JDAM Case Study

The Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM) acquisition, conducted as a commercial practices pilot under FASA, had as part of its strategy:

• Performance-based head-to-head competition,
• Rolling downselects, and
• Government/contractor integrated product teams.

It became the government members' job to help "their" contractor win. As indicated in the case study:

What enabled us to make the change in behavior [to a more commercial customer/supplier relationship] was the Integrated Product Teams. They were made up of Air Force and contractor people. We used them to form a partnership. We on the Air Force side became part of the team. Instead of being the auditor or the supervisor, we were a team member with the contractor. We were there day to day, shoulder to shoulder, hand to hand, as part of one team effort.

We took the teaming seriously. Within our office we set it up structurally for the designing phase. We broke the office into three groups. A team was formed with each of the competing contractors. One team was charged with making Lockheed Martin win, the other with making McDonnell Douglas win. We told our people: instead of waiting for submissions and milestones, go out and be part of the team. Don't point out problems, instead solve them.