The Government Accountability Office is urging the Defense Innovation Unit to institute reforms on its DIU 3.0 process adopted in 2023 for more rapid acquisitions of commercial technologies for the Department of Defense’s most critical needs.
In a report released Thursday, GAO maintained that DIU lacks a complete performance management process, limiting its capability to measure progress in addressing DOD’s most critical requirements at scale.
Metrics and Timelines Seen as Lacking
The congressional watchdog office noted that no performance measures and timelines were established to check DIU 3.0’s progress toward its goals. It also observed that DIU officials have not pinpointed the performance data they need to gather as basis for DIU 3.0 decision-making.
In addition, GAO said DIU has no assessment measures in place to check its progress in coordinating commercial technology adoption activities with other DOD innovation organizations, such as the Defense Innovation Community of Entities. Related collaborative activities were also established in March by DIU, AFWERX and NAVALX in the Joint Defense Innovation office in Austin, Texas, to facilitate collaboration between government agencies and startups.
Concurring DIU Opinion
To address its concerns, GAO recommended that DIU establish specific performance goals and metrics, well as a data collection and assessment processes, for DIU 3.0. The unit concurred with its recommendations, GAO said.
DIU 3.0 is being implemented amid sentiment expressed in the defense industrial base during the 2024 Baird Defense and Government Conference that the U.S. government’s procurement system is unable to keep up with the rapid pace of technological innovation, a situation becoming a threat to national security.
