DoD-Wide Strategic Sourcing (DWSS) Program

The Department of Defense is the largest purchasing organization in the world, spending over $370 billion on purchases of S&E and Services. The bulk of these procurement dollars directly support the DoD’s warfighting mission, often straining budget resources and increasing pressure to extract more value from acquisition dollars.

In the past, DoD maintained budget flexibility for Warfighter support by employing strategic assessments of processes and functions to eliminate resources lost through inefficiencies. Efficiency savings were obtained by consolidating supply distribution, outsourcing commercial activities, merging missions, improving supply chain management, and recently, through consolidation of internal purchasing by individual DoD Components. Although these initiatives were effective, there are still other opportunities. DoD senior leadership determined that the acquisition function of purchasing S&E and Services within DoD is strategic in nature and required management across the entire Defense Enterprise. DWSS is DoD’s strategic acquisition management program for providing reliable, responsive and cost-effective support to Warfighters worldwide.

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) also recognized that federal agencies could leverage spending to the maximum extent possible through strategic sourcing. On May 20, 2005, the OMB implemented strategic sourcing as "the collaborative and structured process of critically analyzing an organization’s spending and using this information to make business decisions about acquiring commodities and services more effectively and efficiently.”

Emphasizing the necessity of DoD’s financial health to continue providing exceptional Warfighter support, the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics (USD(AT&L)) issued the memo Better Buying Power: Mandate for Restoring Affordability and Productivity in Defense Spending to acquisition professionals on June 28, 2010. The memo addressed DOD’s efficiencies initiative designed to deliver better value to the taxpayer and improve the way the DoD does business. The memo’s corresponding charts detail objectives for government practices that encourage efficiency and incentives for greater industry efficiency. On September 14, 2010 and November 13, 2012, detailed guidance for achieving the Better Buying Power mandate was issued, emphasizing that DoD Acquisition professionals had to, “do more without more.”

The DWSS Program is a way to achieve “Better Buying Power” mandates, to improve acquisition efficiencies with a comprehensive application of strategic sourcing processes to achieve increased effectiveness and reduced costs.

Links to:
Strategic Sourcing Directors Board Charter
DWSS CONOPS