§1732 Portfolio Acquisition Executive

Summary

A portfolio acquisition executive leads a group of related defense acquisition programs. The military department’s senior acquisition official gives them that job. They run the plans, budgets, and day-to-day work for the portfolio, including managing a program through its whole life cycle. Program managers for those programs must report to the portfolio executive unless a higher acquisition official says otherwise. The portfolio executive reports to the department’s component or service acquisition executive, who also decides who gets the job, checks performance, and gives resources. The portfolio executive must make sure work fits the department’s acquisition goals. Under the department’s control, they manage the people assigned to the portfolio and put Department of Defense policies into practice. They must work with service leaders on requirements and goals, get regular feedback from users, and share timely cost, schedule, and performance information with the right officials. They should use iterative development and can change or stop work if a program no longer meets requirements or has big cost, technical, or schedule problems. They must coordinate across services on new tech and prototypes, do strong market research, and, when practical, favor prototype transaction authorities and buying commercial products and services. The Secretary must give each portfolio executive dedicated staff and resources, and those people must work under the portfolio executive (not as a part-time or dual role), including contracting, cost estimating, finance, life-cycle support, program management, engineering, and testing.