The Defense Innovation Board has recommended that the Pentagon recombine the Offices of the Undersecretaries for Acquisition and Sustainment and Research and Engineering and operate the new entity as the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for International Integration and Cooperation, Breaking Defense reported Thursday.
Congress divided the Office of the Undersecretary for Acquisition Technology and Logistics into two offices — A&S and R&E — in accordance with the National Defense Authorization Act of 2017.
Charles Phillips, a member of DIB and head of tech investment firm Recognize, said A&S and R&E should be merged back together because the Department of Defense “need[s] integrated designs, we need integrated manufacturing capacity around the world. It’s hard to do that in separate organizations.”
Phillips, who is also a former president of Oracle, noted that creating the International Integration and Cooperation office would enable the department to leverage the innovative efforts of allied countries.
Michael Mullen, a DIB member and former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the combined office could benefit small businesses and startups that intend to bring their technology offerings to DOD.
“Now I’m out there as a startup. Where do I start? How do I even get into this system? In my world, which is an old world, you know, where’s the number in the Yellow Pages that I call to get in? It’s an unbelievably difficult building to penetrate,” Mullen noted.