The Transformation from Defence Procurement to Defence Acquisition - Opportunities for New Forms of Analytical Support

As a consequence of the ending of the Cold War, the Armed Forces AF of many countries in the world are currently going through radical transformation. For many countries, this transformation has been dramatic especially for their logistical concepts, supply chains and defence procurement. In some countries, terminology has changed, so that defence acquisition is now being used, in order to emphasise the profound transformation that defence procurement is currently going through. Many Defence Procurement Agencies DPAs are now moving from having previously primarily been staffed by technical experts, to becoming more professional purchasers, relying more on a businesslike behaviour, obviously requiring new competencies, changed corporate culture and a more adequate organisation. Politically promoted expressions like Doing more with less and reduced minimised, optimised logistics footprint or tail illustrate the increased pressure on the DPAs of the world to reduce cost. Public Private Partnerships PPPs, Commercial-Off-The-Shelf COTS, Military-Off-The-Shelf MOTS, Government-Off-The-Shelf GOTS, outsourcing, contracting and Joint Ventures JVs illustrate some of the new Business Models BMs that the DPAs of the world are now exploring. Other avenues of reducing costs, like the utilisation of new Information and Communication Technology ICT, commercial best practices, and new ways of international cooperation, are also being investigated. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate how the transformation from defence procurement to defence acquisition presents the analytical community with new avenues of possible analytical support, during the transformation, as well as after the transformation, since uncertainty and complexity is being dramatically increased.