"Johnson, who joined the program in May, listed five major causes behind the ECSS failure, including the Air Force’s lack of a master schedule, a change in acquisition strategy and infrastructure problems that slowed the speed at which the system could share data with Air Force installations."
Cause 6: There have probably been 6-9 "Directors of System Integration" since the contract was awarded in 2006. We are terrible at managing our senior leadership. The officer development never stops. Every senior officer job is seen as a stepping stone to the next one, with no one spending more than 12 months at the same desk. Figure 3 months to learn the purpose of the office, 3 months to conference with the contractors, 3 months to compile a 50-page recommendations report (for your newly-replaced boss), and 3 months looking for a new job. Meanwhile nobody reads your report and the contractor continues stealing millions because a new Director is around the corner anyway. It's absolutely ludicrous. It's costing us billions of dollars. This is something I'm glad is being investigated by Congress. IMHO, acquisitions buffoonery (amplified by the Air Force's ridiculous HR management) is our #1 weakness.