Getting to Best: Reforming the Defense Acquisition Enterprise

An effective defense acquisition enterprise must to a considerable degree be trust-based and founded upon ethical comportment by all parties. Today, a lack of trust interferes with the relationships between Congress, the Department of Defense, and the defense industry. While the causes are varied, predominant among them is the adversarial nature of the government-industry relationship that has evolved over the past several decades. The result is a damaging increase in legal wrangling, protests concerning contract awards, and lack of candor between the government and the private sector.