Building a Culture of Cost Consciousness

with a constant drumbeat about the constrained budget environment s effects on defense procurement, the acquisition workforce (AWF) is focusing on how to achieve greater efficiency and productivity in defense spending. In the recent implementation guidance for Better Buying Power 2.0, Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics (USD[AT&L]) Frank Kendall described 34 initiatives and seven focus topic areas as a Guide to Help You Think. Better Buying Power (BBP) is part of a continuous learning and improvement management approach practiced in a culture that requires a commitment to reduce costs and increase productivity with dedicated support to the warfighter, and a strong stewardship of the taxpayers dollars. BBP 2.0 . . . continues to increase the cost consciousness of the acquisition workforce change the culture. Those last three words change the culture have been the mantra for a team of AT&L and Service professionals who have been looking at what counterproductive behaviors exist across the workforce, what actions might be required to change those behaviors, and how to instill the new behaviors into a more cost-conscious culture. Instilling cost consciousness began as a formal project after Kendall hosted an offsite meeting for AT&L leadership and Service acquisition executives in February 2012. Discussions centered on recognized behaviors that act against getting the best value in a contract. The prime example was the obligation and expenditure of funds. Although a program manager is assessed based on meeting the established obligation and expenditure rates, doing so does not always drive the best deal and the lowest cost. The leadership at the off-site agreed that the right metric was not whether all the dollars were obligated, but whether the department was getting the right value for what was obligated. Published in the Journal of Defense AT&L, p25-28, September-October 2013.