Partnered Operations in SOF Acquisition.

• Author: Smith, Jim
• Position: VIEWPOINT

* It's a simple enough principle--we are better when we work together with a diverse set of partners to provide the capabilities required to enable Special Operations Forces. SOF acquisition strives to mirror the competencies of the operators we support. While they excel at partnering in the operational domain, we need to excel at partnering in the acquisition domain.

Partnering with industry and academia--whether small or large businesses, commercial or defense members of the industrial base--and drawing upon broader perspectives and new ideas, is essential to competing against different and more capable adversaries. Like the command we support, the strength of SOF acquisition is partnered operations. But sometimes we fall short.

A SOF leader recently took the time to relate to me his strong support for one of our programs and his equal dismissal of another program. The difference? In the former case, he appreciated the program manager's overt outreach to the operators while in the latter case, he felt the program manager had neglected to truly understand the operators' perspective. The SOF acquisition process functions at its best when we--the government, industry and academia--partner to support our SOF commanders by working together.

When Army Gen. Richard Clarke assumed the role of commander for U.S. Special Operations Command in 2019, he held a conference with all USSOCOM service component commanders, theater special operations commanders and senior enlisted leaders. Our leaders focused on drafting a clear, concise set of priorities that would apply across the breadth of the special operations enterprise.

The five priorities developed included advancing partnerships as well as competing and winning for the nation, preserving and growing readiness, innovating for future threats, and strengthening our force and families.

For members of the SOF acquisition government team, our job is to achieve these priorities in the acquisition space. As we work to advance partnerships, we not only think about how we can better team with foreign partners to share technologies and ensure interoperability among allies, but we also think about how we can better collaborate among the full breadth and depth of our industrial base and great academic institutions.

Events like this year's Special Operations Forces Industry Conference (SOFIC) are an opportunity to strengthen partnerships between SOF commanders, government acquisition professionals and industry...