DOD Officials Discuss Importance of Research, Analysis to Acquisition Processes

William LaPlante, the undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment and a past Potomac Officers Club speaker, highlighted the importance of research and analytics in decision-making and defense acquisitions during the 20th annual Acquisition Research Symposium kickoff address.

In his speech, LaPlante, a two-time Wash100 awardee, noted that data-driven analytics is needed to monitor production rates, identify and address supply chain issues, and help the Department of Defense better engage with industry partners, DVIDS reported.

The Naval Postgraduate School, together with the Acquisition Research Program and the Naval Warfare Studies Institute, hosted the symposium, which was held from May 10 to 11. NPS faculty and students and other individuals from academia and industry attended the event.

Nickolas Guertin, the Department of Defense’s director of operational test and evaluation and a 2023 Wash100 awardee, was one of the keynote speakers of the event. Guertin encouraged industry and academia to provide the government with acquisition research data to tackle T&E issues and challenges in other DOD research and development areas. 

Other topics discussed in the symposium include the acquisition of additive manufacturing, artificial intelligence and digital engineering technologies; procurement strategies in the space domain; and technologies the U.S. Army and Navy could acquire in the future.