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Though many in Washington blame the uncertainty on Congress, Kadish said most
of the damage was self-inflicted by the Pentagon. (Ratnam, 2005).
In its work comparing best practices in industry and DoD acquisition programs, the
GAO sent out surveys to 185 Category I and II DoD programs managers in April, 2005
(GAO, 2005, November—The response rate was 69%. See page 19-20 for a discussion of
methodology.). Their responses illustrate some of this turbulence. Results from this study
indicate that the problem is not only the non-acquisition accounts robbing the acquisition
accounts, but also that the DoD has flaws in what could be called its capital budget process:
it starts too many programs and fails to prioritize programs in process so that resources may
be shifted to the most appropriate program when necessary in a distressed fiscal
environment (e.g., when costs of raw materials or labor rise). The GAO says:
The primary problem, according to many program managers and verified by GAO’s
work, is that DoD starts more programs than it can afford and does not prioritize programs
for funding. This creates an environment where programs must continually compete for
funding. Before programs are even started, advocates are incentivized to underestimate
both cost and schedule and overpromise capability. (GAO, 2005, November, pp. 8-9)
Program manager comments tend to blame OSD for part of the problem, as well as
funding instability.
Figure 11. Highlights of Program Manager Comments Regarding
Competition for Funding (GAO, 2005, November, p. 40)
As Figure 11 intimates, program managers believed that they were operating in an
environment where there was unfair competition for funding (GAO, 2005, November, p. 40).
The results were all too predictable. The next two figures indicate some of the dimensions
of the problem. First, in Figure 12, most program managers believed that the parameters of
their program were reasonable at the start, with about 24% falling in the some (18%) or little
or no (6%) categories.
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