Better Buying Power 3.0: How the Pentagon Hopes to Save Its Technological Advantage
Frank Kendall, the Defense Department’s top acquisition official, continued his odyssey to improve how the Pentagon spends tens of billions of dollars annually on weapons and IT by releasing a draft of “Better Buying Power 3.0″ on Sept. 19.
While the first two versions of BBP centered on acquisition best practices and decision-making, respectively, this round is hands-on: it focuses on getting new gear into the hands of soldiers faster and with a closer eye on American adversaries.
The new initiative is an effort to halt the erosion of American technological advantage at the hands of China and Russia, a point that Kendall, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and other top officials have made recently. “It is eroding because we’re not making the investments we should be making,” Kendall, the undersecretary of Defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, said at the BBP 3.0 rollout at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
This convergence in nations’ technical ability is apparent in IT and in cyberspace, the latter of which has a low barrier to entry because of the ubiquity and low cost of Internet technology. A white paper on BBP 3.0 released by Kendall’s office noted a “remarkable leveling of the state of technology in the world, where commercial technologies with military applications such as advanced computing
technologies, microelectronics, sophisticated sensors
and many advanced materials, are now widely available.”
Full article by Sean Lyngaas, FCW
About the Author
Roger Chu is the Marketing Coordinator at GSAmart, the leading GSA sales and marketing partner for technology companies.
Related Posts
Military Health’s Top 3 IT Priorities →
Government IT Spending to Be Hit Hardest by Rising US Dollar Strength, Warns Gartner →
Exclusive GSA Pricing on IT Certifications →
