Accession Number:

AD1016348

Title:

My Big, Slow Fail: A Comedy Of Errors

Descriptive Note:

Journal Article

Corporate Author:

Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisitions Integration Washington United States

Personal Author(s):

• Ward,Dan

Report Date:

2011-02-01

Pagination or Media Count:

4.0

Abstract:

My frequent telephone conversations with the contracting officer CO over the next few weeks were quite positive. It looked like wed need 60 days to award the contract, which sounded long but not outrageous. I was optimistic that we could be faster, but I figured there was wisdom in building in a little cushion. Better to under-promise and over-deliver, right One nagging issue was that I seemed to uncover new stuff at every turn. A typical phone call to the CO would go something like this Were in good shape Oh, wait, the J and A needs to address this and that and this other thing. Or Turns out the market research isnt completeI shouldve mentioned that sooner. Then there was, Did I mention we need a program management plan You get the pictureand eventually so did I, although I was embarrassingly slow to act on it. I kept asking for a list of all the necessary tasks, documents, and reviews. And the list just kept on growing.

Descriptors:

• management planning and control
• acquisition
• systems engineering
• market research
• program management
• business administration
• procurement
• contracts
• errors

Subject Categories:

Distribution Statement:

APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE