DoD, AF Punt On New Space Acquisition Exec

WASHINGTON — No decision is being recommended on the hot-button issue of establishing a new space acquisition executive, a key congressionally-mandated part of reforming space acquisition, in a pair of studies to the Hill. Both studies are expected to be provided to Congress within days, DoD sources say.

Instead, the two studies — one from DoD Acquisition czar Ellen Lord and one from Air Force Secretary Barbara Barrett — will focus on near-term issues, such as setting up new requirements processes and how to better use the flexibility Congress has granted for applying current legal authorities, a DoD official said.

The delay in establishing the new post is not unexpected, as Breaking D has reported extensively. The Pentagon has until October 2022 under the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to create the controversial post of a new acquisition executive for space.

The NDAA requires that the Air Force appoint a Senate-confirmed assistant secretary for space acquisition and integration. That person, the act said, “will “synchronize with the Air Force Service Acquisition Executive on all space system efforts, and take on Service Acquisition Executive responsibilities for space systems and programs effective on October 1, 2022.”

The new assistant secretary will also oversee the Space and Missile Systems Center, the Space Rapid Capabilities Office (SpRCO), and the Space Development Agency (SDA) — all of which currently have separate acquisition authorities and lines of oversight.

Therefore, DoD must establish the new space acquisition executive authority. Whether that post is wholly independent from the current Air Force acquisition chain is at the crux of the debate. Will Roper, the Air Force’s assistant secretary for acquisition, technology and logistics, is the current head of space acquisition.

The question of separating space acquisition from Air Force acquisition has been central to the debate about creation of the Space Force from its inception, when it was kicked off in 2016 by House Armed Services Committee members Mike Rogers and Jim Cooper. It has also been one of the key areas of controversy because, as former Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson pointed out in an op-ed for us in January, “turf battles within the Pentagon.”

Roper has argued strenuously against a bifurcation of the lines of authority for space and air acquisition as inefficient, costly and counter to DoD efforts to better integrate space across warfighting domains — according to a number of DoD sources, even threatening to resign if such a move were to go through.

On the other hand, key members of Congress, as well as many DoD proponents of Space Force, long have argued that space acquisition should be consolidated outside of the Air Force because it has long been an open secret that the Air Force traditionally has used funds for space as a sort of slush fund to underwrite air combat programs gone over budget.

Indeed, Wilson herself — once an opponent of the concept of a separate Space Force  — argued in her op-ed for a unified space acquisition authority. “Secretary Esper and Secretary Barrett should use this opportunity to resist the turf battles and align equipment purchasers under a strong space acquisition authority who can move quickly and meet the needs of warfighters,” she wrote.

There also has been an enormous amount of confusion about the future role of the Space Development Agency, which now sits under the acquisition authority of DoD Undersecretary for Research & Engineering Mike Griffin, and how and when it would be transferred to Space Force.

In a written statement provided to me today, Shawn Barnes said that the Air Force study will contain 10 recommendations, five of which will require new congressional authorities and the others changes that can be implemented by DoD and the Air Force. “Secretary Barrett is expected to sign the document this week,” said Barnes, the most senior member of the newly established space acquisition office.

Space Force Vice Commander Lt. Gen. David Thompson told reporters at the annual Air Force Association meeting in Orlando in February that the report to lawmakers would make “recommendations for what a new acquisition approach should look like.”

For example, a DoD source said, it will include measures such as streamlining how warfighter requirements are created by the Joint Capabilities Integration and Development System (JCIDS), overseen by the Joint Requirements Oversight Council (JROC), chaired by Gen. John Hyten, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The proposed changes are designed to focus future requirements on capabilities rather than specific programs to “allow trades” across service programs, the source said.

As Breaking D readers know, Hyten is a strong advocate for JROC reform to speed the process and put  more flexibility into the hands of combatant commanders on how their requirements are filled. As I reported in January, Hyten has made streamlining JROC and JCIDS decision-making one of his top priorities.

Meanwhile, DoD’s own acquisition report has been finalized by Lord and is on the desk of Defense Secretary Mark Esper, a DoD source confirmed today.

Barnes told reporters on March 10 that Lord’s report primarily will review the changes OSD has effected over the past couple of years to streamline space acquisition under existing legal authorities, such as the use of Section 804. What it will not do is to identify additional legislative authorities that DoD might want in setting up the new space acquisition structure.

DoD sources noted today that the Air Force has been working closely with the DoD acquisition team to ensure the the Air Force report is consistent with Lord’s.

Finally, Barnes said in his statement today that the new Space Acquisition Council — also mandated in the 2020 NDAA and designed to ensure better organization across the some 60 DoD organizations that have a finger in the space acquisition pie — will hold its first meeting on April 9.

The council will be chaired by the new assistant secretary for space acquisition and integration, once that spot is formerly filled, and report to Barrett. By law, it also will include the Air Force undersecretary, a newly created assistant secretary of Defense for Space Policy, the director of the National Reconnaissance Office, the Space Force chief and the head of Space Command.