DEFENSE DEPARTMENT
Comments (3)
Amen to Tim Harp's comment about the leap from one color of money to the next as being the real valley of death. I heard a presentation from Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Heidi Shyu at the Association of Old Crows (AOC) International Symposium & Convention in Wash DC last week who addressed this issue. She said that we need to change the Planning Programming Budgeting and Execution (PPBE) process to be more adaptive including having a pot a money that is colorless. On a similar note, I asked a NASA program manager over 25 years ago how they addressed this and he said they were able to transition technology from the developer to the user with only a single pot (one color) of money without having to involve multiple colors. That is the real trick! I don't know if they still operate that way but it seems like that is the real solution. To further the point about innovation hurdles, another speaker at the AOC conference, Gen. Stephen W. “Seve” Wilson (Ret), former AF Vice Chief of Staff, said the DoD doesn't have an innovation problem, it has an innovation adoption problem.
Karl Hart at 8:17 AMHis message is the same message we have heard for over twenty years. Ultimately, the valley of death is rearely a technology issue, it is a financial hurdle. The SBIR is a good program that needs continued strong support, but it only leads to the precipice of the valley of death. Graduation from the SBIR is the real challenge. As a former Assistant Deputy Undersecretary of Defense who started the Technology Transition Initiative twenty years ago to address the valley of death, and later as a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense and OIPT Chair for IT acquisition, I see nothing new here. While it is important for DoD to continue to promote the SBIR in order for that initiative to continue to add value, connecting it to the valley of death misses the mark. The leap from one color of money to the next in the arcane world of Defense appropriations is the real valley of death.
Tim Harp at 10:59 AM
The Valley of Death is the same valley that promises leading vendors X number of orders and only actually orders half. Then asks why the cost per unit is so expensive. The little guys normally orbit far away, hoping to avoid this black hole of mind-numbing and technology dumbing nonsense. I particularly find interesting the NASA comment above, as NASA has become the latest in a long line of poster children showing an organization that once got things done, now relegated in ridiculous PC meetings, nonsense, and a lake of tar when it comes to actually getting anything done.
Jimmy Jam at 5:35 PM