Joining forces

Pentagon officials are finalizing new guidelines to require Defense Department acquisition officials to consider how their purchases could support all the military services.

Some of the goals of the guidelines include:

* Defining upfront how U.S. forces fight.

* Focusing on capabilities instead of platforms.

* Incorporating materiel and nonmateriel solutions.

* Focusing on joint forces earlier in the buying process.

* Focusing more on experimentation.

* Making solutions metrics-based.

* Clearly tying purchases to overall strategy.

* Better linking events-driven and calendar-driven processes.

* Taking advantage of collaborative tools to cut decision/staffing time.