Maddox Presents at Naval Postgraduate School Acquisition Research Symposium - Defense Security Cooperation University

Janie Maddox, NPS lecturer at the Center of Civil Military Relations (CCMR), presented at the Naval Postgraduate School's 14th Annual Acquisition Research Symposium in Monterey, CA on 26 April. The two-day symposium, hosted by the NPS Acquisition Research Program (part of the Graduate School of Business & Public Policy, GSBPP), featured 20 separate panel sessions where scholars and practitioners of public sector acquisition were able to present and exchange ideas.

Ms. Maddox (USAF Major, Retired) is a renowned expert on federal government contract subjects including source selection, services acquisition, and cost/price analysis. While at the Air Force Insitute of Technology (AFIT), she led an Air Force team that developed the Contract Pricing Reference Guides that are referenced in the Federal Acquisition Regulations. In 2012, she teamed up with Dr. Ralucca Gera, associate professor of mathematics at NPS, to author a series of papers concentrating on DoD price analysis techniques. Their most recent project, entitled “Price Analysis on Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) Contracts” was presented during a panel session called “Contemporary Issues in Contracting.”

The project surveyed 60+ DLA service contracts plus both contracting and requirements personnel in order to examine current price analysis practices. Maddox’s findings indicated that the use of price analysis techniques on DLA contracts is common, but serious deficiencies (including high workloads and personnel shortages) hamper the correct use of those techniques and also limit proper supporting documentation. In order to combat these deficiencies, the report makes several recommendations for improvement including reducing challenges faced by contracting personnel in reviewing price reasonableness and implementing a standardized checklist to enhance consistency in meeting price analysis requirements, among others. Maddox’s research was well-received at the symposium, and she plans to continue her study of price analysis techniques.

The Acquisition Research Symposium is held annually in order to highlight recently completed and ongoing projects conducted by researchers from NPS and other institutions on current acquisition issues, as well as remarks by a distinguished slate of guest speakers and panelists. The next symposium is scheduled for May 2018.