Defense budget reform recommendations: Planning-Programming-Budgeting-Execution (PPBE)
Budget reform is definitely in the water. There is increasing recognition that the PPBE—Planning, Programming, Budgeting, Execution—the venerable DoD resource allocation process established in the early 1960s is not serving the Department and, most importantly, the warfighter well. As Chairman Senator Jack Reed and former Google CEO Mr. Eric Schmidt noted in a recent Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, the PPBE process is greatly hindering speed and effectively in the defense acquisition system. In the words of Mr. Schmidt, “This is how DoD ends up with a camel rather than a horse.”
How do we fix this? Starting with a white paper written by our own Senior Fellow Eric Lofgren last year, innovative ideas are being proposed that look very promising. Getting from ideas to implementation, however, is a very different story. To find a way forward, the Center for Government Contracting is partnering with the Wharton Aerospace Community to discuss (1) the major ideas circulating for budget reform; and (2) practical ways to affect real change.
We have assembled two dynamic panels for this conversation, so come ready with questions. We hope that you can join us!
Additional Background Information. Each first-round panelist has contributed to important PPBE recommendations in the following reports:
Competing in Time: Ensuring Capability Advantage and Mission Success through Adaptable Resource Allocation (https://s3.amazonaws.com/media.hudson...)
National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence: Final Report (https://www.nscai.gov/2021-final-report/)
Five by Five: Five Disciplines and Five Strategic Initiatives for the Pentagon in the Digital Age (https://www.mitre.org/sites/default/f...)
This video was produced by Eric Lofgren (https://acquisitiontalk.com)