|
Our top story this week comes from The Washington Post, with a detailed back story on the recent changes to 8(a) contractor designations at the Small Business Administration.
- The legal case prompting this change followed precedent set by the Supreme Court that universities cannot consider race in admissions.
- This new legal landscape at SBA and throughout contracting offers potential for a massive rethinking of how the federal government creates a marketplace that includes small businesses and fosters diversity. It also offers the opportunity to reconsider how the expedited contracting processes enjoyed by 8(a)s have acted as a workaround for the larger acquisition bureaucracy. If the pool of 8(a)s suddenly shrinks, what new rapid processes will fill the void?
Bill LaPlante has penned an article in Defense Acquisition Magazine praising the acquisition workforce for finding ways to deliver capabilities to Ukraine, and he gives some core goals to keep in mind for future efforts. One of those tenets: balance speed with rigor.
In a show of force, the Secretaries of the Army, Navy, and Air Force penned commentary in The Washington Post and spoke on CNN about the impact of Senator Tuberville's hold on military nominations. DoD's Press Secretary also took up the subject this week. Many Republicans rallied behind Tuberville, suggesting this fight won't end any time soon.
Mackenzie Eaglen and Todd Harrison argue in War on the Rocks that Space Command and Space Force are largely duplicative organizations, and that the former should be eliminated.
In related research, RAND is out with a new report identifying a lack of integration and transparency in space acquisition and various experimentation efforts at the Space Force.
- One of their recommendations: "Implement a cultural change that values enterprise and mission success over personal or individual program success."
Michael Brown and Rear Adm Lorin Selby have teamed up to argue for a "hedge strategy" of small, many, unmanned, and smarter weapons that leverage emerging technologies.
- While similar to the Replicator initiative announced by Deputy Secretary of Defense Hicks last week, Brown and Selby argue that this effort should be guided by a new undersecretary of defense for innovation and commercial technology, who would also oversee DoD's various innovation efforts that have emerged in recent years.
Our latest symposium video gives a lot of food for thought on technology-enabled logistics and sustainment.
- NPS and ARP alumni Shane Kohtz, with co-author Iain Cruikshank, explains the imperative to plan for the sustainment of machine learning tools given the need for humans to guide the systems as they learn. For instance, systems scanning visual images to recognize key objects initially create both false positives and false negatives that need to be monitored and corrected regularly.
- Peter Guinto and former NPS professor Dan Finkenstadt share research taking a fresh look at the idea of competition in the defense marketplace, especially in subcontracts. They note that the commercial marketplace features less competition in favor of managing fewer vendor relationships more intentionally.
- And John Verbanick provides a case study of how algorithmic logistics management increased aircraft readiness levels for the F-35.
Finally, take a few minutes to watch the video from Admiral Paparo welcoming attendees to this week's inaugural NPS International Alumni Symposium, held in Singapore.
- He articulates the significance of the Indo-Pacific region and of the international coalition of partners working to protect it. NPS has strong ties with U.S. Pacific Fleet, and international military officers are core members of the diverse NPS student body.
This Week's Top Story
SBA program upended in wake of Supreme Court affirmative action ruling
Julian Mark, The Washington Post
Thousands of Black, Latino and other minority business owners are scrambling to prove that their race puts them at a “social disadvantage” after a federal judge declared a key provision of a popular federal program unconstitutional, extending the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent retreat from affirmative action.
The Small Business Administration’s 8(a) Business Development program was meant to open a pipeline to billions in government contracting dollars for historically disadvantaged groups. But in July, a federal judge in Tennessee struck down a provision of the program that equated race with social disadvantage.
The decision — one of the first to affect the private sector in the wake of the Supreme Court’s June decision upending race-conscious college admissions — throws into disarray an SBA program that has served minority-owned small businesses for about five decades. Legal experts said it could signal trouble for other programs meant to help underrepresented groups win federal contracts, including veterans and women.
|
