From Marginal Adjustments to Meaningful Change

Rethinking Weapon System Acquisition

John Birkler, Mark V. Arena, Irv Blickstein, Jeffrey A. Drezner, Susan M. Gates, Meilinda Huang, Robert Murphy, Charles Nemfakos, Susan K. Woodward

ResearchPublished Oct 8, 2010

Defense acquisition is one of the most urgent issues that the Department of Defense faces today. In an effort to provide the department and the nation with guidance on defense acquisition challenges in several areas likely to be of critical importance to defense acquisition leadership, the authors have compiled in this monograph six previously published RAND papers that offer thought-provoking suggestions based on decades of research, new quantitative assessments, a RAND-developed cost-analysis methodology, and the expertise of core research staff. They present detailed proposals to improve defense acquisition through initiatives focused on competition, novel systems, risk management, organizational factors, prototyping, and the acquisition workforce.

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Birkler, John, Mark V. Arena, Irv Blickstein, Jeffrey A. Drezner, Susan M. Gates, Meilinda Huang, Robert Murphy, Charles Nemfakos, and Susan K. Woodward, From Marginal Adjustments to Meaningful Change: Rethinking Weapon System Acquisition. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2010. https://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/MG1020.html.
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The research described in this report was prepared for the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD). The research was conducted within the RAND National Defense Research Institute, a federally funded research and development center sponsored by the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Joint Staff, the Unified Combatant Commands, the Navy, the Marine Corps, the defense agencies, and the defense Intelligence Community.

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