DoD Modifies Acquisition Policies to Speed Up Hypersonics Procurement

The Department of Defense has published a rewritten version of the DoD 5000 series acquisition policy in an attempt to speed up the procurement and deployment of new hypersonic weapons, a Defense .gov report said. 

According to Ellen Lord, undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment and a 2020 Wash100 winner, the overarching policies outlined in the 5000 series position the DoD to meet acquisition needs at the speed of relevance while minimizing associated risks. 

Lord told attendees at the Institute for Defense and Government Advancement's Hypersonic Weapons Summit that one of the policy’s main focus centers on the early consideration of the sustainment of hypersonics.

Speaking about the DoD’s sustainment challenges, the acquisition czar said the department is most concerned about ensuring the resiliency of the subcomponents supply chain. The DoD also wants to make sure that military services have a strategy for spares and repairables to meet the required annual quantities. 

Among other things, the modified 5000 series introduces six acquisition pathways under the newly established “Adaptive Acquisition Framework” that focus on urgent capability acquisition, middle tier of acquisition, major capability acquisition, software acquisition, defense business systems and acquisition of services.

These pathways, according to Lord, implement the six main tenets of the Defense Acquisition System, including the need for simplified policies, tailored approaches, empowered program managers and active risk management.

Another focus of the new policy is driving manufacturing affordability. Lord noted that manufacturing hypersonics affordably will ensure that the DoD can procure sufficient quantities.

Changes made to the policy can also generate up to 20 percent in sustainment savings, which can be used for future investments instead of unnecessarily paying to disassemble systems to replace parts, Lord added.