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GAO-24-106984 1 (2024-03-26)

handle is hein.gao/gaoqbk0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Why This Matters Key Takeaways Department of Defense (DOD) space acquisitions are a significant government investment. In fiscal year 2024, DOD expected to spend over $23 billion on programs to develop and acquire space capabilities for the U.S. Space Force. These programs work to deliver important capabilities for U.S. national security, commerce and economic growth, transportation safety, and homeland security.1 Yet, DOD space programs have faced development challenges, which we have reported on over several decades. For example, in 2017, we reported that fragmented leadership and responsibilities, as well as a redundant oversight bureaucracy, have made it difficult for DOD to coordinate and deliver interdependent systems.2 DOD has made various changes to policies that govern its acquisitions. In one such change in January 2020, DOD restructured its foundational acquisition policy, establishing the Adaptive Acquisition Framework, to emphasize speed and agility in the acquisition process. In light of these challenges and changes, and as directed by statute, the Department of the Air Force (DAF) and DOD produced two reports on space acquisition processes. The first, a 2020 report by the Secretary of the Air Force, discussed an Alternative Acquisition System for the Space Force.3 The second, a report by the Secretary of Defense, looked at applying DOD's Adaptive Acquisition Framework to space systems.4 DOD issued a final version of its report in 2022. House Report 116-442 and the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2021 include provisions for us to review the DAF and DOD reports.5 We assessed how the elements included in the DAF and DOD reports align with our prior work and address challenges to space acquisitions that we and others have identified. For this work, we drew largely on our prior work on national security space acquisitions as well as our prior work on the application of leading practices to acquisitions across DOD.6 This Q&A report summarizes and updates work we previously briefed to congressional committees in 2020 and 2021. The DAF's May 2020 report and DOD's September 2022 report propose various elements or respond to congressional requirements. These report elements are aimed at improving the acquisition process for space programs and fall into three categories: acquisitions, budget, and requirements. Some of the elements discussed in these reports are supported by our prior work, though we have not specifically reported on other elements. Some elements are no longer being pursued by the DAF or DOD, including two elements aimed at developing a separate space acquisition pathway under the Adaptive Acquisition Framework. Page 1 GAO-24- 106984 Space Acquisitions Page 1 GAO-24-106984 Space Acquisitions

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