Jane Edwards
Peter Newell, managing partner at consultancy BMNT Partners, has lauded the Defense Department’s efforts to overhaul the current military acquisition system through collaboration with Silicon Valley-based technology firms, Nextgov reported Wednesday.
Newell, former director of the U.S. Army’s Rapid Equipping Force, called DoD’s creation of a satellite office in Silicon Valley and Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) acquisition reform recommendations a positive start, Patrick Tucker writes.
“My experience tells me our challenge in the future will be less about how long it takes to acquire technology than it is about how long it takes us to realize we have a problem and translate that understanding into something that energizes an ecosystem to take action, an ecosystem that must go well beyond the walls of the Defense Department,†Newell said.
He told the publication that the Pentagon should encourage civil servants to be more open to innovative concepts and promote research and experimentation among military servicemen.
Newell also called on lawmakers to establish a fund that would reward innovations and collaborate with DoD to identify regulations that could be amended to incite software engineers and other professionals to work within the government, Tucker reports.
“For example, personnel policy restrictions on the use of the Intergovernmental Personnel Act could be suspended to allow a free flow of talent from commercial organizations into government service for specific projects/periods of time while allowing them to be paid at competitive commercial rates,†Newell said.
