Manifesto for Agile Acquisitions
Make acquisitions quicker and easier
What is Agile Acquisitions? First off, “agile” is an adjective; not a noun or verb. We should not attempt a way to “do agile” for acquisition but rather define values, principals, and techniques that will make conducting acquisitions fast and simple.
What is Acquisitions? This term can mean very different things depending on who you talk to, especially in very large organizations. This report will focus on the microlevel of acquisitions and will define acquisitions as, “process of researching, defining, buying, delivering value to an organization.
4 Values of Agile Acquisitions:
- Individuals and interactions over processes and templates
- Mission Outcomes over comprehensive documentation
- Industry collaboration over contractor oversight
- Responding to change over following a plan
12 Principles of Agile Acquisitions:
1. Highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous acquisitions.
Build your acquisition processes around getting capabilities into operations quickly, and continuously improve your acquisition process based on end-user feedback. The feedback cycle for “did we acquire the right thing?” is long, shorten it though small iterative contracts.
2. Measure outcomes over outputs.
End-user value is the primary measure of success…not cost, schedule, and technical performance. Make milestone reviews measure the value you are providing to the warfighter...not how well you are meeting a pre-defined plan.
3. Avoid waterfall, but organize for systems requirements.
Put developmental services on contract and leverage a User Centered Design approach for detailed requirements generation. But use Domain Driven Design and Value Stream Mapping, at the mission-thread level, to accommodate system architecture.
4. Deliver modular contracts frequently, from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, with a preference for small tailored contracts over larger “all-in-one” contracts.
Large, complex procurements take longer and increase risk to the program, when compared to multiple tightly-scoped smaller contracts. Be prepared to manage these efforts as set of complementary capabilities (use outcome based milestone reviews).
5. To own the technical baseline the Government and Industry must work together daily.
Collaboration equates to mutual sharing of technical decisions and risks. Create a team-based environment with industry and Government, where both groups actively participate in development daily. Avoid proprietary developed solutions.
6. Structure business teams around delivery and not functional silos.
Acquisition teams should be able to operate independently without relying on someone else achieve their mission. Staff them appropriately with a balanced team of contracting, program management, finance, and legal; then give them the environment and equipment/technology they need.
7. The most efficient and effective method of determining and selecting an Industry Partner is face-to-face.
In-person evaluation methods are much more efficient and achieve better results than paper reviews alone. Before you give an industry partner potentially millions of dollars your need to understand if they have the culture and communication skills to be a key member of the team.
8. Repeated rituals create culture.
Mimic the effective behaviors you want your acquisition team to replicate: open collaboration with industry, feedback seeking, the use the scientific method over templates. Enforce these desired behaviors through a set of weekly rituals…these new habits will change your team’s culture.
9. Go considerable length to minimize and reduce the administrative burden on your program.
Leverage DoD 5000.87, avoid FAR Part 15, and collaborate with other program offices. Leverage modern authorities to create a lean governance structure for your program.
10. Simplicity is essential.
Design for simplicity at all levels. Contracts. Budgets. Engineering. Acquisition Strategy. Documentation. Contractor incentives. Always be aware of Gall’s Law, “all complex systems that work evolved from simpler systems that worked”.
11. Clinger Cohen act is your friend
Follow the guidelines in this law to support your business decisions: maximize the use of COTS, build/buy analysis, modular contracting, outcome-based performance measures.
12. At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly.
Feedback and radical candor should be encouraged. Create psychological safety within an organization and let smart people tell you how to improve. An innovation culture cares more about making the organization better over defending it as it currently stands.
