Using Evolutionary Acquisition in the Management of Major Defense Acquisition Programs

This thesis analyzes the issues that must be addressed before the Department of Defense (DoD) can successfully utilize the Evolutionary Acquisition (EA) approach in major weapon system programs Such programs have often taken over 10 years before the user receives a weapon system based on the original mission need EA is an acquisition reform measure and is intended to reduce fielding time of Major Defense Acquisition Programs (MDAPs) to three to five years or less This thesis looks at the historical aspects of EA and analyzes how the traditional and EA approach differ under the DoD acquisition model Surveys on the subject of EA were completed by DoD acquisition managers and provide the data for this research These data are used to identify and explore the issues DoD must address to successfully utilize this acquisition approach.Naval Postgraduate School Monterey CA Graduate School of Business and Publicpolicy is the author of 'Using Evolutionary Acquisition in the Management of Major Defense Acquisition Programs', published 2001 under ISBN 9781423523666 and ISBN 1423523660.