The logistics community came together to share success stories and innovative solutions at Acquisition Insight Days Aug. 27-29. Hosted by DAU, the virtual event focused largely on digital transformation and tailoring acquisition strategies with the Adaptive Acquisition Framework (AAF).

“Our business is not easy,” said Travis Stewart, DAU Midwest Dean. DAU invited speakers from across the services to “better equip [the acquisition workforce] with new knowledge of best practices and lessons learned.” 

“Amateurs practice tactics; professionals practice logistics,” said Frank Kelley, DAU President (Acting).

Digital Transformation: Lessons Learned from Early Application 

Making Decisions Quicker with Digital Engineering and Modeling

Melanie Marshall, Director of the Acquisition Center of Excellence at the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC), discussed how AFLCMC is using digitization to “make decisions quicker,” improve capabilities and learn what sustainment for different programs will look like. “Our Air Force has come out with the mandate [to look] at a digitally enabled Air Force, maximizing use of digital engineering and modeling,” Marshall said. This will empower the Air Force to make more intuitive decisions. 

Supporting Legacy Programs with Digital Twinning/Threading

Amanda Woodruff, U.S. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Logistics Directorate, and the other panelists highlighted digital twinning/threading, a promising approach made possible by improved modern technology. Woodruff explained how digital twins for legacy programs aid those programs’ life cycle management. “[We’re] connecting authoritative sources of truth to other communities,” Woodruff said, promising the Air Force will continue to support digital transformation.

Driving Digital Engineering with Cross-Systems Command Collaboration

Robert Weaver, Naval Digital Systems Engineering Transformation Lead at the Naval War Systems Command, shared his organization’s perspective. Cross-systems command collaboration is driving digital engineering for the naval enterprise, he said. This builds on the Navy’s Digital Engineering Strategy, with the Navy structuring its approach on five pillars: mission engineering, mission-based systems engineering, physical model-based engineering, modeling and simulation and model-based logistics engineering. The Navy shared model cataloguing, documentation and other tools that the services could take advantage of. “This is a call to action,” Weaver said. “We must move to adopt these digital engineering practices.” 

Integrating Digital Tools to Save Time and Money

Project Manager for Maneuver Combat Systems Col. Jeff Jurand, U.S. Army, focused on tactical implementation. He worked cross-service within the Space Force cloud for the XM30 Combat Vehicle, a new Army ground platform. The Army digital transformation strategy laid the groundwork for the XM30’s success. While acknowledging that it still takes too long to develop and deliver capabilities and upgrades, the Army is making improvements, starting by “understanding your big why.” For the XM30, integrating digital tools allowed them to work with their contractors and suppliers to identify errors early in the process, saving millions of dollars and months of potential delays. “We never had the tools to synchronize, and the volume of data was too astronomical to manually check,” Jurand explained. “We assumed a lot of risk that we can now see and limit.” 

One theme shared by all the panel members is that digital resources and tools make acquisition move faster, reduce risk and provide ways to meet the pacing threats faced in this decisive decade. Woodruff explained that the Air Force is learning how digital tools enable cross-functional team support. “We have the opportunity to learn from each other and capture those lessons learned and best practices across the services,” Woodruff said. 

Interested in learning more about Digital Transformation? Explore digital twinning or digital acquisition with DAU. 

Tailoring Acquisition Programs: The Adaptive Acquisition Framework (AAF)

Tailoring an acquisition program is critical to delivering a functional product on time. The AAF expanded on operational needs, urgent operational needs and Middle Tier of Acquisition authorities. The main goal was to increase speed by expanding approval and authorities with new initiatives like independent advisory panels and shifting decision authorities. DoD responded to these needs with a variety of policy and other discussions, culminating in the AAF, which is designed to enable execution at the speed of relevance. Panelists came together to share their experiences with the AAF.

Major Capability Acquisition Pathway: F15-EX

The F15-EX program began in response to a fighter shortfall identified in 2019. “We have to do something different,” said Matt Kelly, Deputy Program Manager, F-15EX Program. This made the program an excellent candidate for an AAF pathway. The Air Force’s strategy included bypassing significant development time by procuring existing, established products from the foreign military sales production line. In 2019, the program was established as a rapid fielding program, evolving to the Major Capability Acquisition pathway in 2022. The program pulled this off “because of a focus on speed of relevance,” Kelly said. “A focus on getting to the warfighter faster makes you think differently.” 

Urgent Capability Acquisition Pathway: Ground Based Air Defense (GBAD)

U.S. Marine Corps Col. Andrew Konicki, Program Manager for Ground Based Air Defense, explored how the Urgent Capability Acquisitions pathway allowed the Marine Corps to advance the Ground Based Air Defense (GBAD) program. “The threat is now,” he said, and the AAF helps acquisition professionals focus on that threat. As the program evolved, he realized that “we are focused on the air threat, but a number of unmanned capabilities” had been ignored. GBAD evolved to consider those as well. “Our PEO says we’re running with scissors,” Konicki said, but the AAF allows that to be done at “a safe trot,” providing structure and tools to minimize risk. It also encourages novel approaches such as self-integrating and establishing structured methods for hardware and software iteration. 

Middle Tier Acquisition Pathway: Small Multipurpose Equipment Transport (SMET) 

With more than 150 programs in sustainment, Kyle Bruner, Project Manager for Force Projection at the Army Program Executive Office Combat Services and Combat Services Support acknowledged that the AAF is useful for more than just new programs. Rapid prototyping and fielding are obvious benefits, he said, but use of tools like simplified acquisition management plans and test equipment modernization are just as valuable for existing programs. “Other Transaction Authorities are used very extensively,” Bruner said. The Middle Tier of Acquisition pathway has proven useful for programs like the Small Multipurpose Equipment Transport (SMET). “We have a viable commercial product base out there that can move quickly,” Bruner explained, and the AAF has tools to exploit that power. He also noted that DAU and the AAF provide support and guidance on documentation and tools. The AAF allows you to “get [products] out fast and get feedback,” Bruner said. 

Other Transaction Authority (OTA): Main Battle Tank (MBT)

Matt Butkis, Product Director for Combat Recovery Systems, agreed on the value of OTAs. He pointed toward the Army’s need to get back to a single recovery vehicle option. As the Main Battle Tank (MBT) has gotten heavier, existing solutions are not able to recover it. OTAs have allowed the Army to award contracts faster with improved flexibility, while encouraging the use of nontraditional solutions and vendors. These efforts are more efficient than typical Federal Acquisition Regulation efforts. 

Keeping the end in mind is one lesson the panel agreed on, and Konicki noted that DAU teaches this lesson in every course.

Interested in learning more about the AAF? Explore our AAF page or connect with our experts to help you select your AAF pathway.

“You’re never done learning,” said LTG Robert M. Collins, Military Deputy to the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology.

Speaker slides from the event are available.