultimate decision on processes and techniques. It's not a stone wall, but a bog of resistance that most COs either don't realize they can pass through, or lack the motivation or skill set to pass through.
- V
Vern Edwards
Feb 5, 2025 · 1y ago
@FrankJon "a bog of resistance" -- I like that. I like that very much. May I use it?
- F
FrankJon
Feb 5, 2025 · 1y ago
Vern Edwards said:
@FrankJon "a bog of resistance" -- I like that. I like that very much. May I use it?
You may!
- V
Vern Edwards
Feb 5, 2025 · 1y ago
Thank you. I'll give you credit.