Leading Practices: Agency Acquisition Policies Could Better Implement Key Product Development Principles

Excerpt from the Proceedings of the Nineteenth Annual Acquisition Research SymposiumEach year, the Department of Defense (DoD), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) together invest billions of dollars to acquire complex, hardware- and software-centric systems to provide critical defense, security, and space capabilities. Given the amount of federal funds spent and the critical missions these agencies support, Congress and agencies have consistently underscored the importance of achieving efficiencies and effectiveness across these acquisition activities. The GAO has also contributed to these efforts, and agencies and Congress have acted on many of the GAO's recommendations, including taking steps toward implementing knowledge-based acquisition frameworks, which the GAO's prior work found is essential to improving performance. Nonetheless, the GAO's annual assessments of major acquisition programs at each agency continue to find that programs often take significantly longer, cost more than initially estimated, and in some cases deliver final products with less capability than anticipated. Leading companies would not be able to sustain such outcomes without potentially going out of business. This dynamic correspondingly drives leading companies to undertake a disciplined approach to product development—one that is instructive to government acquisition, despite environmental differences. Throughout an individual product’s development, leading companies often confront difficult tradeoff decisions, such as options about design requirements, technical solutions, and where and when to launch a promised solution. These decisions are largely informed by the incentive to be first to market within a globalized marketplace and win enduring customer support.Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited

Leading Practices: Agency Acquisition Policies Could Better Implement Key Product Development Principles

Excerpt from the Proceedings of the Nineteenth Annual Acquisition Research SymposiumEach year, the Department of Defense (DoD), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) together invest billions of dollars to acquire complex, hardware- and software-centric systems to provide critical defense, security, and space capabilities. Given the amount of federal funds spent and the critical missions these agencies support, Congress and agencies have consistently underscored the importance of achieving efficiencies and effectiveness across these acquisition activities. The GAO has also contributed to these efforts, and agencies and Congress have acted on many of the GAO's recommendations, including taking steps toward implementing knowledge-based acquisition frameworks, which the GAO's prior work found is essential to improving performance. Nonetheless, the GAO's annual assessments of major acquisition programs at each agency continue to find that programs often take significantly longer, cost more than initially estimated, and in some cases deliver final products with less capability than anticipated. Leading companies would not be able to sustain such outcomes without potentially going out of business. This dynamic correspondingly drives leading companies to undertake a disciplined approach to product development—one that is instructive to government acquisition, despite environmental differences. Throughout an individual product’s development, leading companies often confront difficult tradeoff decisions, such as options about design requirements, technical solutions, and where and when to launch a promised solution. These decisions are largely informed by the incentive to be first to market within a globalized marketplace and win enduring customer support.Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited

Building consensus around the assessment and interpretation of Symbiodiniaceae diversity

Within microeukaryotes, genetic variation and functional variation sometimes accumulate more quickly than morphological differences. To understand the evolutionary history and ecology of such lineages, it is key to examine diversity at multiple levels of organization. In the dinoflagellate family Symbiodiniaceae, which can form endosymbioses with cnidarians (e.g., corals, octocorals, sea anemones, jellyfish), other marine invertebrates (e.g., sponges, molluscs, flatworms), and protists (e.g., foraminifera), molecular data have been used extensively over the past three decades to describe phenotypes and to make evolutionary and ecological inferences. Despite advances in Symbiodiniaceae genomics, a lack of consensus among researchers with respect to interpreting genetic data has slowed progress in the field and acted as a barrier to reconciling observations. Here, we identify key challenges regarding the assessment and interpretation of Symbiodiniaceae genetic diversity across three levels: species, populations, and communities. We summarize areas of agreement and highlight techniques and approaches that are broadly accepted. In areas where debate remains, we identify unresolved issues and discuss technologies and approaches that can help to fill knowledge gaps related to genetic and phenotypic diversity. We also discuss ways to stimulate progress, in particular by fostering a more inclusive and collaborative research community. We hope that this perspective will inspire and accelerate coral reef science by serving as a resource to those designing experiments, publishing research, and applying for funding related to Symbiodiniaceae and their symbiotic partnerships.journal articl

Building consensus around the assessment and interpretation of Symbiodiniaceae diversity

Within microeukaryotes, genetic variation and functional variation sometimes accumulate more quickly than morphological differences. To understand the evolutionary history and ecology of such lineages, it is key to examine diversity at multiple levels of organization. In the dinoflagellate family Symbiodiniaceae, which can form endosymbioses with cnidarians (e.g., corals, octocorals, sea anemones, jellyfish), other marine invertebrates (e.g., sponges, molluscs, flatworms), and protists (e.g., foraminifera), molecular data have been used extensively over the past three decades to describe phenotypes and to make evolutionary and ecological inferences. Despite advances in Symbiodiniaceae genomics, a lack of consensus among researchers with respect to interpreting genetic data has slowed progress in the field and acted as a barrier to reconciling observations. Here, we identify key challenges regarding the assessment and interpretation of Symbiodiniaceae genetic diversity across three levels: species, populations, and communities. We summarize areas of agreement and highlight techniques and approaches that are broadly accepted. In areas where debate remains, we identify unresolved issues and discuss technologies and approaches that can help to fill knowledge gaps related to genetic and phenotypic diversity. We also discuss ways to stimulate progress, in particular by fostering a more inclusive and collaborative research community. We hope that this perspective will inspire and accelerate coral reef science by serving as a resource to those designing experiments, publishing research, and applying for funding related to Symbiodiniaceae and their symbiotic partnerships

Building Consensus around the Assessment and Interpretation of Symbiodiniaceae Diversity

Within microeukaryotes, genetic variation and functional variation sometimes accumulate more quickly than morphological differences. To understand the evolutionary history and ecology of such lineages, it is key to examine diversity at multiple levels of organization. In the dinoflagellate family Symbiodiniaceae, which can form endosymbioses with cnidarians (e.g., corals, octocorals, sea anemones, jellyfish), other marine invertebrates (e.g., sponges, molluscs, flatworms), and protists (e.g., foraminifera), molecular data have been used extensively over the past three decades to describe phenotypes and to make evolutionary and ecological inferences. Despite advances in Symbiodiniaceae genomics, a lack of consensus among researchers with respect to interpreting genetic data has slowed progress in the field and acted as a barrier to reconciling observations. Here, we identify key challenges regarding the assessment and interpretation of Symbiodiniaceae genetic diversity across three levels: species, populations, and communities. We summarize areas of agreement and highlight techniques and approaches that are broadly accepted. In areas where debate remains, we identify unresolved issues and discuss technologies and approaches that can help to fill knowledge gaps related to genetic and phenotypic diversity. We also discuss ways to stimulate progress, in particular by fostering a more inclusive and collaborative research community. We hope that this perspective will inspire and accelerate coral reef science by serving as a resource to those designing experiments, publishing research, and applying for funding related to Symbiodiniaceae and their symbiotic partnerships