Center for Government Contracting to produce acquisition playbook

George Mason University's Center for Government Contracting announced earlier this year it has undertaken a new research project to produce an acquisition playbook identifying best practices.

The study is being funded by the non-profit Common Mission Project as well as multiple companies, including Anduril, Improbable and GoTenna.

Alex Gallo, who heads the Common Mission Project, told Inside Defense the study will not be focused on generating legislative recommendations but will instead seek to suggest best practices that are already achievable.

Jerry McGinn, who leads the Center for Government Contracting, told Inside Defense many of the recent efforts to speed acquisition and bring in commercial technology have tried to go around the system through other transaction authorities or prizes, for instance.

"Our end goal is to develop a playbook of leading practices for defense acquisition and this would be sort of a briefing -- eight to 12 findings or recommendations that we have -- and then a longer report," he said.

McGinn said the effort began last week.

"We're on schedule to get it finished by the end of the year," he told Inside Defense.