DEFM200 Assignment 3

Future Directions in Supply Chain and Acquisition Student’s Name Instructor Institutional Affiliation Course Date Future Directions in Supply Chain and Acquisition The U.S. government procurement and supply chain is there to provide resources where they are needed openly, affordably, and in a timely fashion. It faces every day new challenges of combating fraud, combating disasters, and warding off technology disruption. Automation, unmanned systems, and artificial intelligence will keep on changing the way the acquisition process is conducted in the future. They are effective but also pose risks that need to be guarded against. In response to Chen's (2022) complaint about federal acquisition procedures and recent studies on drones as to their use in government operations (FN Media Group, 2025), this essay discusses the ways future acquisition and supply chains can be altered. Lessons from Emergency Acquisition A continued problem with emergency acquisitions, as described by Chen (2022), is the compromise between speed and accountability. During crises such as Hurricane Katrina, the federal agencies waived competition to accelerate procurement but inadvertently exposed the government to fraud, abuse, and waste in the process. Chen needs more GAO oversight and additional safeguards prior to and subsequent to contract award. This strategy is very applicable to the acquisition future because sophisticated technology can never replace planning, transparency, and accountability, no matter how sophisticated. The same danger of waste and abuse will exist if autonomous cars, 3D printers, or drones are introduced into federal supply chains at speed without controls. So this new system must marry advanced technologies with equally advanced monitoring systems. Transformative Potential of Drones and Emerging Technologies New technologies are already transforming acquisition ope...