From the U.S. Government Accountability Office, www.gao.gov Transcript for: Leading Practices - Improving Agencies’ Product Development Policies Description: Shelby Oakley discusses our March 2022 report on federal agencies’ acquisition policies. GAO interviewed 13 leading companies that take a disciplined approach to develop innovative products that satisfy their customers’ needs, and to deliver them to market on time and within planned costs. We recommend federal agencies update acquisition policies to fully implement these key principles of product development to help deliver products with speed and efficiency. Related GAO Works: GAO-22-104513. Leading Practices: Agency Acquisition Policies Could Better Implement Key Product Development Principles Released: March 2022 [ GAO's Shelby Oakley, Director, Contracting and National Security Acquisitions, speaking to the camera ] [ Shelby Oakley : ] Together, the departments of Defense and Homeland Security and NASA invest hundreds of billions of dollars annually to develop high tech systems like stealth jets, lunar rovers and more. However, these agencies' major acquisitions often take longer and cost more money than originally planned. Leading innovative companies we interviewed, such as SpaceX, Qualcomm, Siemens and Amazon rely on certain key principles to enable product development success. For example, they often drop non-critical requirements if it helps them stay on schedule. In addition, they obtain product feedback both throughout development and after product delivery. This helps ensure that the product provides capabilities that the end users actually need when they need it. But we found that federal agencies generally aren't required to follow such principles. We recommended that the agencies update their policies to better reflect these leading principles for product development. To find out more, check out our report at GAO.gov. [ End ] For more info, check out our report GAO-22-104513 at: GAO.gov