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It's been another busy week in defense acquisition. On Tuesday, the budget justification books for FY2023 came out, with Congressional hearings from the services to discuss the anticipated budget on Wednesday. The Navy is continuing to invest in uncrewed vessels such as the MQ-25A, an uncrewed aerial tanker. The debate about what constitutes a "new" ship continues vis-a-vis the LHA-9 amphibious warship--or what journalist Justin Katz affectionately termed "Shrodinger's Ship" in his article.
As Congress passes another round of funding for Ukraine, we're seeing more concerns from Congress, industry, and DoD officials about industry's ability to deliver these munitions and maintain a comfortable stockpile for future American needs. To that end, this week's top story highlights how necessity is the mother of innovation. Newly instated Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment, Bill LaPlante, is indeed hitting the ground running. His office has issued an RFI for industry to propose novel capabilities that can assist the war effort in Ukraine and be delivered rapidly. Continuing this focus, Tuesday saw a hearing with Ellen Lord and David Berteau at the SASC to talk about defense industrial base issues.
Two new government websites were recently launched: Heidi Shyu's office has unveiled its new site, "Innovation Pathways," which identifies innovation organizations in the DoD ecosystem and other organizations that can provide an entry point to outsiders looking to join the cause, as vendors, researchers, or collaborators. GSA's new site, buy.gsa.gov, provides a more user-centered platform to walk vendors or buyers through the federal procurement process.
In people news, there's a new Vice Chief of Naval Operations: Lisa Franchetti. And we celebrate that DoD's first Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Officer, Craig Martell, is a former NPS professor -- and former head of machine learning at several notable companies. And yesterday, the Senate confirmed Frank Calvelli as the first Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Space Acquisition.
In acquisition news, the Navy released its new acquisition guidance, updated to align with the Adaptive Acquisition Framework.
The symposium is officially less than 2 weeks away! We have two full days of incredible panels for you to choose from. Last year we were pleased to see some attendees make it through all three days (with virtual cheers at the final happy hour!), creating the sense of community that makes the symposium such a special event. We hope to see familiar faces return with the same enthusiasm, and to meet some new friends this year.
This Week's Top Story
Calling all weapons makers: Pentagon seeks new ideas to arm Ukraine
Joe Gould, Defense News
In its effort to quickly arm Ukraine against Russia, the Pentagon has announced the equivalent of an open casting call for companies to offer weapons and commercial systems that can be rushed to the fight.
The Defense Department on Friday posted a broad request for information from industry on the federal contracting website sam.gov. The move is part of a stepped-up dialogue between the Pentagon and industry, and a sign of the challenge of boosting arms production in response to the ongoing conflict.
The RFI, on behalf of the new undersecretary of defense for acquisitions and sustainment, Bill LaPlante, is seeking input “from across industry” about air defense, anti-armor, anti-personnel, coastal defense, counter battery, unmanned aerial systems, and communications equipment, such as secure radios and satellite internet gear.
To that end, the DoD asks that responding companies describe their weapon, product or system in 100 words or less, and ― in the case of munitions ― check off “appropriate target type(s),” such as area, fixed, airborne/missile, maritime, mine, moving, hard or soft. The RFI says information received will be used to develop requirements for an actual solicitation at a later date.
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