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The Process for Gaining Access to Data Is Inefficient and May Not Provide Access to the Best Data to Support Analysis

• Government personnel and those supporting the government do not always get their first choice of data.
• Alternative sources often have data of lower quality, that are older and thus less accurate, or that are subject to a number of caveats.

OSD Analytic Groups and Support Contractors Face Particular Challenges in Gaining Access to Data

• OSD analytic groups often do not have access to the originators of the data, which precludes them from going to the primary source. They may also have poor visibility of all viable data sources.
• Direct support contractors have problems similar to OSD analysts, but these problems can be compounded by laws, regulations, and policy that restrict access to certain types of information. Support contractors require special permissions to view nontechnical proprietary data.

Access Problems Occur for Several Reasons

• Data access policy is highly decentralized, not well known, and subject to a wide range of interpretation.
• The markings for unclassified information play a significant role in access. The owner or creator of a document determines what protections or markings are required. However, marking criteria are not always clear or consistently applied.
• Institutional and cultural barriers inhibit sharing.

Acquisition data underpin the management and oversight of the U.S. defense acquisition portfolio. However, balancing security and transparency has been an ongoing challenge. Some acquisition professionals are not getting the data they need to perform their assigned duties or are not getting the data and information in an efficient manner. To help guide the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) in addressing these problems, the RAND Corporation identified access problems at the OSD level — including those organizations that require access to data and information to support OSD, such as analytic support federally funded research and development centers and direct support contractors — and evaluated the role of policy in determining access. The study also involved a limited review of how data are shared between OSD and the military departments.

Issues with Access to Acquisition Data and Information in the Department of Defense finds that the process for gaining access to data is inefficient and may not provide access to the best data to support analysis, and that OSD analytic groups and support contractors face particular challenges in gaining access to data. Given the inherent complexity in securing data and sharing data, any solutions to problems associated with data sharing must be well thought out to avoid the multitude of unintended consequences that could arise.

• Chapter One

  Introduction

• Chapter Two

  The Policy Landscape

• Chapter Three

  Practical Issues and Challenges to Sharing Acquisition Data

• Chapter Four

  Proprietary Data: A Case Study

• Chapter Five

  Conclusions and Options

• Appendix A

  DoD Policies Affecting Data Sharing

• Appendix B

  Discussions with OSD

• Appendix C

  Central Repository Case Studies

• Appendix D

  Technical Data Rights