The newly-published March-April 2021 issue of the Defense Acquisition Magazine is now available online – for your reading pleasure, your professional development or of course, for both. The latest edition is chock full of interesting, engaging and timely articles, including:

• DoD Labs: A Key Contribution to the Defense Mission - A look at how transferring Department of Defense lab inventions to industry benefits the U.S. defense mission. Technology transfer must have a high-priority role in all DoD acquisition programs.
• Please Change the Acquisition Culture! - The consensus seems to be that our culture is too risk-averse, too resistant to change, and too focused on compliance.
• Security Cooperation in a Post-COVID-19 Great Power Competition - The United States needs extensive global partnerships, and our military recognizes this at the highest levels.
• Categorizing Defense Innovation - There are different ways to use the term “innovation” and tie these to DoD’s enduring interests.
• Packaging, Handling, Storage, and Transportation in Naval Warfare - A look at one of the most important facets of weapon availability.
• Selecting Alternate Grade Parts: The Trials and Tribulations - Choosing a new or replacement alternate-grade part, such as an automotive-grade connector for a military or aerospace system, can be tricky.
• Mindsets: Success Through Focus - The effects on decision-making processes of mental inertia, or groupthink, are often difficult to counteract.
• 2020 Defense Acquisition Workforce Awards (including Packard Awards for Acquisition Excellence)
• MDAP/MAIS Program Manager Changes

Two articles of particular interest to our life cycle logistics and product support manager community members that I’d call your attention to are Packaging, Handling, Storage, and Transportation in Naval Warfare and Selecting Alternate Grade Parts: The Trials and Tribulations.