Federal Procurement System: Pigs and Makeup

As I wrote this piece, the United States Air Force was sponsoring a conference on innovation. The meeting was held in Las Vegas and those attending were folks who can make a difference in the acquisition of war fighting material for our front line warriors. The reports I received on the meeting were encouraging, but I have horrible memories of countless meetings, conferences and consortia dealing with exactly the same set of issues I first encountered over 30 years ago when I was assigned for duty in the Pentagon. I suspect, however, that the bureaucracy, legal structure and influence of special interests probably pre-dated my first encounters with the Leviathan known as the federal acquisition system. Upon cursory investigation, one is struck by how little things have changed. In fact, one might advance the notion that things are much worse today.