MITRE has released a paper outlining seven actionable recommendations intended to address the challenges in the Department of Defense’s acquisition system.
The report, Bridging the Gap Between Authority and Execution in Transforming the Warfighting Acquisition Workforce, argues that culture, incentives and workforce behavior must align with reform efforts aimed at accelerating the delivery of warfighting capabilities.
Table of Contents
What Challenges Have Slowed Past DOD Acquisition Reforms?
According to the report, the DOD’s acquisition system remains heavily compliance-driven, which discourages risk-taking and slows innovation. Short leadership tenures prevent lasting cultural change, while tools designed for speed, such as the Middle Tier of Acquisition, or MTA, pathway, have become burdened with additional requirements and legacy acquisition processes, making them nearly as slow as the traditional Major Capability Acquisition, or MCA. Additionally, the separation between operational users and acquisition teams limits feedback and hinders reform efforts aimed at enhancing acquisition and contracting processes.
What Are MITRE’s Recommendations for Defense Acquisition Reform?
MITRE outlines several key actions to strengthen the acquisition workforce and accelerate capability delivery:
- Revise audit protocols to promote calculated risk-taking.
- Coordinate efforts between acquisition and operations to enhance mission-driven collaboration.
- Enable leadership at every level to champion cultural change.
- Grant MCA programs greater flexibility to adjust baselines in response to requirements changes.
- Shift from continuous analysis to streamlined analysis of alternative, or AoA, studies to fast-track MCA progress.
- Optimize the MTA framework to accelerate capability deployment.
- Provide programs with tools and guidance to refine acquisition strategies.
Related Articles
The U.S. Space Force has released Vector 2025, a consolidated reference outlining the direction and momentum the service intends to maintain as it continues its transition into a warfighting organization. According to the service branch, the document compiles the core concepts, priorities and service-level activities that underpin the Space Force’s approach to space superiority. Gen. Chance Saltzman, Space Force’s chief of space operations and a three-time Wash100 Award recipient, said the publication is not a plan or strategy, but a “vector” meant to help Guardians understand how ongoing initiatives connect across doctrine, force design and day-to-day operations. What Does Vector
DARPA has completed the second year of its Triage Challenge, awarding top spots to DART in the systems competition and MSAI in the data category as competing teams advanced new approaches to medical assessment during mass-casualty incidents. The program, launched to accelerate scalable and accurate triage tools for military and civilian crises, is now advancing to its final 2026 competition, DARPA said Friday. DARPA’s latest Triage Challenge results highlight how emerging technologies — from advanced robotics to data-driven assessment tools — are reshaping emergency response in both military and civilian settings. These rapid innovations in medical readiness and crisis care
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Microsystems Technology Office has launched the 2026 edition of its Quantum Benchmarking Initiative, which aims to identify approaches for utility-scale, fault-tolerant quantum computing. According to a notice posted on SAM.gov Friday, the agency is opening the program to new entrants to ensure that it can find and evaluate all potential approaches. The QBI program commenced in 2024 with the goal to build utility-scale quantum computing, or USQC, by 2033. The agency recently named 11 companies that will advance to the next step of the program, a yearlong research and development phase to refine proposed