Streamlining the Acquisition System: Possible but not Probable.

The shear magnitude of subject areas that could be addressed under the title, Streamlining the Federal Acquisition System, are enough to discourage many from attempting to address this subject in one research paper. Indeed, to address all the issues included in this controversial subject would take several books or a whole series of papers. With that in mind I have focused my efforts on a broad perspective of the problems associated with the current system. Some of the basic ideas contained herein were formulated during my tenures as a government contracting officer, as a logistician responsible for the operational use and support of deployed systems, as an action officer and director in the Armys requirements generation system and as an acquisition professional with significant training in the program management and contracting fields. My research efforts focused primarily on a review of acquisition related reports from the published works of the Rand Corporation and the General Accounting Office GAO.