DOD’s office of Acquisition Technology and Logistics is on-track to meet a February 1^st deadline to finalize plans in how it will split into two new groups – one focused on research, the other on acquisition – but it will take two years to fully reorganize the new offices, according to AT&L Undersecretary Ellen Lord.  It’s great that AT&L has a plan on how it will transition, but what left unsaid, so far, is what the impact will be on key issues like acquisition reform.  How, for example, will the timeline impact the acquisition organization’s ability to consider and react to recommendations coming from the Section 809 DOD Acquisition Reform panel?  As DOD, especially Army, leaders look for ways to considerably shorten acquisition timeframes, what level of support will be available over a two year period from the agency’s main acquisition policy operation?  Lord’s comments on the transition seem focused on the process, not operations. “…it will take a while to fill the positions and reorganize and get everything operating under the new construct,” she said in a recent interview.  Contractors that want to engage their DOD customers on innovative acquisition may want to focus their efforts at the service branch level, or even lower, during this time.  This means that reform will require more effort as agreements will have to be adopted at multiple levels instead of one.  As the saying goes, though, “The number one rule in duck hunting is to go where the ducks are”.  Plan your efforts accordingly.