…The issue with our current acquisition practice is that we are attempting to use processes designed for an earlier technology…
The reason traditional DoD acquisition practices are failing us today is because we no longer build traditional information based systems. Rather than building new IT systems the way we build new aircraft or ships, we evolve enterprise and application capabilities. Said another way, today’s IT based systems are all moving toward virtual storage, virtual computing, and web services or services oriented architecture layers riding atop the network communications infrastructure. This means that unlike IT acquisition just ten years ago, today’s acquisition is either about building out or improving the enterprise infrastructure or adding new and/or improved functionality (applications) that ride the infrastructure. In this case, infrastructure means the network communications connectivity, plus the computing and storage capacity to support the foundation software services and application functions enabled by these “integrated” layers of infrastructure. To fit these enterprise and application improvements into the current acquisition and budget system we mask the improvements as new programs that fit the Congressional and DoD view of system acquisition.