DOD's R&D labs

Pentagon acquisition chief Frank Kendall has reissued an instruction on the management of Defense Department research and development labs.

The memo calls on the department to:

a.  Maintain technological excellence in DoD R&D laboratories.

b.  Provide leadership to DoD R&D laboratories in the development and acquisition of needed military capabilities and ensure DoD R&D laboratories are properly supported and utilized by the Department.

c.  Provide R&D in-house laboratory management with the responsibility, authority, and flexibility to manage DoD R&D laboratories and technical programs, within available resources, to:

(1)    Build and maintain the technical vitality of the laboratories.

(2)    Maintain laboratory personnel resources at levels necessary to handle assigned missions.

(3)    Provide modern facilities and equipment as appropriate to the laboratory missions.

(4)    Lessen unnecessary delays and restrictions in the acquisition process.

d.  Maintain standards of DoD R&D laboratory personnel: 

(1)    Recognize and identify capability, skill, and creativity of personnel as valuable resources of DoD R&D laboratories.

(2)    Reduce disruptive fluctuations in personnel requirements and grade-level distribution while providing challenging work and offering meaningful incentives.

(3)    Foster opportunities for development, training, promotion, recognition, and reward on the basis of merit factors such as performance and ability.

e.  Support DoD R&D laboratory facilities and equipment upgrades by:

(1)  Removal, whenever possible, of fiscal and accounting practices that constrain DoD laboratory modernization.

(2)  Promoting productivity, energy efficiency, and cost avoidance through policies that provide modern facilities and equipment.

(3)  Replacing equipment based on practices that recognize the rapid advances of technology and the facilities-limited nature of many areas of science and technology.  Replacement practices must recognize the collaborative nature of R&D activities.

Read the full instruction here.