Rapid Fire July 30, 2012: Rookie Mistakes?

• Though the primes are staying clear of commenting on the Pentagon’s acquisition workforce, smaller IT firms are complaining about mistakes and lack of visibility that they attribute to the lack of experience of an increasing part of contracting officers. Recent hires will need to ramp up their skills fast as many older employers will retire soon.

• The US Army is mounting its defense to counter claims that it has not-invented-here syndrome in the DCGS-A vs. Palantir kerfuffle: “There are multiple requests for capabilities in theater and many are ghost written by commercial vendors.”

• Besides using sophisticated software to detect buried IEDs, the US Army is also considering training… rats. They would reach where dogs can’t.

• The Royal United Services Institute think tank comments [PDF] on the British MoD’s plans to manage military procurement via a Government Owned, Contractor Operated (GOCO):