Bottom Line Up Front: The Federal policies governing Department of Defense acquisition (known as the “5000 Policies”) are about 80% rewritten. They will be complete by October of this year. AND they will be continuously refined.
Where We Left Off
In yesterday’s blog entry discussing DoD acquisitions boss Ellen Lord’s article, she had asked the titans of Silicon Valley to write a report recommending how to fix its broken acquisition system. This, by the way, will upend the entire defense industry.
Having received this report, Ellen Lord tells us what she did next:
After delivering an interim software acquisition policy just 14 days after the signing of the NDAA, we published the full policy, DoD Instruction 5000.87, in November 2020 — a year earlier than mandated. The software pathway represents a substantial departure from the Department’s usual way of doing business, removing procedural bottlenecks and streamlining regulatory bureaucracy.
What Is DoD Instruction 5000.87?
It’s the official, legally binding Federal policy ruling how the Pentagon buys software. When the military decides to buy software, it must buy it in the way outlined in the 5000.87 document. Failure to follow the official policy gets you jail time.
Are there more “5000” Instructions?
Yes there are. They can all be found in their home page at Defense Acquisition University.
The first few are:
Overarching Top-Level Policies:
- 5000.01 – The Defense Acquisition System – Rewritten September 2020
- 5000.02 – Operation of the Adaptive Acquisition Framework – Rewritten January 2020
- 5000-02T – Operation of the Defense Acquisition System – Rewritten December 2020
- CJCSI 5123.01H – Implementation of the JCIDS – Rewritten August 2018
- JCIDS Manual – Joint Capabilities Integration and Development System – Rewritten August 2018
- DoDD 7045.14 – PPBE Process – Rewritten August 2017
- DoD 7000.14-R – DoD Financial Management Regulation – Rewritten May 2019
Acquisition Pathway Policies:
- DoDI 5000.81 – Urgent Capability Acquisition – Rewritten December 2019
- DoDI 5000.80 – Middle Tier of Acquisition – Rewritten December 2019
- DoDI 5000.85 – Major Capability Acquisition – Rewritten August 2020
- DoDI 5000.87- Software Acquisition – Rewritten October 2020
- DoDI 5000.75 – Defense Business Systems – Rewritten January 2020
- DoDI 5000.74 – Acquisition of Services – Rewritten January 2020
There are thirty more.
I won’t list them all here, but you get the idea. There has been a comprehensive revision of the official Department of Defense acquisition rules. The policies have already been rewritten and the industry has already changed.
One More Time For Emphasis
Government Contracting As YOU Have known it is dead
The policies that govern the Defense industry have already been rewritten. It’s not a thing that is going to happen. It’s not a thing that might happen. It’s a thing that already happened.
If you are in the Defense contracting industry and your company has not prepared for these changes, you are already behind.
And if you are not a Government contractor, know this: the purpose of those rules is to make life easier for you and to let you in.
Tomorrow: The Why
Why upend decades’ worth of laws and bureaucracy? What’s the point? Find out tomorrow.