Introduction
From Creative Spark to Actionable Solution:
Navigating the acquisition maze requires sparks of innovation, as well as foresight and practical expertise.
We recently completed our eleventh year as an independent corporation applying science and technology to further the public interest. Throughout our journey to establish a corporate legacy, we have emphasized our objectivity in crafting solutions that will benefit the public. It is now time to look further at how we can reinforce the independence that is the cornerstone of our purpose-a nonprofit, independent, principled organization with the goal of crafting scientific and technological solutions to make people healthier and safer, systems more efficient, infrastructure sounder, and our way of life more secure. To that end, we are changing our name from Mitretek Systems to Noblis.
Noblis will remain unusual even in the nonprofit world. We will continue to use the best of science and technology to solve complex problems that critically affect the public's safety and well-being. Our expert teams will remain focused on what really matters-thinking through a challenge from every possible angle and offering solutions that are principled, practical, sound, and sustainable. With no shareholders to satisfy or vendor alliances to protect or off-the-shelf solutions to sell, we will continue to be completely impartial in all that we counsel or recommend. Our bottomline objective will prevail: Do what's right and what works for our clients and for the public good.
In this edition of Sigma-"Acquisition Strategies: Getting More for Less"-guest editors Rick Sherman and Bob Wassmann address a challenge that often requires Noblis' unique blend of corporate impartial and forward thinking expertise. Recognizing that many acquisitions fail because they take a narrow, short-sighted view, Sherman and Wassmann and their supporting authors lay out the full acquisition cycle and counsel program managers and contracting officers to view the acquisition not as a limited event, but as a larger set of activities with the potential to add considerable value and improvement to the organization's mission and performance.
The maze on the cover represents the complexity of today's science- and technology-based acquisitions. As you read through the articles, I am confident that the insights our authors provide can lead you through this maze to sound, actionable acquisition decisions. As you use the knowledge in this and future editions of Sigma, I hope that you will remember Noblis-the best of science and technology for the best of reasons.
H. Gilbert Miller, Ph.D.
Corporate Vice President and Chief Technology Officer
Noblis
hgmiller@noblis.org