Defense acquisition and self-governed compliance programs: An evaluation of the Defense Industry Initiative on Business Ethics and Conduct

Research and a review of the related literature indicate that the United States defense industry has had a long history of unethical and illegal business practices. Recent polls find that most Americans believe that their nation's weapon acquisition system is one of the worst managed activities in the public or private sectors. The perception of our government as well as the general public is that the defense industry is neither efficient nor honestly managed. Although the defense acquisition process has been the subject of many reform efforts, it is reasonable to ask whether these reform efforts have had any success. The Defense Industry Initiatives on Business Ethics and Conduct, commonly known as DII, was the defense industry's program response to the concern regarding ethical business practices in defense procurement. This study performs an evaluation of the Defense Industry Initiative on Business Ethics and Conduct in an attempt to determine the impact of this self-governed compliance program. For an overall industry perspective regarding ethical business practices, interrupted time series analysis was employed to determine what effect DII had on reducing unethical behavior in defense procurement. In addition, members of the DII, non-DII member defense firms, government procurement agencies (all services), government oversight agencies, Pentagon officials, and Congressional staffs were surveyed to draw comparisons between the members of DII and these other non-DII groups. The survey addressed questions related to the Defense Industry Initiative, the existing regulations that attempt to deter unethical procurement practices, and the characteristics of the compliance program.