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This week we're bringing you a selection of stories resulting from last week's symposium.
- Our top story is the recap out of NPS, which emphasizes the important role of research in improving defense acquisition. Our keynote speakers and other leaders noted how valuable this work is to the larger mission, and that value was on display with all the research presented last week.
- Lt. Gen. Bassett took time out of the symposium to talk with Alexandra Lohr of Federal News Network. The article and podcast elaborate on some of his symposium talking points about commercial buying and pricing.
- Our ARP article connects symposium comments about the critical role of industrial base strategy and the acquisition workforce to current and future war efforts.
- We have our first video out from the symposium: the keynote address from Dr. Bill LaPlante. We'll be sharing more videos over the next several weeks.
ICYMI: Last week, DoD released the National Defense Science & Technology Strategy. It has three lines of effort:
- Focus on the joint mission
- Create and field capabilities at speed and scale
- Ensure the foundations for research and development.
DoD has announced the upcoming Technology Readiness Experimentation (TREX) showcase, in which groups compete for Rapid Defense Experimentation Reserve (RDER) funding.
- The press release describes both TREX and RDER as part of a larger "campaign of experimentation," a phrase Dr. LaPlante used in his keynote address.
Lots of news from Congress this week.
- In disappointing news, the debt ceiling drama has delayed NDAA committee work until next month. And nominees are still on hold thanks to Senator Tuberville, despite growing concern about the problems this is creating across DoD.
- In good news, Congressman Adam Smith is supporting Frank Kendall's push for a rapid response authority to acquire critical new technologies.
This Week's Top Story
NPS Acquisition Research Symposium Marks 20th Annual Event With Return to Monterey
NPS Public Affairs
For the first time in four years, acquisition professionals from the government, academic and private sectors gathered in Monterey as the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) hosted its 20th annual Acquisition Research Symposium, May 10-11. This year’s event marked a return to in-person sessions after three years of virtual gatherings, offering nearly 800 registered attendees the chance to engage with senior officials from the DOD and Department of the Navy.
Co-hosted by NPS’ Acquisition Research Program (ARP) and the Naval Warfare Studies Institute (NWSI), the symposium provided an invaluable opportunity for NPS faculty and students, as well as other attendees from academia and industry, to experience a wide range of perspectives from leaders in the defense acquisition domain.
“I've come to this event as a researching practitioner, writing papers and giving presentations to both improve the business of acquisition, but also to stretch the things that I want to investigate and see different,” said Nickolas Guertin, the Department of Defense’s Director of Operational Test and Evaluation (DOT&E) and one of the event’s keynote speakers. “This time I came because I wanted to give back to a venue that has been of great value to me.”
Guertin, who has attended and presented at the Acquisition Research Symposium for more than a decade, was joined this year by a number of DOD and DON senior leaders, including U.S. Navy Vice Adm. Francis Morley, Principal Military Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition (RD&A), and U.S. Army Lt. Gen. David Bassett, director of the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA).
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